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Always Moving Mommy

It’s always fun starting a new project. A few months ago, my friend Lynn from My Pixie Dust Diary contacted me about a new blog that she was starting. Her vision is a collaborative blog for moms from a community of writers. I am honored to be part of her amazing team at Always a Moving Mommy.

Always Moving Mommy

The blog launched at the end of September and is filled with great content on a wide variety of topics. Here is just a taste of some of the recent posts from the team:

Opening lines of communication with kids about bullying

My first two posts are:

I hope you will head over to Always Moving Mommy to say hello to all of us and explore.

Meet-the-Mommies-Collage-Circle

There is so much more coming in the months ahead. I can not wait to watch and read along with you.

It's Me

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Tuesday Tales: Pickle Weasel Picture Riddles

Pictures of pickles dance in our heads thanks to the extremely talented author JC Little. JC is known to  many as The Animated Woman and we have been fans of hers for quite some time. When JC mentioned that her third book was being published, I could not wait to check it out. We love the Pickle Weasel app and were excited to see this familiar pickle face in a book. We received a complimentary Kindle copy to check out the interactive features.  Of course, there is also a paper version of the book, isn’t it pretty?

JCLittle_PickleWeasel_frontandback-promo-still-rec-555

One of the fun features of the Pickle Weasel app is the picture riddle area. Now, Pickle Weasel comes to life in this book to get your brain grooving to figure out what the green super star is up to.

As you move along in the book you can try to guess what each picture riddle is about. I decided to share this screen capture because Fezzes are cool, especially on Pickle Weasel.

Pickle Weasel Picture Riddles - page

Not sure what the riddle is about? No worries, JC has included fun clues to help readers out.

Pickle Weasel Picture Riddles - clue

Did you figure it out yet? Here’s the answer:

Pickle Weasel Picture Riddles - answer

This is just a teaser because there are 100 additional picture riddles in the book with Pickle Weasel featured in them. Yes, the book contains 101 illustrations and riddles for readers to enjoy. Here is another quick taste since JC said I could share a few with my readers.

Pickle Weasel Picture Riddles Book

I definitely recommend this book to adults and kids that like picture riddles. The fun illustrations will keep you turning the pages to see what Pickle Weasel is up to next. I know I am saving this book to keep the kids busy when we take our next road trip.

Pickle Weasel Picture Riddles by JC Little

What would you like to see Pickle Weasel doing if you could request JC to draw something special? Remember to keep it PG rated because this is a family blog. As always, Tuesday Tales is all about sharing our love of books. Please let me know what you have read recently. Be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else.

It's Me

Additional posts I have written about JC Little and her talent:

Disclosure: As noted above, I received an eBook copy of this book from JC Little to review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

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The Granola Strolla Portable Solar USB Charger

Imagine having a dream to create a device and making it come true. This is the story of Granola Strolla founders Irene and Benjamin Rodda. The husband and wife team wanted to make a portable USB battery that was affordable and able to be charged with solar power. Granola Strolla Logo

We all know that keeping our smartphone, tablets, and other devices charged can be a challenge when we are on the go. Many locations do not have plugs for us to recharge and if you are walking around an amusement park you may not have time to stop. That’s the beauty of the Granola Strolla, you can clip it on a backpack, diaper bag, or stroller and it will be ready to give devices that extra boost that they may need during your outing.

Granola Strolla on bag

We met three of the four Rodda family members in May 2011. Since that time, I have kept in touch with Irene and she has been featured on my blog several times. I have been able to see all of the steps that Granola Strolla has done to make this moment happen. During this process, Irene and Benjamin have relocated from the Boston area to Tennessee. In addition to this, they have welcomed their second son into the world. Even during tough moments in their personal life, they never gave up. They kept working on the prototype, registering for trademark, and all of the other business milestones.

Granola Strolla charging

Now Granola Strolla has hit the big leagues and they have launched a Kickstarter campaign. Rather than list all of the details about the Granola Strolla here, be sure to read more information on the Kickstarter page. Disclosure: I was sent a Swag Pack with Granola Strolla items for my support, but honestly would have done this post without it. It is my pleasure to help another family to get the word out. This Kickstarter campaign just started and they already have 128 supporters and close to 40% of their funding. Please take a moment to watch their video to learn more about Granola Strolla.

The Granola Strolla Kickstarter campaign ends on October 12, 2014. Please consider donating toward their project and making this dream come true. FYI this is the Granola Strolla Swag Bag that will be sent to those that pledge $25.

Granola Strolla Swag

Wishing Irene and Benjamin much success with Granola Strolla in the future.

It's Me

Disclosure: I was sent a Granola Strolla swag bag as a thank you. As noted, I would have shared this information with my reader to help another family. All opinions are my own.

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Kicking Cancer in the Rear

Cancer is the C-word that too many of us have heard for family, friends, and even individually. The first time I remember hearing the word was when I was in fourth grade and my Papa J was diagnosed. I have to admit that I was really young and naïve. I do not recall a lot of what happened at the time except that those near and far rallied for him. Since that time, countless family and friends have been diagnosed with different types of cancer. Of course, breast cancer is part of my world. My great grandmother passed away from cancer years before technology and science were able to help diagnose her. Thank goodness these days people like my Aunt S are cancer survivors. Almost eleven years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer just before my oldest son was born.

Mammogram Machine

Thanks to my family history, I had my first mammogram two years ago. I wrote about it at the time because so many people are afraid of the machine above. The reality, this machine along with others tests are able to save lives.

Over the last few months, the C word has been on my mind a lot. This week, a special woman that I met for the first time on the monorail at Disney for a conference with her beautiful family told all of us that she was waiting on news about a lump that she had found in her breast. I have met Amanda several times since that visit to Disney, the last time at the Type A Parent Conference in Atlanta. I kept her in my thoughts and prayers as she waited for news on her biopsy. On Monday, Amanda found out that she has stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma. Amanda is a fighter and Nikki wrote about it beautifully on her post A war to be waged against the big C.

Amanda Henson - photo by Sherry Aikens

Now those of us in the blogging community are working together to support Amanda and her family during this time. We all know she is going to kick cancer’s butt.

Save the Hooters  #AmandasArmy

Right now, there is an #AmandasArmy store on Café Press (affiliate link to the store that goes right to Amanda as well) where images like the owl above can be purchased on various items. All proceeds from the store will be going right to Amanda. In addition to this, a YouCaring page has been set up as a direct fundraiser. More items are in the works because this is just what bloggers do for each other.

Amanda, know that my family and I are cheering you on from New York. We will set a date when you have made the cancer run from your body to meet up on that magical monorail once again. This is a promise, not a threat and I will buy you a special slushy at Epcot and a Dole Whip to celebrate.

It's Me

Thank you to Sherry Aikens, SuperExhausted, for the amazing photo of Amanda via the Type-A Philly photos.

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Tuesday Tales – Motherhood by JC Little

Motherhood is filled with a complex series of emotions that change and grow along with your children. People are often asked to describe what motherhood means to them.  I am here to say that I think this is a trick question. Views and feelings of being a mother are in constant motion. Depending on the day of the week, the milestone in front of you, or the special hug from your kiddo – it is never the same. Why am I being so philosophical? Well, I blame it on JC Little and her latest book Motherhood (she sent me the Kindle version to check out).Motherhood front cover by JC Little

Yes, The Animated Woman has birthed her second book and it is one that will tug at your heart and make you stop and think.

JCLittle-Motherhood-book-backcover-555

The beautiful illustrations tell the story of a mother’s growing love as she watches a piece of her heart grow up before her eyes. The pride and joy is visible in the illustrations and even though there are no words on the pages, it is a powerful story. What’s wonderful is you can read this book to your children and tell them the story that needs to be told on any given evening where they need a little extra motherly love. I believe this book would be a great gift for a mother-to-be, or even a veteran mom who has children ready to leave the nest. The timing is also nice with Mother’s Day just around the corner.

Motherhood is available for Kindle through Amazon. If you are more of a traditional book fan, you can purchase the softcover book from CreateSpace or from Amazon. Oh and if you are curious about JC’s first book The LAST Snowman, I wrote a review about it and shared a craft that goes along with it.

Are you a fan of JC Little – AKA The Animated Woman? If not run on over and check out her blog. As always, Tuesday Tales is all about sharing our love of books. Please let me know what you have read recently. Be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else.

It's Me

Disclosure: As noted above, I received an eBook copy of this book from JC Little to review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

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