jl | The Angel Forever

Category Archives jl

Time to stop and think

Posted on August 2, 2010 4:38 pm by TheAngelForever

It has been a rough week around here. Feeling angry and hurt, like the system failed my family, would be understatement of the century. Right now, I am just not ready to explain more than that. I am still trying to figure items out and see if we have any legal recourse to help with part of the situation. The good news is nobody is hurt, things will get better and answers are finally coming our way.

Yesterday, I woke up with a migraine. It was just a sign of the way the day was going. I had not slept too well the night before after reading a bit too much about bedbugs and reports of them all over NYC, including the hotel that will host BlogHer this coming week. Like the thought of lice, bedbugs make me itch and creep me out.

I finally got dressed in the afternoon and decided to take JSL with me. I figured we would walk (read me push him in the stroller) over to Nana and Papa’s house to get out. Plus, it was a chance to have some of their caffeine rich Keurig coffee. We walked there in about 18 minutes (.89 miles) and stayed for a little while. Poor JSL fell running to get a toy and bit his lip and got a bump on his chin. He was super snuggly from that point on.

When it was time to leave, it looked like rain. TechyDad and NHL came to pick us up with the carseat for JSL. Of course, JSL insisted that we walk back with his stroller and not ride. NHL immediately wanted to go. So there I was walking back with both of the boys. It was a nice walk. NHL ran ahead of us and JSL was singing his Wiggles and Winne the Pooh Songs. I had to stop and take a photo

Here were two of my boys, happy and carefree. For just a few minutes, even my worries were gone and everything was good in our little world. Although it did not last long, I enjoyed it and only wished that TechyDad had been with us. Instead, he stayed behind waiting to leave in case the sky decided to dump rain on us.

Thank you JL. Thank you for always being there for all of us and not being upset when something silly like everyone wanting to walk happens. Next time, let’s make it a family adventure together.

Categories:
bad news decisions jl jsl losing my mind me moments my boys photos TechyDad vent

A whine about wine

Posted on August 1, 2010 10:21 am by TheAngelForever

Confession time: Yesterday, I bought my first bottle of wine to consume at home for us and not a celebration like Passover (where I always drink grape juice with the kids).

Some people may be shocked with this considering I am 30-something. It’s not that I will not drink beverages with alcohol, it’s more or less that I have never found anything that I like enough. A lot are too strong, too sweet, too dry or something else. There is also the money factor. As a foodie, I would much rather spend my moolah on something food related than empty calories that I drink. You see, the boys do not like carbonated beverges. Thanks to this, we pretty much only have water and some vegetable juice options in the house.

The other night, I mentioned that I wished I had something in the house to drink. I wanted something to help me relax, but had nada. My friend Danny is the wine guru. She suggested that I try a peach wine. Hmmm…..I LOVE peach everything. This really intrigued me since I have fond memories of trips to Canada where I ordered Peach & Tea drinks (ice tea with peach schnapps – YUM!).

I shocked TechyDad yesterday and told him I was heading into a local wine store to look for a peach wine. I asked them for the one my friend mentioned, but they did not have it (it was called Sweet Vines and from California). They took me to an area that had New York wines, including a peach variety. This is what they had:

It is a peach wine from Glenora in the Finger Lakes region of New York (always nice to support the home state). I figured I would give it a shot and bought it. After I paid for it and was putting it under the stroller, I stood up and lost my balance. As I did this, I crashed my nose into the hard pastic on the stroller – ugh!

Last night, when the kids went to bed, TechyDad and I had our peach wine in classy clear plastic cups. (The wine was not kosher – GRRRR.) We sat on the couch drinking it while watching Hot in Cleveland. All I can say is that it was delicious. It was not too sweet, had a great peach flavor and did not sting when it went down like wines often do to me. We will definitely buy this again and may try some of the other varieties.

If you have any other wine suggestions, I would love to know. It’s not like I am going to drink often, but variety would be nice.

Thank you to my friend Danny for the suggestion – you rock!

P.S. Be sure to enter my two current giveaway for Breyer’s Smooth & Dreamy (4 winners) and for the book Potty Animals (5 winners). Oh and TechyDad is also having a $25 gift certificate giveaway for ABC Neckties!

Categories:
jl looking back me moments photos shopping TechyDad weekend yummy

The Kung Zhu time has come in the Zhu-niverse

Posted on July 25, 2010 7:31 pm by TheAngelForever

If you have been inside a store that sells toys in the last year, chances are you have seen Zhu Zhu pets. Each of our boys has a Zhu Zhu that they received as a gift from us for Passover. They really enjoyed playing with them, especially on the wide open kitchen floor at Nana and Papa’s house. Soon after this, I was contacted by Mom Select apply to throw a party for the latest in the Zhu-niverse.

The Kung Zhu line was recently released and have taken on a storm. Geared more for boys, the Kung Zhu line has several commercials that we have seen on television and they are in all of the stores (Target, Toys R Us, CVS and more). To help us to throw the ultimate Kung Zhu party we received pretty much everything you could imagine – LITERALLY. This is the box that arrived and everything out on the floor at Nana and Papa’s house (note how large it is compared to JSL standing next to it):

The trick has been getting kids together for a party. Kind of a nightmare when school is not in session. Since NHL really wants a Kung Zhu party, we will have it on August 22 for family and friends (many more kids in attendance). That is the day that we will break out all of the Kung Zhu games and make some Kung Zhu edible critters. For now, we decided to have our own party this weekend. This would allow us to set everything in the Kung Zhu-niverse up, test run items and celebrate JSL’s potty training success. Let me take you on a tour of the items we have.

First, meet the Kung Zhu’s themselves. There are eight Kung Zhu hamsters. The Kung Zhu Ninjas are Drayko, Yama, Azer and Thorn. The members of the Special Forces are Stonewall, Rock’O, Seargent Serge and Rivet. NHL selected Stonewall (blue) and JSL wanted Sgt,.Serge (green).

When these ordinary looking members of the Zhu-niverse put on their special armor, they turn into fighting warriors ready to do battle. Here are the battle armors that are made for each of the eight Kung Zhu’s. Scorpion Tank and Rhino Tank. Beware: the moving parts on the tanks really catch the eye of little people. . . they will not want to stop playing with these.

Once the Kung Zhu members of the Ninjas and Special Forces are all dressed, they can head into the Battle Arena. Meanwhile, the other Kung Zhu’s can man the battle area in their Spider Tank, Buzzsaw Tank,

Of course, you must also have your Special Forces HQ and Dojo for the Ninjas. These, along with the Combat Bridge, really help to get things ready for the Kung Zhu hamsters.

No Kung Zhu Ninja or Special Forces member can be ready for battle if they are out of shape. To help with this, they have multiple options for training.

Individually, TechyDad found that the pieces were not too difficult to assemble. The hardest part of the assembly was making sure that the items worked together for maximum fun for the entire Zhu-niverse. Here are some photos of our mini Kung Zhu Party.

NHL especially liked putting Stonewall through his training session. Check out the video of this member of the Special Forces team. As you will see, he is a persistent little hamster that is not intimidated by some bricks. (Please note the laughter from the kids – this will no doubt be a lot louder for the big party coming soon).

Of course, JSL had to put Sgt Serge through the process as well. Here is his little guy – note how he comes to attack me at the end of the video.

So, there you have it for now. This is just the start of our Kung Zhu party fun. In a few weeks, we will share more of our adventures with you as other children join our Kung Zhu-niverse for NHL’s 7th birthday party.

Disclosure: This review and party (part 1 – and 2 coming soon) was made possible by MomSelect and King Zhu. They provided me with all of the items shown above to throw the ultimate Kung Zhu party.The opinions of this review were mine and I received no other compensation.

Categories:
birthday fun jl jsl nhl photos play time Product review TechyDad video weekend

Beach or pool – that is the question

Posted on July 19, 2010 10:45 am by TheAngelForever

Yesterday, we spent the day at Saratoga Lake with family. Here are some of the people we saw at the lake:

The boys were in their swimsuits and we all had sun lotion on so we could go right to the boat when we arrived. We had a wonderful time on the boat. There is just nothing like roaming around the lake, getting sprayed with water and laughing with family.

These are just a few of the photos that I took on the fly with my cell phone. TechyDad and I took many more with his camera. I will be sharing some of those later.

After several hours on the boat, we went back to dock and decided to take the boys to the beach to play in the sand and go in the lake. Let me preface this with the fact that I am NOT a beach person. There are many reasons. Here are a few:

I am really pale (see photo below). Pale + red hair = easily burns in the sun even with mega sun screen. This happened over and over in Hawaii and throughout my life. TechyDad saw that I burned within 30 minutes of arriving at Blizzard Beach at Disney World on our honeymoon (I was crispy fried). Luckily, sun screen these days is a lot better, but I still do not like to tempt fate.
Not a huge fan of sand. Sure it can be fun to play with, but it gets into your toes, all over your body and into places within your swimsuit that it should not. Enough said!
Like swimming in clean water. You know without rocks, shells, fish, seaweed in my feet. I guess I was spoiled growing up with my Nana and Papa’s pool.

Those really are the two biggest reasons in my mind. I know they are silly. I am a good sport and will go hang out on the beach with the kids and TechyDad. We did this for a little while yesterday. While the little guy was busy doing this:

I was sitting off to the side snapping away photos of the boys kicking back like this:

More of those pictures from the boat and beach coming later, I need to get them from JL and his camera.

So are you a beach person or more of a pool kinda gal/guy? Just curious to see if other people have reasons for one or the other.

Categories:
family fun jl jsl me moments nhl photos summer weekend

Journey to Comfort with Dove Men + Care

Posted on July 18, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

If you had told me a few months ago that TechyDad would ask me to buy him body wash, I would have laughed in your face. Long ago, he told me that he did not like the slimy (purely technical term here) that they left on his skin. He did not think that it made him feel clean. This all changed back in March when he did a review with me for the Dove Men + Care line of products.

Just the other day, TechyDad asked me to buy more of the Dove Men + Care body wash because his current was nearly empty. It was nice to hear that he found something that he truly liked. So when I was asked by someone to receive a Dove Men + Care Father’s Day comfort pack, we said sure. Once again, it arrived with an active clean shower tool, a container of body wash and some of the bar soaps. TechyDad was thrilled to have more of the body wash and another of the scrubber since he thinks it does a great job cleaning his skin.

About Dove Men + Care:

What is Dove® MEN+CARE?

Dove introduces, MEN+CARE, the brand’s first-ever product line created specifically for men. The new products are designed for men who have a reached a point in their lives where they are comfortable with themselves, but not in their skin. Many men put up with cleansing products that are harsh and drying, without realizing these products leave their skin feeling dry, irritated and uncomfortable. Men even blame their socks for their skin irritation when it is really the drying effect of regular cleansers!

Total Skin Comfort

Dove developed MEN+CARE so men can literally be comfortable in their skin. Built on the Dove brand’s heritage in cleansing, moisturizing and care, the new MEN+CARE products offer great cleansing combined with Dove moisturizers to provide total skin comfort. Dove MEN+CARE is dermatologist recommended and clinically proven to fight skin dryness without irritation or tightness.

This summer, Dove has teamed up with well known athletes from the world of baseball including Albert Pujols, Andy Peitite and Joe Girardi to show their Journey to Comfort stories. You can also visit here to see more information about the Ultimate Baseball Experience for a chance to win their Sweepstakes, The sweepstakes ends July 18 (TODAY – sorry if you read this when it is over) will give you a chance to win an all expense paid trip to St. Louis for a once in a lifetime Baseball Experience. The winner will receive a trip for 4, airfare, 2 hotel rooms for two nights, and 4 tickets to a game along with a meet and greet with Albert Pujols.

I have to say these commercials really caught my eye. I stopped to watch and wanted to know more about the person and product. Dove really has hit a nice home run on this series! If you have a man in your life that is looking for something new to use in the shower, we definitely recommend Dove Men + Care here and will be buying more soon.

Disclosure: We received a Dove Men + Care Father’s Day Pack described above from Rocket XL to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given and all opinions expressed in this review are my families own feelings about the products.