May 25, 2015
Car Care 101: Preparing Your Car for the Summer
The warmer weather has finally arrived! The return of the summer also brings with it fishing trips, beach days and road trips. While we begin to plan out our summer adventures it is important to remember to prepare your car before all the fun begins!
Here are some helpful tips to prepare your car for the summer season:
Service your vehicle!
This is one area that I know a lot of people personally forget to do and I get it, it is easy to forget to book these appointments when you are booking three to six months in the future. It is important to make sure you are keeping up to date with your oil changes and services. Before you leave on any road trips, check your oil fluid. If you don’t know how to do this, either have someone teach you or make sure you have it checked by someone who is familiar with this process (for me, it is my husband that does this as I just can never remember how to check the fluid). Top up your windshield washer fluid and maybe think about storing an extra bottle in your trunk.
Remove Unnecessary Items from Your Car
Make sure you don’t clutter your car with unnecessary accessories from the winter including your car brush (which as I am writing this I know mine is sitting in the trunk of my car). Remove any extra salt that you may be keeping in your trunk. Clean out the inside of your car, removing toys, coffee cups, sippy cups and all the fun stuff that collects over the winter in your back seat. Try to leave as few items in your car as possible that are not tied down, as these items can become dangerous if you were ever to be involved in an accident.
Update Your Emergency Kits & First Aid Kits
Take out your emergency and first aid kits, check them for missing items and update them for the summer months. For our car that means adding in Reactine, Benadryl and AfterBite (you have to love extreme seasonal allergies!). You may want to include sunscreen and extra hats.
Organize, Organize!
Clutter stresses me out, I can’t stand looking at it (even if it is not my own mess!), I just feel like I need to rearrange the items. Trunk space should be viewed as the same, it is important to keep the area tidy and organized (if only for your own sanity!). You can pick up easy items from the Dollar Store to help organize your trunk space.
Ensure You Have the Insurance Coverage You Need
I can not stress the importance of having up to date insurance that is reflective of your current needs. If you don’t understand your policy, have the company review it with you. You don’t want to find out in an emergency that you don’t have appropriate car coverage. Don’t settle for your insurance rates, make sure you shop around for the best deal. If you have a good record, your rates should be reflective of this. You can now get an instant quote from Lowest Rates from the top Canadian insurance companies ensuring you are getting a top rate that is reflective of your driving records. You can use this to decide whether or not it would be financially wise to stay with your current company or make a switch.
Now that your car is prepared for the summer months, you can hit the road with confidence that you will be riding in a safe car that is fully protected!
How do you prepare for your summer travelling?
May 22, 2015
A Journey of Music and Story-Telling in Peter and the Starcatcher
“When I was a boy, I wished I could fly” – Peter and the Starcatcher
The Shaw Festival is ready to take you on an exciting adventure, through battles and finally to the magical island that will become the famous, Neverland!
Peter and the Starcatcher is based on the 2004 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and tells the story of what happened before JM Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy. Before he becomes Peter Pan, Peter sails out from London on a ship with an undetermined destination. He is just one of three terrified and lonely orphans. When the ship’s precious cargo, a trunk of star-dust, causes a battle between the British Empire, the pirates, the ship’s captain and a girl named Molly lead the boy into adventure. The battle ends with everyone being stuck on Mollusk Island. With the help of Molly’s nanny and the other orphans, Molly and Peter fight to keep the star-dust safe.
The play was produced in 2012 and went on to win five Tony Awards delighting audiences old and new. The play is recommended for ages eight years and up and has a total running time of two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission.
The Shaw Festival wants to give one of you the chance to witness this magical journey live on the Royal George stage! My Canadian residents can now enter to win a pair of tickets to the live show using the Rafflecopter form below. Accommodation and transportation are not provided so please keep that in mind when entering, the date will be determined (the show runs from May until November). Good luck!
Disclosure: I received a set of tickets to attend this event. All opinions expressed are my own.
May 21, 2015
Celebrating Our Unique Family with Netflix #StreamTeam
When my husband and I were married, we joined two very different cultures and backgrounds: Italian and Zimbabwean. Over the years this has meant adjusting to different attitudes towards aspects of the home, meals and even language! I still remember driving the car with my husband and him yelling at me to pay attention to the robots. So of course I looked around the intersection scanning for robots, but what he meant by robots was the traffic lights (oops!).
Eleven years and two children later, we are still growing stronger, becoming accustomed to each others cultures and preferences and blending this into our children. Our children attempt to talk like their Daddy (with the accent) and use his unique words. The only thing I can’t quite get used to is some of the food items he loves! I dislike meat on a bone (don’t ask it is truly a personal thing that even I don’t understand!) and he loves his meat (ox tail!).
Each family is unique in their own way and while our family brings to it a blended culture many other families bring their own twist on the traditional nuclear family – think same-sex parents and step families. There is no longer the ideal perfect family and this is what makes each family perfect in their own unique way.
Netflix is celebrating your unique family this month with some popular hit shows that includes: Party of Five, Raising Hope, Gilmore Girls and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
For the younger kids, Netflix celebrates their uniqueness with films that include: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Despicable Me, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.
What makes your family unique? How do you embrace this uniqueness?
Disclosure: I am a Netflix #StreamTeam member and receive perks associated with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.
May 17, 2015
Hunter: Part Two of Guy Erma & The Son of Empire
Hunter: Part Two of Guy Erma & The Son of Empire comes alive and is just as good as the first part!
About Hunter: Part Two of Guy Erma and the Son of Empire
Thirteen year old, Teodor is taken by battle borgs of the Dome and now he must fight to survive.
Thirteen year old, Guy Erma has been given a chance to fight for his place in the Dome Elite, a dream he has held on to for a long time. But who will he fight?
Once they were heroes, these men died as heroes in battle. Now they have been reincarnated as the Battle Borgs of the Dome.
These two boys are as different as night and day. They face the same danger, the same enemy and the same fear but can they trust each other.
My Thoughts
While a young adult science fiction thriller, I fell in love with this novel! The second part of this series is just as good (if not better) than part one – I just could not put it down.
The characters in this story are built up and we see into the personal lives of each of them just a tad bit more. We learn what Guy and the Dome Elite have had to endure to become who they are today. They have suffered constantly and this has influenced the decisions they make. They are heroic but still bend to their leader.
The plot definitely thickens in this book, as Teodor’s Mother is forced to make difficult decisions in order to save her son. New enemies walk into their lives – ones you could never imagine being so cruel!
Teodor fights bravely for his freedom in this novel as we get a glimpse of his royalty training and his determination to live. While these boys are as different as night and day, their futures are intertwined so deeply and each turn of the page exposes more truth and light.
The ending left me hanging! She built it up beautifully and leaves you craving for more. I am counting down until the next novel in this series is published.
You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Sally was born in Wallasey, England in 1964 and moved to the South of France when she was eleven. She spent her teenage years in Monaco learning the languages and cultures. As an English girl in a French school, she would spend her English classes at the back of the class writing stories thus inspiring her love of writing. Sally now writes marketing communications and manages large international websites. Sally currently lives in Farham with her husband and two children. You can connect with Sally on her website, Twitter and Facebook.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
May 17, 2015
Heart Sisters by Natalie Chambers Snapp
Heart Sisters is for women who want to be and have better friends, and would like a helpful guide along the way.
About Heart Sisters
Author Natalie Snapp uses her own experiences and others of failure and success to illustrate what she has learned about the relationships between girlfriends. Healthy boundaries, honesty, tact, sharing and agape love all play a part in maintaining healthy relationships. She also deals with the challenges that many face in relationships including how to handle life changes, conflict, and when it may be right to break up with a friend.
My Thoughts
Maintaining relationships with other women is vital to our mental and emotional well-being. We need and crave the conversations, the feeling of comfort and the advice of other women. Sometimes the hardest part is how do we become and stay good friends? Are we too pushy, too hurtful or too one-sided? No one wants to be the friend that always gives but never receives.
This is the perfect guide for all young women, women and co-workers to share. We rely on these women in our lives and it’s important to work on these relationships all the time. This guide gives real life examples from someone who has been there, felt it and did it. It is important to share these experiences as we probably have all been in the same position at some time. It is how we deal with these situations and relationships that make us a stronger person and friend.
Heart Sisters is a fun and heart warming book to work through – yes you heard that right, work through! Not only are you learning from personal experiences, each chapter has questions at the end to give you some time to reflect and examine your own actions.
You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can order your own copy here.
Rating: 4/5
About the Author
Natalie is a follower of Jesus, a wife and Mother. Natalie is passionate about sharing the grace, mercy and truth of God’s love. She lives in the Midwest and keeps it simple by writing. You can connect with her on her website, Facebook and Twitter.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.