Puragave Review and Giveaway!

This sweet little candy is part of the world's first line of pure dried blue agave products! They are simply delicious and have no artificial flavors added. Now here is some information about agave nectar:

Agave Nectar is a natural and delicious liquid sweetener that is made from the core of the Blue Agave plant. Agave Nectar is a delicious and natural liquid sweetener that is made from the nectar, or Aquamiel, of a succulent plant called the Agave, which is native to Mexico. Agave Nectar is made from the organically grown Agave azul or Blue Agave — a species that is known to produce the best quality Agave Nectar for sweetening.

PurAgave™ Agave Delights™ are a delicious treat or sweetener for a hot beverage, are only 10 calories per piece (2.5 g) and are available in bulk or in packages of 20 pieces. PurAgave™ Agave Lozenges™ are for the temporary relief of sore throat and nasal congestion, are also only 10 calories per piece (2.5 g) and are available in blister packages of 10 lozenges. PurAgave™ products are all conveniently sized for easy transport in pockets, cars, briefcases or purses for enjoyment anywhere. 

For more information go to http://puragave.com/

And now for the giveaway which is open to Canada and U.S!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We went and fed the ducks in West Kelowna yesterday and it was a blast the ducks were so cute and the kids loved them! These ducks even use the crosswalk by their road it is an amazing sight to see. 

If you live in the area and want to go feed the ducks this is a great spot for the family. Lots of room and lots of hungry ducks and pigeons. It is on the corner of Louie Drive and Bering Road. 

And of course if you don't live in the area come for a visit, or find some ducks in your town to feed. 

Kelowna and West Kelowna Weather and more!

Kelowna is a beautiful place to live! We have lived here for years and I absolutely love it. A lot of people ask me so what do you do where you live? What kind of weather do you have up there? Well we all know that Canadians do not live in igloos so the truth is it is perfect weather for everyone up here. We have about 4 months of winter usually in November to Febuary and possibly lingering a bit into March with a lot of cold and snow. Sometimes we can get a couple of feet of snow in just a couple of days. Then after that we have spring for just over 2 months from mid March to May the temperature is around the 10-25 degree mark and then the summer heat hits and we can get as hot as 40 degrees on our summer days. Summer lasts from June to September and then the temperatures begin to decrease for our gorgeous fall season. Right now we are getting our season of April showers for our May flowers although today is a beautiful and sunny at a nice 7 degrees Celsius. So that is what the weather is like where I live, it is just wonderful! 

This is my backyard today, simply beautiful!

 

Over the next few months I plan on blogging about my home and what there is to do around here. I would like to share with you how fantastic this place is and why it is one of the best tourist destinations in B.C.

For more information go to:

www.westsidetourism.com

www.districtofwestkelowna.ca

 http://okanaganlife.com/

www.castanet.net

I will be posting a giveaway tomorrow as well so stay tuned!

Head Lice!!??

OK so one of my worst fears when my kids started going to school was lice, I can't stand the idea of bugs in my babies hair. Ew. So far we have not gotten it, but we have come into extremely close contact with kids that do have it. There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with head lice and I am going to tell you exactly how to manage this problem. 

First do not let your child feel as though they have done anything wrong or are dirty. Head lice infests anybody no matter how often they take baths or clean themselves. Ensure your child knows it is just a part of life just like catching the flu. 

When you find lice in your child's hair you need to start treatment right away. They sell special shampoos behind the pharmacy counter you MUST buy to get rid of the lice. You cannot defeat it without so please do not try. Do the shampoo and then you need to begin the house cleanse.

First throw all bedding, sweaters, jackets, and any other clothing or fabric items into the wash. Next grab any stuffed animals or soft toys and throw them all into garbage or ziploc bags and put them in the freezer for a minimum of 12 hours. Next take all hair brushes and combs and either throw them in the dishwasher or let them soak in hot water for an hour. 

For furniture and other surfaces the best thing you can do is vacuum every space in your home. Vacuuming is the best and safest way to go. Exterminators or bug sprays are not necessary. Wipe down all the surfaces in your home using either water and vinegar, bleach, or  any other all purpose cleaner you feel the need to use. 

Now after all that is done you need to go through your childs hair and remove and and all dead lice and nits (eggs) because they can still infest after treatment if they are not disposed of. The best way is with a standard lice comb and a piece of paper towel. Begin by using the regular comb side to get knots out and then the fine comb to remove them. When you see them on your comb wipe them off using the paper towel. go through the hair until no more nits or bugs come out. 

You must treat everyone in your house even if you do not find lice on them. You may not find the eggs that are hidden on them and then you get re-infested and have to start from square one. Treat all family or household members to be safe because this is such a time consuming and costly process. The best way to save money on it is by doing all of these steps properly one time. You could wind up spending hundreds on special shampoo and loads of laundry if you don't follow this simple strategic plan.

Hopefully you will follow these steps and be lice free. I have done all of these steps but the shampoo because my kids don't have lice but some of the kids I babysit that were in my house had it. If you have a fear of lice like I do I suggest you invest in a nice lice comb. I bought a good one for 8 dollars, and do a quick comb of your kids as often as you feel like, and if you babysit like I do give them a quick combing just to be sure. I found myself in this position this morning, combing a child's hair I babysit and yes I found lice scurrying around and began the house cleaning and head checking to be safe. The child was sent home and my house continues to be lice free.

I keep my sons hair short to make it harder for lice to get on his hair and hide, I keep my daughters hair tied back when going to school for the same reason. If your school is having a lice problem you should do the same, and try to explain to your kids to keep items like hats, brushes, coats, and other personal items to themselves and don't share anyone's. Try to remind them not to be rubbing heads, or have any other head to head contact with other children, you can't tell who has and does not have lice until they are actually searched for lice.

If your child has an itchy head, or small red bumps around the neck and ears they may have head lice. Some children show no signs of having head lice which is why head checks are so important. If you are unsure you can take your child to the doctor and they will let you know if it is really lice or not. Your child is usually OK to go to school after treatment but some schools have different policies so be sure to check and inform your child's school that you have come into contact with head lice. 

So follow my simple lice defeating steps and you to can be lice free. Happy Easter weekend! 

Baby Food Cake and YOLO!

We have all heard of diaper cakes. They are an adorable gift for baby showers. Like this one here: 

There are millions of different styles of diaper cakes you can buy or create yourself. But I wanted to do something different for my best friend/sister in-law, I like to be unique and create gifts that you will remember instead of the usual so I looked up baby food cake to see what I could find. I found actual food cakes that were made with baby food but nothing using jars of baby food or boxes of baby food. So I decided I needed to get creative. Here is the first ever Baby Food Cake:

The entire creation is baby food except for the basket on the bottom holding the jars of baby food. My friend loves animal print so I took the theme and ran with it. 

I started with two boxes of pablum, 9 containers of baby food, baby cookies, a basket, tissue paper, decorative ribbon, and Winnie the Pooh decals.I started by wrapping the boxes in blue tissue paper, because clearly they had a baby boy so you can use pink for a girl or green and yellow if the sex is unknown. 

And then I began to wrap and glue the ribbon on the boxes as well.

Then once those two pieces were complete I turned my attention to the basket. 

I simply wrapped and glued ribbon all around the basket to complete the look. 

After it was completely decorated in the ribbon and tissue paper I strategically placed Winnie the Pooh decals and a pretty blue ribbon on top. I also included spoons and a baby book as a part of her baby gift and I think it turned out beautiful. 

Lovable Labels YOLO Sale!

Lovable Labels is having a sale right now! Save $10.00 off your $25.00 purchase from Lovable Labels using code YOLO2014! The sale runs from April 15th to the 17th! Visist www.lovablelabels.ca

How does a food bank help?

Did you know that:

    36.4% of those turning to food banks are children and youth

    4.3% of adults helped are over age 65

    11.3% of people assisted are Aboriginal

    50% of households helped receive social assistance

    11.5% have income from current or recent employment

    16.4% receive disability-related income supports

    8% of food banks ran out of food during the survey period

    50% of food banks needed to cut back on the amount of food provided to each household

Did you also know that there are some people out there that choose not to support food banks because they feel as though they are enabling "lazy" parents? This is a very shameful way to feel about food banks because when you take into consideration the children that suffer because of the situation  it really breaks a persons heart. 

The best way to describe such a situation is to tell my story. When I was a 10 year old girl living in West Kelowna after my parents separated my mother was in bad shape. She had gotten ovarian cancer and began to drift into depression. She did not work, she got into drugs, and was a mother of two helpless children, myself and my brother. When my mother did the horrible things she had done we were left with nothing to survive on except food bank food. We survived our childhoods on food bank food and if we hadn't had the help of the food bank I don't know what would have happened to us. Waiting in between hampers when we ran out of food was hard, we ate what was left in the cupboards which was usually some pasta and a few random condiments. When I went to school I was rarely sent with a lunch I went empty handed or every couple weeks I would get to take a bit of food bank food. Family helped when they could but nobody knew the deep dark secret that we all held inside of our house. We were all hungry, and it was horrible. But when that food bank hamper had come it was like Christmas! So the reason I tell you this is because I was a helpless child awaiting my next meal from the food bank and our wonderful community donations. 

Food banks help families in every situation not only extreme situations like mine was. Some families work hard to pay bills and keep a roof over their families heads and then there are very little to no funds left over for food. We all need help sometimes and we need to do what we can to end hunger and show our community love and support. So if you ever had a negative thought about your local food bank rethink and realize the people they help and the situations they are in. Food banks need help in many ways whether it is time your donating as a volunteer, cash, or food everything helps and makes a huge difference! 

Visit: http://www.foodbankscanada.ca/Home.aspx to learn more!

Visit: http://www.westkelownacommunityfoodbank.com/ to check out my local food bank! 

Be sure to watch for fun events in your community that support your local food bank! This is one of my favorites: