I have to brag about Chris….I hired a new exterminating company last  year after our garage was filled with bees one morning.  A few weeks before that, we had a scorpion hatch babies in our home.  So, I did some research and discovered that TruTech handles all kinds of pests, wildlife and just about every critter you can think of except for termites.  If you need a good exterminating company, I highly recommend TruTech and maybe you will get  as lucky as I did to have Chris sent to your home.  He is truly a pro at getting rid of the unwanted pests and he is a hero with the work he does to save, rescue, heal and place wounded animals that he regularly finds in our desert environment.  I had to brag about this cool individual who is making a difference….and keeping our home pest free!  Since we first hired Chris, I haven’t seen any more scorpions, bees or crickets.  I love that!

Thank you Chris for sending in your pictures of James Caan.  Send us your pet pics!  We love to get them and post them every weekend to honor the animal members of our families.  Email your pet pic to rachel@managedmoms.com.  Check out the awesome variety of pet pics that we have received.  At that link, which is filed under the Pet Pics tab of our site, you can scroll down to see all kinds of pet photos that our readers have sent in to us.  We love it.

We wish you and your pets a great weekend.

No compensation was provided by TruTech for this story.  Chris is my exterminator and I wanted to brag about what a cool animal hero he is to our wildlife.

What did our winner win?  Keep on reading!!  And remember if you are a subscriber, then you are automatically entered in our weekly drawing for great prizes that include beauty items, cookware,  jewelry and more!  Lots of cool stuff!  Now, let’s announce this week’s lucky winner….

This week’s Freebie Friday winner is:

Amy Jordan from Peoria, Arizona! 

(winner selected through random.org)

Amy won….

A beautiful  Jennifer Lopez Rose Gold Tone Simulated Cat’s-Eye Cabochon Oval Ring from Kohl’s and a beauty bag full of bath and body products.  

Congratulations Amy and thank you so much for being a managedmoms.com subscriber!  We appreciate it!

And we will have more great prizes next week, so stay tuned for that and become a subscriber to be automatically entered into the weekly drawing that we do through random.org! 

HOW TO ENTER NEXT WEEK’S FREEBIE FRIDAY…

Do you want a chance to be in the Freebie Friday drawing for next week?  If you are a subscriber, you are automatically entered!

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now at www.managedmoms.com.  Simply subscribe to the website by filling out the area in the right hand column that says “subscribe to managedmoms.com.”  Being a subscriber means that you simply get a notification email each time we run a recipe, article, beauty tip, coupon and more.  We don’t share your email address with anyone and you are automatically entered into the weekly Freebie Friday drawing for your chance to win a cool prize every Friday.  It is that easy!

The beautiful Jennifer Lopez ring was provided by Kohl’s.   Thank you to Kohl’s! 

Managed:  Got it together and got my family on a plan with tips that are working below….and I have started juicing at home and it is easier than I thought it would be.  So read on for ideas, that are working for us, to get your family on a better eating plan.  Plus I have a healthy and yummy juicing recipe below.  First here are the changes that I made with my family and we took it slow and it is working….

*When they complained about feeling sluggish or having a bit of a tummy, I used that as an opportunity to discuss and share ideas about how to improve our diet.  We all agreed that we had to stop eating out so much and start eating in much more.

*I started weaning our family off of the snacks and sweets slowly in small steps by replacing my beloved Blue Bell ice cream with Skinny Cow instead.  I purchased snack sized treats instead of the big bags.  This made all of us more aware of the calories and ingredients that are listed on the individual sized packages.  I’m not touting Pringles as healthy because they are not, but getting the snack sized portions was a good start to making my family aware of portion control, reading labels and practicing moderation.

*I also asked them for ideas on what healthy foods can replace the sweets.  Asking them to come up with alternative foods gives them ownership, too.  Foods like bananas, nectarines and watermelon made the list and the other night my family had frozen grapes for dessert.

*I did the same thing with snacks.  They came up with dill pickles, whole grain crackers with swiss cheese slices, air popped popcorn, carrots, a veggie tray with ranch, tree nut mix for my boy (our girl is allergic unfortunately), homemade guacamole and more.

*Hubs started taking our teenage son with him to the gym several times a week and they are both getting muscular right before my very eyes.  That is cool.

*My girl asked to take up volleyball for a new hobby and for the exercise and the other night my sweet son took her running.

*I made myself a promise that I would cook real homemade healthy meals at home four times a week.  With our busy schedules, the other days are sandwiches and easy meals like quick tacos and eating out when needed, but making better choices like ordering chicken teriyaki over brown rice at Pei Wei instead of a greasy burger.

*I became very strict on drinks.  Our only drinks in this house are milk, water, my husband’s daily grapefruit juice and occasionally Gatorade.   Only once in a while though because Gatorade is loaded with sugar.  For me, my daily drinks are water, water and more water, coffee with fat free creamer, ice unsweetened green tea and the occasional glass of a good white wine.

*I explained to my family that packaged foods have ingredients in them that are chemical that we would never put in our own homemade recipes.  That really got them thinking about the wholesome difference between addictive convenience foods and the good stuff that generations before us ate for dinner.

So these tips have been working and everyone is looking and feeling better in our home.

Now on to me because I don’t have the speedy metabolism that a tween and teen benefit from and it does seem to be easier for my husband to keep the weight off than it is for me.  So I practiced all of the changes listed above, started exercising to home fitness DVDs (don’t have time for anything else and they work and are free after the initial purchase) and I added juicing into my life.  I have lost 7 pounds over the last two months and my skin is looking better, too.  The juicer I tried is the T-Fal Balanced Living Juice Extractor.I thought that juicers cost several hundred dollars, but this sells for only $66 at amazon.com.  This cool kitchen tool guarantees a quick and easy way to make healthy fruit and vegetable juices in just a matter of minutes with two speeds and a whole fruit feeding tube.  The juicer features an anti-drip spout, stainless steel filter and 1.25 liter pitcher, which are all dishwasher safe, for fast and easy clean up.  One tip…if you buy a juicer, clean it right away as it will be much easier to get the veggie and fruit residue off quickly.

My favorite restaurant in the world is the very healthy Pomegranate Cafe and I regularly order their Braveheart green juice.  So I tried to make one myself and it worked and is so good for me!  Here is what I did….

My Good For You Green Juice inspired by Pomegranate Cafe!!

I simply put one apple, 1/2 cucumber, 4 small celery stalks, a handful of Kale and a handful of leafy greens in my T-fal juice extractor and then add the juice of one freshly squeezed orange into the pitcher that comes with the extractor.  Mine tasted just like Pom’s Braveheart.  I was so excited to be able to create it!  It tastes like celery, cucumber and apple and it is tasty to me and delicious to my skin.  So in under 3 minutes, I was able to create two servings of leafy greens, one apple, celery, cucumber and fresh orange into my drink and into my body.  I  can’t wait to try other combos, too.   I just bought the Juicing Bible and am looking forward to trying the many recipes found in that book.  Do you know of any good juicing recipes?  Please tell us in the comments section.

The parts come right off and are easy to clean, too. 

Here’s to eating well for our health, our skin and for our families.  We need to be fueled up to keep up with them!

One new T-fal Balanced Living Juice Extractor was provided to me to test.  The opinions about how much I love and use it are 100% my own. 

Manic:  

Managed:  Catching our breath and celebrating a very successful school year for my kiddos!  They both had a big year with my girl earning her first straight A report card and my boy receiving a certificate yesterday for his 4.0 grade point average during his Freshman year.   Plus he was in 11th grade math, even though he is only a Freshman, so I’m impressed and I don’t know where he gets his math gift, as it is not from his parents! Today, on this last day of my son’s Freshman year (can he really be a Sophomore now?!) and on this last day of my girl’s grade school years, I say happy last day of school to you and to yours if this is your last day, too.  And if it is not, it is coming soon!

As my girl departs elementary school, she asked me to buy cookie dough, so I did and this is what she made her teacher, all by herself, with no help from me whatsoever (I love that they are older now and so independent)….

 Can you guess what it stands for?  Best Teacher Ever and I love this.  Her teacher did, too.

So now she is off to middle school and even though my son has already successfully been through middle school, I hear it is a different experience for girls.  I’m told that junior high is harder on the ladies.  Why is this?  Any advice for this Mom of a now middle school girl?  Please share your best tips and experiences. We’ve got a couple of months of summer break, so I would love to hear your thoughts as we ease on in to middle school.  Leave a comment here in the comments section and have a great summer break

Manic:  

Managed:  Celebrating the baby of the family finishing up grade school and heading on to middle school.  She is so ready!  Today is her promotion ceremony and we are very proud of our girl.  I congratulate her on an amazing year with her huge achievement of finally bringing home a straight A report card.  She worked for that for the last two years since they don’t give letter grades until the 4th grade.  She only missed one day of school and that was when the nurse called me at 8:15 am two weeks ago because the tummy flu got my girl.  She was never tardy, not one day.  So I give her a ton of credit.  You go girl!

But I must also give her teacher, Mr. Middleton a huge shout-out!  When you get a good teacher, a truly amazing leader who really invests himself (or herself) into the well being of the kids….who challenges them with projects that require the kids to think out of the box and when you find a teacher who truly gets your kid…the pros and the challenges of that particular personality…you just won the educational lottery.  Mr. Middleton and many of Lexi’s teachers through the years at Sierra Elementary School served her well and I choose today, in this post, to say thank you!

Here are some highlights from this year and past years with examples of how a variety of our teachers went above and beyond.  I thank them.  Check these cool examples out…

This Year:

*Mr. Middleton was new to our school and we had heard through the grapevine that he was adored at his previous school.  From day one, Lexi came home excited about her energetic, humorous and creative new teacher who had big plans to get them beyond ready for middle school.  The first day matters and he set the tone just right.

*With every project, he made it interesting.  Instead of having kids write a bio, they took on a complete character with props, a costume and a presentation that all parents were invited to attend.  Alexis was thrilled and dove right into her biography report about Jane Goodall.  Here she is, all smiles, after her presentation….

*When she had to learn about a state, she chose Kentucky and preparing a meal that related to that state was part of the project, so she was thrilled to learn that Kentucky Fried Chicken truly had ties to Kentucky.  She helped me to research a fried chicken recipe and we worked together to make it from scratch.  She truly did most of the work and she was very proud of the finished dish, which she took to school as part of her report.  I must tell you that this Skillet Fried Chicken recipe is the best that I’ve ever had, so try this recipe that calls for buttermilk, cayenne pepper, garlic and other yummy ingredients.  Again, Mr. Middleton’s creative ideas made learning and presenting really fun for Lexi.  Here is a picture of that yummy chicken frying away in peanut oil…definitely an indulgence that was worth the educational calories. 

*Mr. M. held early morning prep workshops for kids that wanted a little extra help preparing for AIMS testing.  I couldn’t believe it when my girl was up and at em at 6am because she didn’t want to miss it.  He also offered math workshops and she participated in some of those after-school events, too.

*With every extracurricular activity, Lexi’s teacher cheered her on, wished her luck, congratulated her and attended her “Christmas Carol” show at the Ahwatukee Children’s Theatre.  She was beaming with pride when she spotted her teacher in the packed audience.

*Mr. M. was fair and gave us honest and helpful advice at her parent teacher conference about topics that included her perfectionism and whether or not to place her in honors middle school classes.  He was careful to ask if we were interested in his advice and we found it so valuable.  It takes a village and to get his perspective balanced with ours is a real advantage for our focused daughter, who at times puts too much pressure on herself.  Mr. Middleton is one of those teachers that goes above and beyond and Alexis will never forget him.  She has told us so.  Thank you Mr. Middleton.

I could truly go on and on, but I want to also mention a few other highlights from our years with some amazing teachers.

*In Kindergarten, wonderful Mrs. Willis identified Alexis’ perfectionism right away and worked with us to devise a plan to help her manage the big goals that she puts on herself.  She had a rule that Lexi could only start over once.  She also discovered that our little girl was musical, so she incorporated a solo by Lexi into a school program that taught language arts skills.  Confidence and stage presence was born that day and our girl has never looked back since.

Years ago when our boy was in Mrs. Willis Kindergarten class and now years ago when our girl was with her…she is one amazing teacher!

Both of my kids (and hubs and I, too) adore Michelle Willis and we will never forgot the gift that she has been in our lives.

*Lexi’s 1st grade teacher, the amazing Holly Martin, helped Lexi with some challenging social skills that year when it came to ignoring the mean actions of others and taking the high road.  Academically Lex loved learning from Holly Martin, too….just as our son had years earlier.

*Her 2nd grade teacher told us that our girl was a bit behind in the reading department, but she was careful to never the use word “behind” with our girl.  Instead she challenged her to read more, talked her into attending a special reading class and encouraged her to the fullest.  When Lexi left Ms Carmichal’s class and started a very academically challenging 4th grade year, her reading was up to par.

These are just a few examples.   I have many more.  Teachers work in a job where they make a difference every single day and when they are good…the opportunities for your child to thrive are endless.  From our incredible Kindergarten teacher Michelle Willis to this year’s highly adored and amazing 5th grade Mr. Middleton….I can’t thank you enough for leaving your mark and making a difference in the lives of my most prized possession….my kiddos!

Cheers to the teachers

When I heard that statistic, I knew I had to do something more.  Our family has adopted three cats from our local shelters and several months ago I fostered a cat.  If you didn’t see my story about fostering Oliver the cat and having him neutered, immunized and placed with an amazing family, be sure to read it because it is a great story with a happy ending.

Oliver the fab foster cat….one of the most loving kitties our family had ever met!

So our family has done what we can so far to help with this incredibly sad issue.  But recently I heard about another way that I can help and so can you and it is easy as reading this article and taking a pledge.  No money needed, no commitments, just read below and then take the pledge at the link provided to help spread the word about the Fix. Adopt. Save. Pledge! that will greatly reduce the number of homeless animals and worse, the high number that are put down when they don’t get adopted.

The Fix. Adopt. Save. program is formed of an alliance of eight animal welfare agencies, backed by multi-mullion dollar philanthropic support.  All have joined together to solve Maricopa County’s homeless animal problem by launching the “Fix. Adopt. Save.” campaign – a collaborative effort to encourage responsible pet ownership, and to dramatically increase spay/neuter and pet adoption rates in the Valley.

Never before have this many organizations come together to tackle dog and cat homelessness in the Valley, helping animals and communities in the process. The three-year effort will provide 44,000 free spay/neuter surgeries and prepare an additional 7,000 pets for adoption to reduce euthanasia of homeless pets. Nearly 90,000 animals per year end up in shelters with too few being adopted.  This is good news and managedmoms.com fully supports this wonderful program!

The Fix. Adopt. Save. campaign aims to “change the equation,” for homeless animals in Maricopa County. For every 100 homeless animals who are adopted in Maricopa County, 100 others are euthanized. This equation is simply unacceptable.

Join us. Take the Fix. Adopt. Save. Pledge and be a part of our community pledge to save this innocent and sweet animals. 

I took it and all I had to do was check a box that gave me an idea of what I can do to help with these efforts.  There are several boxes to choose from and since we have already adopted three cats and fostered one, I checked the box that suggests to help the spread the word and writing this post does just that.

So take the pledge and tell us in the comments section about a pet that you have saved.  Here are our three cats that were all adopted from shelters and all three of them are great pets and definitely loving members of our family….

Our sweet Stanley with his beloved Gingerbread man. So cute!

Our handsome Tucker boy.

Little Lucy girl that was adopted from a shelter by our tween daughter who told us that she wanted to save a black cat since so many people walk past the black ones.

I will raise a paw to that and say cheers to the Fix. Adopt. Save campaign.  Join me!

Non only is Trish’s dog is a good friend to her cats, but he is also a good watchdog with his bionic ears.

I just love this funny picture!  You can see more of Trisha’s pet articles, parenting articles, recipes, giveaways and more at her momdot.com blog  Thanks for sharing Trish!

This picture reminds us to find some quality play time with our pets this weekend because it is good for them and for us humans.  Send us your pet pics.  We love to post them and we have received some great ones so far.   Click under the Pet Pic section to see the gallery.  Email you pet pics to rachel@managedmoms.com and have a great weekend.

What did our winner win?  Keep on reading!!  And remember if you are a subscriber, then you are automatically entered in our weekly drawing for great prizes that include beauty items, cookware,  jewelry and more!  Lots of cool stuff!  Now, let’s announce this week’s lucky winner….

This week’s Freebie Friday winner is:

Pat French from Gilbert, Arizona! 

(winner selected through random.org)

Pat won….

A beautiful Bath & Body Gift set from LUSH that is called the Lovely Gift and the goodies inside include the Secret Garden Bath Bomb, Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner and more.   Here is what is inside the lovely wrapped box….

Pat also won a very special and pretty Prosperity Candle that is part of a line of beautiful handmade candles manufactured by female entrepreneurs in and from distressed regions of the globe.  Prosperity Candles work with women who are from distressed parts of the world who have survived conflict or natural disaster. They are now rebuilding their lives. They come from places that include Burma, Haiti, Rwanda, Iraq and Afghanistan. These women make these beautiful candles and other gifts.

Each candle sold helps give them more security and income. The money they earn through Prosperity Candle helps them invest in education, health care and food for their children.  So this is truly a gift that gives back and you can even connect with the woman who made the candle.  The website has a connect page where you can read her bio, see her picture and send her a message directly. This is such a cool gift that gives back.

Congratulations Pat and thank you so much for being a managedmoms.com subscriber!  We appreciate it!

And we will have more great prizes next week, so stay tuned for that and become a subscriber to be automatically entered into the weekly drawing that we do through random.org! 

HOW TO ENTER NEXT WEEK’S FREEBIE FRIDAY…

Do you want a chance to be in the Freebie Friday drawing for next week?  If you are a subscriber, you are automatically entered!

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now at www.managedmoms.com.  Simply subscribe to the website by filling out the area in the right hand column that says “subscribe to managedmoms.com.”  Being a subscriber means that you simply get a notification email each time we run a recipe, article, beauty tip, coupon and more.  We don’t share your email address with anyone and you are automatically entered into the weekly Freebie Friday drawing for your chance to win a cool prize every Friday.  It is that easy!

The beautiful LUSH gift box was kindly provided by LUSH and the lovely Prosperity Candle was provided by Prosperity Candle.  Thank you to both companies!  All opinions about the effectiveness of the products are 100% my own. 

Managed:  The last time I did this type of segment, the producers and the viewers told me that they really liked it, so here it is again, but with a different set of beauty products that we tested to see which ones are packaged to deliver and which ones are a bit misleading with fancy packaging that doesn’t deliver.  Stay on your beauty budget with us and take a look…