Uniquely Daddy: Antiques (+Giveaway Hop) *CLOSED*

Easter is here and gone!  That means Mother's Day and Father's Day are just around the corner!  So for this Hippity Hoppity Giveaway Hop, I'm sharing with you another unique Father's Day gift!

Antiques.  Yep, old stuff.  

I was given free product in exchange for an open & honest review.
No other compensation was exchanged.  All opinions are my own.

I don't just mean finding an old milk crate (though that could work).  I mean, finding something that suits the person's interests and likes.  For instance, my husband is a lover of trees.  He is a landscape designer/project manager by trade.  And he loves his work because he genuinely loves plants...especially trees.  So when I saw this Antique Tree Guide from Heirloom Addict, I knew it would be the perfect gift:

Pretty neat looking right?

From 1915!!

Black & White Pics...

As well as color!

Think about your husband or your father.  What are his interests?  His hobbies?

Does he enjoy the outdoors?  Or bird-watching?  Or sailing?

These binoculars would be a huge hit!
Photo courtesy of Heirloom Addict

Or maybe he enjoys a cup of tea or coffee?  Or has a taste for all things British?

This English Tea Set is pretty unique...
Photo courtesy of Heirloom Addict

Is he a teacher?  Or a writer?

This handwriting book is a really neat idea!

Antiques and vintage items can make fantastic gifts if you really know the person you are buying for.  My husband loved his antique tree guide!  Heirloom Addict currently has each of the above items and so much more!  There is even a gold panning guide!  ;)

Naomi, owner of Heirloom Addict, is fantastic about making sure you know what you are getting.  Any kind of damage, wear, or aging, she makes sure to document very well in her pictures.  From a customer point of view, this gives me a lot of confidence in what I'm purchasing.  More places should be like this!

She has graciously offered my readers a discount code for 40% off a purchase at Heirloom Addict:  FATHER40 (Expires April 21, 2015)

Make sure to favorite Heirloom Addict while you are there!  Or follow Naomi on Instagram here for occasional updates.

Plus, one reader will win a $25 gift code to go shopping at Heirloom Addict!

Photo Courtesy of Heirloom Addict

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Welcome to the Hippity Hoppity Giveaway Hop, brought to you by The Hopping Bloggers & Up All Night Blogging! Hosted by Mama Smith’s Review Blog & Women And Their Pretties

Co-Hosted by: Melanie Meditates, EasterBabe's Theory, Muscles & Mascara Blog, Cia Says, So Simply Stephanie, Marilyn's Treats, Our Refuge and Strength, & Life of a Southern Mom Each blogger participating in this hop has a giveaway with a prize value of at least $15 – and some are much more than that! Be sure to scroll down the whole list and visit them all – there is no limit to how many prizes you can win! There will also be a twitter party on April 14th to go along with this hop with even more chances to win. RSVP for that by clicking here. Good Luck and Have Fun! DISCLOSURE: Mama Smith’s Review Blog and Women and Their Pretties are not responsible for any of the prize fulfillment. Each blogger is responsible for providing their sponsor with their winner’s contact information.

The Terebinth Tree Shop + a Giveaway Hop *CLOSED*

Welcome to the "For the Love of Mom" Giveaway Hop hosted by Mama's Baby Cupcakes & Mommy's Favorite Things. The theme of this event is great gifts for mother's, and each blog participating has a prize valued at $25+. This hop is April 7-21 and your winnings arrive just in time for Mother's Day!

Hey all!! Bri from Learning to Be 31 here....I hope you had a fantastic Easter!!  

Are you looking for a great gift for that special mom in your life??  I may have the solution:

A $25 Gift Code to The Terebinth Tree: Natural Cleaning and Natural Bath & Body Products!  Our very own, brand new, Etsy shop!

Find out a little bit more about the shop here.  

Here are a few pics for a sneak peek at what they have in store:

Deodorant & Vapor Rub

Goo Remover, All-Purpose Cleaner Concentrate, & Carpet Scrubbing Concentrate

From now, until May 21st, you can use the discount code MOMHOP10 for 10% off!

Use the Giveaway Tool below for your chance to win:

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Disclosure: 

Mama's Baby Cupcakes, Mommy's Favorite Things and the "Love for Mom" participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations.

Big News: I'm Officially a WAHM!

Thanks to the inspiration of working with so many successful Work-at-Home-Moms (WAHMS), I have decided to venture out on my own.

Introducing.....

Open for Business!

As some of you know, I believe that God has called me to be a stay at home mom.  My place is with my daughter and in my home.  Call me old-fashioned, but this is what I was born to do.

In an effort for me to make a bit of income (which we really do need), Hubby casually mentioned that I should sell some of the stuff that I make for us.  

We have both learned so much about the chemicals in our cleaning products, as well as the chemicals in our bath & body products, that we've slowly started switching everything over.  And we both believe that there are a lot of other people out there, like us, who are sick of chemical ridden products.  Why add nasty ingredients when natural ones work just as well?

So... We have officially started selling natural cleaners and natural body products!  And I am SO excited!!  We named the shop after our daughter, Aelah, which is Hebrew for Terebinth Tree (find out more about her name here and more about the process of naming our shop here).

Live locally??  Keep an eye out for us at craft shows!  We had a first one last week and we've hit the ground runnin'!  ;)

We are starting small but hope to grow.  You see, I won't sell anything that I haven't perfected in our home.  And sometimes that takes time.  I tend to combine recipes to get the best of the best.  But sometimes something isn't quite right.  Our laundry detergent, for example, went through 2 or 3 changes before I settled on the best recipe: something that cleans well, lasts a long time, and doesn't leave any residue!

Rest assured that if you're buying from our shop, it is a tried and true recipe.  No chemicals.  No additives.  Just natural ingredients.

So what all are we selling anyways???

For the time being, here is our list:

• All-Purpose Cleaner Concentrate
• Carpet Cleaner Concentrate (great for use in carpet scrubbers as well as spot-cleaning)
• Goo Remover
• Laundry Detergent (not listed on the shop yet but will be very soon!)
• Deodorant
• Organic Vapor Rub

Natural and Simple.

Follow us on Facebook here.

or

Favorite our Etsy shop here.

And....drum roll please...

Make sure to stop by on Monday for a giveaway sponsored by The Terebinth Tree.  One reader will win store credit of $25!

Plus, use discount code MYBLOG10 for 10% off!

If you could switch over one product: cleaning or bath & body....what would it be??

Uniquely Daddy: Ginger Beer Kit

Spring has sprung!  And that means Mother's Day & Father's Day are just around the corner!  I already have a great list of Mom Gifts here.  It is constantly growing since I am a mom myself and I have the chance to review great products.

However, finding gifts for Dads can be much more difficult.  And, in honor of my Hubby's first official Father's Day, I've decided to do a review series focusing on unique gifts for Dads entitled 'Uniquely Daddy.'  There will be a growing list of great ideas here.  So without further ado, let me introduce you to the first great gift idea:

I was given a free Ginger Beer Kit in exchange for an open & honest review.  All opinions are my own.  

Hubby and I have recently discovered the wonder that is Ginger Beer (like Root Beer...it is alcohol free).  I enjoy it.  But Justin is obsessed.  He wants to try ever brand of ginger beer we can find.  So when I started looking for unique Father's Day gifts, I immediately thought of ginger beer.  And I stumbled across Manor Farm Hardwick.  They have a kit to make ginger beer!

Super fun right?

Not only can he have his ginger beer!  He can make it!  And let's face it, guys feel pretty macho when they can do something themselves, whether it is fixing the car, fixing the light or the sink, you name it.... I think it gives them a sense of accomplishment.  ;)

Here is what comes in the kit:

Ginger, Sugar, Yeast, and Directions.  Everything to make your own "Ginger Plant"

Here is what ours looked like:

Not really much of a plant but....

You do have to "feed" it every day so I guess that's where the idea comes from...

For a week your "plant" gets a little bit of ginger and sugar.

After a week, you get to prepare your ginger beer.

Two cool things here:

1. You could definitely make this a part of a date night.  If you can stand each other in the kitchen that is....haha.  But, really, we had a fun time putting it all together.  Even Hubby said if we had planned a little better, it could have been a really fun date night... Dinner and then making ginger beer!  

2. After you make the ginger beer, you can split whats left of the plant "start," split it in half and start TWO ginger beer plants!  The gift that keeps on giving!

Anyways...here are a few sneak peeks at what our night entailed:

Juicing lemons...

Cooking on the stove...

...and pouring the finished product into bottles.

After bottling, you have to wait three days to enjoy the delicious brew.  So, if the Daddy in your life is not a patient man, this may not be the best idea.  ;)

However, the end product is worth it!

Ginger Beer.   Mmmmmmm

We had 4 bottles and a little more out of our one ginger plant.  And it is good.  To be fair, it isn't quite as "gingery" as some of the ginger beers you can buy in the store...but there is something refreshing about the fact that we did this.  Hubby and I as a team.

And isn't that the best gift you can give?  You and your husband working together, spending time with him, giving him a sense of accomplishment, and a refreshment to enjoy after a hard day's work.  And at only $5, it's a great deal!  Get one for the man in your life here.  They also have a Salt Beef Kit that you can get here.

And guess what!?!  Manor Farm Hardwick sent me an extra Ginger Beer Kit so I could give one away!  To enter, use the Giveaway Tool form below.  Good luck!

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The Truth: Two Roads Diverged....

I recently accepted a job with the local medical pregnancy clinic, Life Choices.  I am teaching sexual integrity to the local schools (8th, 10th, and 11th grade).  It is a daunting task, but this first week has been amazing!  However, any prayers would greatly be appreciated - this is a spiritual battleground if I have ever seen one!

A part of our curriculum covers integrity.  We talk about what that means: doing the right thing even when no one is watching.  We should all want to be people of integrity.  After all, no one wants to be the villain right?  

Then why are there so many people in this world that seem to lack integrity and morals?  I'm sure you can all think of someone or multiple people that you know who have gone their own way without regard to other people.  They follow the lusts and sinful desires of their hearts, hurting those around them as well as themselves.

I truly believe those people are the ones who have chosen to self-engineer their paths instead of following the path the Lord has laid before us.  Some of those people may not even realize this is what they are doing...but in the end, there are only two paths: your own or the Lord's.

Psalm 81:11-16
11 But My people did not listen to My voice,
And Israel did not obey Me.
12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in their own devices.
13 Oh that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!
14 I would quickly subdue their enemies
And turn My hand against their adversaries.
15 Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him,
And their time of punishment would be forever.
16 But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

We have all heard the poem by Robert Frost:

...Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - / I took the one less traveled by, / and that has made all the difference.

We are all standing before those two roads in the woods.  And we have to make a choice.  Do we go the way of the world and follow our selfish desires or do we take God's road, the one less traveled?

Let's take a look at the two different roads, shall we?

To take God's path means we 'hearken' to His word.  In other words, we listen and obey.  Much like Israel, we hear God's voice as no other people (Henry).  His word is at our fingertips and we are allowed to read it, study it, and talk about it without any repercussion.  Isn't that amazing!?!  His word is His will and "The highest blessedness of man is to have a will submissive to God's will, and to carry out that submission in all details of life" (Expositor's).  Let's focus on what listening to those words and choosing God's path and will means for us.  As verse 14 states, He would quickly subdue our enemies and adversaries.  Verse 16 goes on to say that He would feed us with the finest of the wheat and with honey from the rock He would satisfy us.  

The finest of wheat? Translate that to mean the best of the best.  When we listen to Him and obey what He commands, we will have access to the best of the best.  But what about the honey from the rock?  That isn't even possible.  You're right.  It isn't!  But God doesn't work in the realm of the possible.  He works in the realm of the impossible!  When we read the words 'and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you'  what we are to hear is something closer to this: you will no longer be "on the ground of the actual, but of the ideal...the expression is [one] for incomparable abundance" (Expositor's).  Did you catch that?  If we listen and obey we will be living the ideal, a world of incomparable abundance!!

But that isn't where it ends!  God is so incredibly amazing!  God is the definition of patience.  When we are striving to listen & obey, we sometimes fall off the wagon.  In those times, He has the most amazing "restraining grace" (Wesley).  He has every right to destroy us, but He restrains and give us grace - "His grace is His own...and He never gave His grace to any that could say they deserved it" (Henry).  Do you think you deserve His restraining grace?  I know I don't!  But He gives it anyways!!  

Why does God want us to serve Him? God "delights in our serving Him, not because He is the better for it, but because we shall be" (Henry).  God has so many promises for us inside of His will, along His path... His word clearly expresses those.  And His word never fails!

So if His word doesn't fail, what does?  We do.  We fail by choosing to go our own path instead of the Lord's.  When Scripture says that the Lord "gave them over" (vs. 12), it simply means that He let them go.  He let them go their own way instead of forcing them into His will.  And "when they were delivered up to their own lusts; that is worse than being give up to Satan, which may be [for] reformation (1 Tim. 1:20)...but to be delivered up to their own hearts' lusts is to be sealed under condemnation" (Henry). 

God does the same with us.  If we abuse His grace, if we think His grace will be there even though we choose to ignore His commands and His will, if we take His voice for granted and it  becomes just noise in the background that we don't even listen to, then we have chosen to follow our own path.  God will let us go our own way.  Unfortunately for us, "There is no worse fate for a man than to be allowed to do as he chooses" for "it is sin that makes our troubles long and our salvation slow" (Expositor's, Henry).

So you see, just as God never gives His grace to anyone that deserves it, "He never took it away from any but [those who had] first forfeited it" (Henry).  It is a tight rope we walk when we choose to follow our own path.  Eventually God's grace won't be ours for the taking any more.

I will leave you with this quote for the Expositor's Commentary that wraps it up pretty neatly:

"Self-engineered paths are always hard, and, if pursued to the end, lead into the dark.  The listening heart will not lack guidance, and obedient feet will find God's way the way of peace which steadily climbs to unfading light."

Are you heading into the dark or are you climbing towards the light?

God's Path or Your Own?

Aelah Grace: 5 Months

She was too focused on the basket to pay full attention to me...

I'm a little late with this one, as usual...Aelah turned 5 months last Thursday!!  It is all just flying by so very fast.  She is absolutely amazing.  It is so fun to watch her explore and learn!

How am I Growing?

She is something else isn't she?

Unreal isn't it?!?!  I can't believe she was ever that little....

I don't know how much she weighs at this point....but I'll say we're somewhere between 17 and 18 pounds....and probably close to 28 inches long...but those are guesses.  She grows so stinkin' fast!!

What's New?

Again, the better question might be what isn't new?  It is amazing how much can change in one single month.  Here's a review in pictures:

She decided the best place to play is in her exersaucer....I think because she can see everything this way...

Couldn't get her to take a bottle so we tried the sippy cup and that did the trick!  She loves to hold it herself and chew or sip.  A perfect solution for when Mommy has to be away...so a HUGE answer to prayer.

Story time with Daddy has become one of our favorite activities before bed.  Good Night, Good Night Construction Site seems to be Daddy's favorite.  ;) 

Mirrors are absolutely amazing!!  And so is sitting up...though we haven't quite mastered that one, she does pretty good for short periods of time!

How am I Sleeping?

She LOVES sleeping on her belly...but HATES waking up this way....

Sleeping really depends on the night.  Some nights she will go 7-8 hour stretches and some nights it's only 3 or 4 hours stretches.  But thankfully, when she wakes up she eats and goes right back to sleep.

How am I eating?

You know how I say in a month things change like crazy....well, since her developmental cues are right on target and since she stares, chews, and grabs at our food while we eat, we thought it might be time to start foods soon.  We had originally wanted to wait until 6 months to introduce her to anything but breast-milk, however, she shows all the signs of being ready and I think it will be a good change.  It will be slow at first.  And I'm still back and forth about Baby Led Weaning (otherwise known as baby led solids) or purees or a mixture of both.  Leaning toward a mixture.  But it looks like you all will find out what we decide in our 6 month post!!


**If you have tried baby led weaning, what were some of the first foods you introduced?

How to Start Seeds (and More!)

Hi all! When I saw this post about gardening, I knew I had to share it with you!  Since I had recently shared some of my own gardening tips, I thought this was a great follow up.  It touches base on deciphering the different meanings when looking for seeds (i.e. hybrid, heirloom, organic...), seed storage and expiration, and how to start seeds!  

If you haven't ordered seeds yet, SeedsNow has a great variety of GMO-Free Heirloom seeds for just .99 cents!!  Get yours here.

Take a look at  the graphics below and then let me know what you learned in the comment section.  I love to hear from my readers!

Happy Gardening!!!



Source: Fix.com