PSA-IMPORTANT HEARING REMINDER

"Did you know that when MP3 players are purchased as gifts, the majority of purchasers are moms? That finding emerged at the Mommy Tech summit at the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show.

But do you know about the potential risks? Kids often don't know how to use audio technology safely and they can harm their hearing as a result. In fact, hearing loss among young people is reported to be on the rise and there are strong concerns that a generation of young people could end up with prevalent hearing loss.

"For some time, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has warned that hearing loss in the United States could rise significantly due to the misuse of personal audio technology," ASHA President Tommie L. Robinson, Jr. explains. "Unfortunately, a report released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation cites some alarming trends about excessive entertainment media consumption among our nation's children, indirectly supporting ASHA's concerns. This should be a warning to parents that they must regulate children's exposure and fully understand the potential health threats associated with misuse and over exposure to such technologies."

"ASHA will continue to bring these issues to the forefront and appreciates the Kaiser Family Foundation's contributions to the national dialogue," Robinson adds.

According to a 2004 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children were reported as being exposed to 6 hours and 21 minutes of media (TV, music, internet, etc) per day. By 2009, this statistic had increased dramatically to 7 hours and 38 minutes per day. When media multitasking is taken into account, this leaps to 10 hours and 45 minutes per day. This massive consumption of media has led to decreased grades in school and ASHA contends it puts kids at an increased risk of hearing loss.

One thing that is clear from the study is that parents can be very positive influencers on how their children use entertainment media.

How You Can Help - Spread the Following Message

Whether your child received an MP3 player, gaming device, cell phone, laptop, or any other device with headphones, don't overlook the important health threat of hearing loss. Now is the time to reach out to other parents about the importance of hearing loss prevention, the damaging effects of excessive media consumption, and the resources available to them through ASHA.
Here are two simple ways to protect your children's - and your own - hearing.

· Keep the volume down. A good guide is half volume.
· Limit listening time. Give your hearing 'quiet breaks'.

Find more information and statistics at ASHA's website. You can also follow their Twitter feed or fan them on Facebook to get real time updates on their work."
-Amy Lupold Bair

Valentine's Day Lollipop Flowers

Here is an easy item to make and lots of fun to give and to receive.

First start by making a pattern on plain paper, I like to fold paper over and cut to make symmetrical hearts.

Here is a test flower with the lollipop inserted.

Looks good!

Here is one made on printed scrapbooking paper.

Here are the girls enjoying the final lollipop flowers. Bet they don't last long!

These lollipop flowers are not only fun to make they are fun to give, receive and eat. Very fast project that does not take long to make. Just fold paper in 1/4's then cut out hearts. Next either use uhu glue or some other tape to hold the flowers together. Then punch hole with hole punch in center of the flower. Finally insert the lollipop and tape flower to hold the lollipop in place.

Enjoy!

If you try this send us your results and we will post them or you can comment on your success.

Valentine's Day Pretzel Hearts

First these candies,


Fish and more candies it is all about choice!



Then add Pretzels, icing and food coloring.


Then go to work and come up with these great valentine's day hearts!

Don't eat too many while you are making these.

Yummy, what a great lunch this will be!


This is a great easy project that is a lot of fun and very easy. First get all kinds of red candies together.

Next, take some frosting and put a few drops of red food coloring in. Then mix it well. The toddlers love to stir, so get them to help out!

Then the adult should frost the pretzel, put it on a plate and then put the frosting on to fill the pretzel heart shape.

Finally, have the little ones decorate the hearts with the red candies. Just make sure they don't eat too many of the decorations while they are making these fun items.

If you try this, let us know how it works for you!

Gerber #2 foods 3/$1 at Dollar store

Found a great deal on #2 baby foods at the local Dollar store. The one I went to was in Atascadero, CA. There was a huge variety available as well, from applesauce & peas to bannanas and oatmeal. They also had great monkey balloons that say I Love You for $1 as well. What a great resource these dollar stores are. Plus remeber they have basic items like pregnancy tests for only $1 as well, a lot cheaper then those at other stores from what I found.

Free book w/proof of puchase from Scholastic

Free book link, "Get a FREE Scholastic book when you try
Pampers Easy Ups Trainers™ or Kandoo® products
To receive your FREE Scholastic book, mail one UPC from any Pampers Easy Ups Trainers™ or Kandoo® product along with your name, daytime phone number, email address and complete mailing address to:
Pampers Book Offer,
557 Broadway,
P.O. Box 711,
New York, NY 10012"
Send in fast limited quantities available

Stock Up on Diaper Time

It seems that this week and next week is stock up on diaper time. Target is having some great deals, as our several other stores. Look around in your area if you have a little one and figure out which one is best for you. Also go to this link and their are several great coupons for Huggies diapers and wipes. Their was even a $2.50/1 coupon for me today.

Remember too that some stores will let you double up on the coupons, like Target. Use one of their coupons and the one you print out here. Depending on the deal you do you should be able to get a package of diapers for between $3-$5. A significant savings. I like to stock up on these sales, if you do not use diapers this would make a great tax write off opportunity. You could purchase the diapers at the sale price and then donate them to a hospital or local non-profit who helps new moms. Make sure of course to consult your tax consultant as I am not a tax expert.




Another use for diapers to is in plants. If you cut the material out that soaks up the urine, then mix it into the potting soil it will hold lots of water. This is great for people who travel or forget to water their plants.

PS Remeber to sign up for ECoupons through Upromise and triple dip! Possibly free diapers all together!

$2 Coupon on one Post Natural Cereal

You do have to sign up and wait for the email. Then you will get a $2/1 Post Natural Cereal coupon to print through SmartSource. Make sure to have your printer ready as the SmartSource sometimes is picky about printing preferences.

http://www.postnatural.com/

$1 off Kettle Chips - Plus a Chance to Win Prizes

You must become a Fan and take their 'Real Resolution' Challenge. When you do this you are entered into the contest and you will have the opportunity to print out a coupon for $1/1 pack. Great deal! Exp 3-1-10

Here is the link
http://www.kettlefoods.com/realresolutions/enter-sweepstakes/

Great $1 off Coupon for Kraft Cheese Available Now, Hurry!

Click on the coupon link. Next, click on the food option for the coupons and look for the great Kraft coupon. Great opportunity when combined with the great deals that we have been seeing lately on cheese.

FREE* Oreo Cookies Limited time

My suggestion is go ahead and sign up as a Facebook fan, that way when the give away begins you will be eligible. I got this information from the Oreo Facebook site,

"Mannings win the Battle for the DSRL so FREE* cookies for Oreo Facebook fans! *Up to 150,000 packages. Begins 3 PM EST on 1/25 while supplies last or ends at 11:59 PM EST on 1/25. FREE* Oreo Cookies
http://facebook.com/oreo"

My Blog Spark Great Products! General Mills Review $1 coupon link too! Hurry

My Blog Spark is a company that helps other companies promote their products, from time to time they send me some great freebies to try and coupons. They are also offering a free offer for one of my readers as well. More about that to come later.

Right now I want to let you know about the General Mills cereals. My Spark and General Mills sent me some coupons to try their cereals for free. Thanks!

I went to the store and got some of my favorite General Mills cereals. I was excited because I received an email from My Spark with this information,
"This week General Mills announced a commitment to further reduce sugar in cereals advertised to kids under 12 to single digit grams of sugar per serving. The company has already been reducing sugar in cereals while increasing key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, and providing whole grain."

As a mom of two young girls, well one baby and a toddler, I was happy to hear that they were making their products even healthier then before. When looking for snacks and food for my girls I am always reading the product labels to make sure the food is good for them. I also enjoy eating cereal as a snack for myself as they are fortified with vitamins and other good 'stuff'.

Here is some more information from their corporation and a coupon for $1 off of some great General Mills cereals.

"Did you know that ready-to-eat cereal eaters consume less fat, less cholesterol and more fiber than non-cereal eaters? Cereals also deliver important vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients, making cereal a top source of key nutrients in children´s diets.

Other cereal benefits:
Ready-to-eat cereals, including presweetened cereals, account for only 5% of sugar in children´s diets.

Ready-to-eat cereal is the No. 1 source of whole grains in a child´s diet today.

More frequent cereal eaters tend to have healthier body weights and lower Body Mass Index measures.
Studies also demonstrate the benefits of eating breakfast. A 1998 study showed that children who eat breakfast tend to perform better at school. Compared to children who skip breakfast, children who eat breakfast score higher on tests, are less likely to miss class or be tardy, have fewer reported discipline problems, and make fewer trips to the office.

For more information about kids and cereals, please visit Cereal Health and Wellness.

Right now if you visit here you will find a $1 off coupon for one of four General Mills cereals. "

General Mills web site

Next time I will review Safeway and Fiber One 50 Calorie Yogurt‏ and have a great giveaway available for my readers. So stay tuned for more informaiton!

Great Textbook Deals at Amazon

Since it is that time of the year, I decided to put up a great way to get a great deal on your textbooks for college. Remeber to that Alixia and Zoe get money for their college fund when you shop through our Amazon links. I have priced out the books for the classes that I teach and the money that you can save is tremendous. Online through the Amazon links you can get used books starting at fifty cents plus shipping, at the bookstore, no offense College bookstores the cost is over $70 for the same book.

If you are in the AC SK 19 class here is a link to the Amazon web site and the book for the class. Remeber to research individual sellers if you go that way on Amazon.



The AC SK 31 class book link is here. It is a bit more, but still discounted.



Remeber to that I will put the book on reserve in the library and that I leave my copy on my computer desk in the lab, just make sure to return it to the desk and please don't take my copy out of the lab if you use it.

PS If you need help finding your books for your other classes let me know and I will help you to find the best deal!

Crystal Tree Project - Continued

Well those crystals grew super fast. Within an hour the paper started to take in the mixture and it started sprouting the white structure. It was not exactly what I was expecting. The crystals grew at a fast pace and by the next morning they were all over and even growing around the plate. By the end of that day it was overgrown and blue was no longer the color of interest, but instead the crystals were taking over.

The crystals were of a texture similar to powder sugar. It was light and airy and definitely not very stable, as my little one jumped up and down with excitement the white crystals fragmented from the plate and started blowing in the air stream of the room. I then decided that this was the end of this project. What a learning experience. If you do this for a school project make sure to do it in the classroom, as the structure would not endure a drive or move to make it to the classroom. Also my plate did alright, I am going to put it in the dish washer tonight, but I think it will recover from the bluing.

If you try this, please add your comments and thoughts.

Crystal Tree Project

Here are the first pictures for our crystal 'trees'. Take 1 tablespoon of Mrs. Stewarts bluiing, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of water and 1/2 tablespoon of amonia and mix them all together. Be very careful as the bluing is super blue. Anything it touches will turn blue in my experience, you may even want to do this project outside. I spilled a little directly in my sink and their is still a little blue where I tried to wash it out.

My suggestion is to use a disposable babyfood jar or some other disposable container to mix the ingredients in. Also use a dish that you don't care about as I think I have ruined my saucer with this project.

Personally I like to reuse anything possible so I used a water bottle and the cardboard from the paper towel roll. That just left the plate, I made the mistake of using a good one, next time I will go to a garage sale and get a cheap disposable one for this type of project. Next I cut the papertowel roll into the shapes. I thought I would try to make a heart for valentines day, but it did not turn out very well, we will see after it grows how well it works. I also made a tree for the second item.

These crystal formations are supposed to grow over about a weeks time depending on the level of humidity in your house, unfortunately we have a storm coming in on Sunday, so this was not an ideal time to start this project. Hopefully it will still work. Make sure to place your finished project in a place where it will not be disturbed.

Check back for results---

UHU Valentines Box Project

Well, this is another freebie that I got in the mail from a great company, UHU! They sent all the materials necessary and we made this great Valentines Day box. On one side it is one D style and on the other it is more three d'ish with a Paris flair on the one dimensional side, we love it.

The UHU glue roller worked great. I had tried other brands of roll gluers before, but this one was far easieer and more reliable then the others I have used on my scrapbooking projects. The micro-dot system was easy to see and use on the paper and other pieces that were used.

Thanks so much again UHU, we loved this project and your great product!

Hurry, another free Fresco Taco from Taco Bell!

Free Taco From Taco Bell

Win free milk, and get a free milk coupon for first entrants

http://promotions.whymilk.com/ggg/