Reusable Sandwich Wraps

Well for us here in Australia it's that time of year 'Back to School Shopping'. Yes we are fast approaching the start of a new school year and while we may not all technically be going 'back to school', we are starting a new round of extra curricular activities and excursions.

Now my latest project is making these 'reusable sandwich wraps'. I used this tutorial which also included a template. I didn't use laminated fabric because I'm sure about the plastic and whether it is food grade. I sniped open Glad ziploc bags as the plastic is foodgrade and stronger in quality.

What Do You Need

* fabric of your choice

* ziploc bags

* Velcro

* your preferred method of sewing. I used my overlocker for this project & my machine to attach the velcro.





Once they have been used you just wipe them out & if they get too messy I will just drop them in a bucket of napisan to soak & then drip dry. Easy & our use of plastic bags is now reduced.

Let It Rain, Let It Rain, Let It Rain!!!

Well after 6 weeks of rain, over 75% of our state of Queensland is under water. We have seen some of the most horrific footage and watched it unfold in towns near us. Our city is going under as we speak and my husband has headed to the city to take a gas bbq & crank radio & tv to a unit full of older single women who have no power and will not be getting any, any time soon. It did just start to rain again which is not good news. It has just been so tragic as we watch wives looking for their husbands (plural) in the mud and debris that was once their homes.
While we are not affect in our suburb it is really difficult so sit at home and wait. Daniel (son) has been helping members of our ward move today and went through the city and took these photos.






These photo's are of our State Library, Museum & Performing Arts theater. As you can see Wicked is on and has been canceled for now. (lead actress is a Latter-day saint as well)



The Brisbane Temple is high on the hill at Kangaroo Point and over looks the Brisbane River but if you drive a 100 meters down this main expressway, you look up and see Angel Moroni on your left.




This is where our oldest daughter Ashleigh works. Aptly named the Riverside Center. They were evacuated from their offices yesterday and won't be heading back for a little while.



I'm so glad that we are also totally into our homestorage and have more than enough supplies to get us through. We didn't have to go to the store in a panic thankfully. We went to get chips & a few odds and ends yesterday and people were really panicked. The shelves where empty of almost everything in the form of convenience foods. Chicken & Chips!! When we lived in cyclone prone territory in far north Queensland , people always rushed to the shops and bought hot chickens & potato crisps. Always made me laugh. They have no idea how to bake a loaf of bread from scratch. I'm sure glad I do in times like this.

Breaking news for my son. EFY, scheduled for next week has just been canceled. The University was going under today, but he just got word that it has been canceled. He is so disappointed. He did get to attend YSA Conference in Sydney last week. Great to be 18!

Well I am off to bed. We have been told to prepare for the worst when we wake up in the morning as the river will peak at 4am. It's hard to believe that there could be worse than what we have already had this week.

13th Article of Faith Subway Art

Well this is my first project on my Silhouette Machine. I was one very lucky mum at Christmas time this year and was blessed to have one arrive in the mail! I just did this one a a $2 canvas because I didn't want to, well, wreck anything on my first go at it. I loved all the Subway art that was done for Christmas on all those blogs out there. However I wanted something 'unseasonal' and the 13th Article of Faith came to mind. Now I'm off to make one focusing on our Ward goal for the next four months which is focused on remarks given by Sister Beck at a CES Training Broadcast which is "Live so that you are brilliant at the basics". Family & personal prayer is this months goal followed by scripture study, Sacrament attendance & Temple attendance.

Well I'm sure I can turn that into a tile or something. I will show you when I 'm finished.

Maths Facts Now

Maths facts Now 2.0 is a fantastic drill program that is used to reinforce those essential maths facts.

We have been trialling this over the Christmas break with a great deal of success. I love the simplicity of the program. Once you (teacher/parent) set the program in motion during the initial process, it regulates the strengths and weakness of the student and sets the program accordingly.

If the student makes a mistake on a problem, Maths facts Now will take them back over that problem several times with a little warning 'be careful' just to remind them not to be tricked again.

I'm not good with things that have timers. My girls are not competitive by nature and find that hard, but the beauty of this program is that you can set the 'times up' timer to your own request. I did want it longer but they do limit you with that.

Price

Math Facts NOW! 2.0 IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD costs $15.95 NO S/H!

Math Facts NOW! 2.0 on CD-ROM costs $15.95 + $3.95 S/H

System Requirements: Runs on Windows 2000, ME, XP, Vista and Windows 7. 4.5 Mb of free hard drive space required.

For a free trial of this program click here

What We Think

While maths isn't one of my girls favorite subjects, this one works really well for drill practice with purpose. I like that there is no blurry lines to distinguish between as far as 'games' are concerned. No animation. No playgrounds to venture into when you have done your facts. Just straight out maths facts in a clear, easy to follow method of delivery. For $15.95 its not a big out of pocket expense for a fantastic program.

Read the Bible In 90 Days

Today I began my 90 day 'challenge', to read the bible in 90 days. I will call it a challenge because I have to be honest I'm not very disciplined with this aspect of my life. However this morning I was up early and read my first assigned target for the day. 1 down only 89 more days to go!

The part that really grabbed me about this challenge was S.O.A.P. I have been involved with many scripture reading goals over the years and always participated well, and felt the blessing in my life. But this aspect of the challenge, while not necessarily new, has a fresh approached with the simplicity of the idea but the value of the personal lesson's you can learn from them when guided by the spirit certainly add value to the challenge. Click on the S.O.A.P link above to read what Amy from mom's toolbox blog has to say about it. This is also the jump off point for this challenge so if you think you might like to join it pop over to that fabulous blog to check it out.

As for me day 2 is almost here and I'm excited about being a part of this. Hope you can join us as well.

"Dining with Joy " by Rachel Hauck:

Dining With Joy is a lighthearted look at the world of reality television and how the saying comes true: "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive." Joy has a reality tv show where she is the celebrity cook, with one major hitch: she can't actually cook. She took over the show from her father as a deathbed request from him and a clever producer helped her to do this, however, when the producer sells the show without her consultation, Joy is suddenly thrust into a whole new level of deception to maintain her ruse. Enter Luke, the romantic interest, a talented chef whose own restaurant business failure has led him to the small town where Joy works. Both find themselves at a crossroads, and begin to rely more on each other to grow and learn the meaning of love and loss and how to cook a great fried chicken. I enjoyed the book from the food perspective, being a foodie myself, and the G-rated romantic writing was a refreshing change. It was a quick read and the sort of book to grab when looking for some light relief.

Disclaimer~Review written by guest blogger Lucy R. Lucy R. received a complementary copy of this book through Booksneeze for the purpose of the review and all opinions expressed are her own.

ALEKS review

Once again the TOS Crew have had the opportunity to review another great web based program. ALEKS is an online mathematics assessment and learning program that tailors itself to the individual needs of your child.

Once you have signed up and logged the necessary individual user names and passwords your child is presented with a series of maths problems to solve. These problems are spread across many facets of mathematics and the student either answers the question or simple clicks 'have not done that'. At the end the student is then given a tailor made program that works on both their strengths and weaknesses. You can click on the previous link to take a tour of the course content available to you.
The results are displayed in a colored-keyed pie chart which is easy to understand and plots out the course that the student will then follow.



They specifically cater for the homeschooler and seem to have a great program tailored to that market. However they don't cater for countries outside the US. For us here in Australia there was no way for us to do the money section as the entire unit is US dollars which we have no concept of nor any interest at this stage of learning. My kids love the money maths so that was a disappointment. We also had to leave the 'measuring' maths. We use metric here in Australia and that was not available to us as a specific unit, so that was another important unit that was void for us. it would be great to see them add that translation to their curriculum at some stage.

The ALEKS team were fantastic. They answered all your questions almost immediately and even questions that you didn't know you had. There customer service was like I have never experienced with this sort of program before. Nothing was to much trouble for them. That point alone was a major selling point for me. A lot of these sort of programs offer customer service but never quite deliver. Aleks on the other hand were fantastic.

They give you the opportunity of a free trial which I would recommenced if you were looking for an online maths course for your family. My children did find it a little 'dry' for them but they aren't really ready for this sort of independent learning. Click here for the videos and 'tour' of the ALEKS program.

Disclaimer~ I received a trial of ALEKS to review and the opinion expressed is my own