Author: cvegnad

August 27, 2014

Home To Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney #review

Family, home and the first year of marriage – all of these are important aspects of our life but can cause great stress as well. Especially that first year of marriage! All of these combine to make a wonderful, heart warming story of family and love in Home to Chicory Lane.

Audrey Whitman’s dreams are starting to take root. Now that their five kids have grown and left the family home, her husband Grant and herself are turning their beloved family home into a cozy bed and breakfast just a mile outside of Langhorne, Missouri.

Opening weekend makes Audrey anxious with friends and family coming from all over to help celebrate the occasion. When Audrey’s daughter, Landyn, arrives with the U-Haul making it clear she is not just there for a couple of days. Audrey immediately has questions. What happened in New York that sent her daughter running home? Where was her daughter’s husband Chase? What else was her daughter not telling her? The only thing she knew for sure was that Chicory Inn was off to a rocky start. Can Audrey still realize her dream and at the same time provide comfort of home to her daughter that she desperately needs.

While reading this novel I felt an almost instant connection with Landyn – it was like that was me in my undergraduate years, struggling with the pressures of “real” life, learning that money doesn’t grow on trees as well as balancing a pregnancy. I loved how their faith in God helped Landyn and Chase through the darkest moments of their life. Many times when I am scared or nervous about starting something new praying or attending mass is the most calming experience for me. It helps to clear my mind and see the path that God wants me to follow. Many readers will be able to connect both with Landyn and her Mother, Audrey. It is a wonderful story of family and the struggles we all go through on our journey – at the end of the day we are all the same and on the same path!

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour here.

Rating: 4.5/5

Deborah Raney’s books have won numerous awards, including the RITA, National Readers Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, and the Carol Award, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken, recently traded small-town life in Kansas—the setting of many of Deborah’s novels—for life in the (relatively) big city of Wichita.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 26, 2014

$200 B&B Weekend Getaway Giveaway & 9/9 Facebook Party with Deborah Raney!

The first book in Deborah Raney‘s new Chicory Inn series, Home to Chicory Lane, introduces us to Audrey Whitman, a mother who has launched all her children into life and now looks forward to fulfilling some of her own dreams during her empty-nest years. However, not all of her children are ready to stay out of the nest quite yet.

Deborah is celebrating the release of her new series with a $200 B&B Weekend Getaway and a Facebook author chat party.

One winner will receive:

A B&B Weekend Getaway (via a $200 Visa cash card)
Home to Chicory Lane by Deborah Raney

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on September 9th. Winner will be announced at the Home to Chicory Lane Author Chat Party on 9/9. Deborah will be hosting a heartfelt book chat, giving away prizes, and answering questions from readers. She will also share an exclusive sneak peek at the next book in the Chicory Inn series!

So grab your copy of Home to Chicory Lane and join Deborah on the evening of September 9th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven’t read the book, don’t let that stop you from coming!)

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 9th!

August 26, 2014

Come Break Records with @KinderCanada at the CNE! #kindersmiles #kindermom

Are you ready for another surprise from Kinder Canada as they celebrate their 40th year?

This Saturday, August the 30th they are inviting you to join them at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto to attempt a Guinness world record!

Excited?

Now here are all the important details you need to know before this special event:

Arrive at the CNE (210 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto) at Bandshell Park near the Kid’s World at 10:20 am. Starting at 10:40 am every participant will receive a Kinder egg (free!). Then at 11:00 am we will attempt to break the Guinness record for the most people unwrapping chocolate at the same time!

The Kinder Smiles Booth will also be at the event ready to capture all of your precious #KinderSmiles so if you weren’t able to make it to the Eaton Centre you can take advantage of the booth being at the CNE this weekend.

For those of you who can’t make the event this weekend make sure you follow Kinder Canada on Facebook and Twitter, as well as follow online with the #kindersmiles hash tag. Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

Disclosure: I am part of the Kinder Mom program and receive special perks for being a part of this program. All opinions are my own.

August 25, 2014

Starting the School Year Right with DK Readers #review

Reading is one of my favourite past times. It is also an essential skill that I want my children to master and feel comfortable with while still loving it. Sometimes children can become frustrated with their reading, not knowing a word, the material may not be something that they like or the book itself is too complicated.

DK readers are designed to allow readers to find their current reading level and gain confidence as they develop their reading skills. Readers will progress through simple to read sentences, simple words to more challenging story lines and vocabulary. The image below is the how their levels are determined as well as the corresponding descriptions of how each book is set up (vocabulary and sentences).

The books in this boutique range from historical to science to nature all the way to super heroes and Star Wars! With such a great selection your child will have plenty to chose from without being bored.

Our youngest chose Little Dolphin and Stars Wars A New Hope. Both of these books were a Level One and had short, simple sentences (although the names in Star Wars were a bit tougher for him to grasp). The illustrations were large and kept him entertained while we read the story together. The books are light weight and easy for him to hold. Our eldest got in on the fun and read the stories to his brother (made my heart melt watching them!).

DK Canada wants to help your child get back into the reading routine the right way and is offering a special deal in their DK Readers boutique – buy two and get one free! Make sure you head over there and get a look at their full collection.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned books free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.

August 22, 2014

Get Ready for Back to School With the Nokia Lumia 635 #NokiaBTS

Summer vacation is winding down and if you haven’t already done so it is time to start preparing our children for back to school. The new school year brings changes, meeting new people and for some of our children it will be their first time walking to and from school or even taking a city bus to high school. As a parent this is a terrifying moment for us – I swear I now know why my parents never wanted to let us go out alone! We want to be able to communicate with our children and let them have a security measure to be able to call for a pick up or assistance if needed. The problem? Tweens and teens can sometimes not be as careful with their electronics as we would hope they could be. Broken screens anyone?

Nokia has introduced the Nokia Lumia 635 a one of a kind smart phone in the affordable range that you will feel comfortable with purchasing for your tween or teen. How affordable you ask? You can pick up one for $0 down on some plans or purchase the phone itself for $199. Despite the affordable price the phone does not look nor feel any different than any other smart phone out there. It still has a good solid feel while holding it in your hand as well as having full capabilities of any other smart phone.

Our son is slowly wanting to gain his independence and this was the perfect starter phone for him to help transition him to walking to a friend’s house, walking to the park and practice walking to and from school with his friends. He still had the confidence to walk alone or with his friends but knew that he was always one swipe away from being able to call us. Not to mention he fell in love with all of the apps and social media features he can use.

Nokia has developed several features that are unique to their line of phones. I wanted to share some of the ones that I felt your teen would love!

Top Features for Tweens and Teens

Mix Radio App. This is probably one of the coolest apps I have ever seen. It comes already installed on the phone and is a FREE music playing radio app. Yup – FREE! That’s one perfect word to my ears especially since my son loves his music. You can even personalize your mix so that the app will recognize the type of music you like to listen to and play these songs.
Navigation App. I have the Nokia Lumia 1020 and became familiar with the navigation apps using that phone and it is a fantastic feature for those constantly on the go. The Nokia Lumia 635 has a built in GPS with no subscription or fees required to be able to use this. The three navigation apps are: Here Drive+, Here Maps and Here Transit. Your child can use the app to navigate routes home from after school activities, map out routes to their friends house and even check the local transit system! You can check out this app in motion here.
WiFi & Data Sense. Now this feature will be appreciated much more by the parents then their children but I had to highlight this feature. I have gone over my data plan only once and it was horrendous. An extra one hundred dollars in just data alone! With the Nokia Lumia 635 you can turn on WiFi sense so that it will automatically switch to WiFi while they are out and about or at school which helps prevent data overages. Your child can combine this with Data Sense – a feature that allows set limits on data usages, warnings when you are close to your limit as well as limiting data usage to WiFi only.
Social Media Apps. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – the essentials! All can be found on this phone and easy to use. With the large screen pictures can be viewed easily.
Customizable. The phone is easily customizable. Your child can change the display, accent colours, update the tiles, add more or less tiles as well as change the shell. We chose the bright green shell – flashy, bright and easy to find once he misplaces it!

Nokia Lumia Specifications for the Techies!

Display screen is 4.5″
Touch screen technology
Dimensions: 129.5mm X 66.7mm
222.1 ppi
USB 2.0
Bluetooth 4.0
Windows 8.1
Windows One Drive

The only drawback with this phone is no front camera. Now what does that mean for your child? It just means it is a little harder to take that selfie! Knowing this, Nokia developed a Glam Me app that helps guide the user to take their own selfie using the back camera. Once the timer is started it will beep to help you position the camera into the appropriate spot for that perfect selfie. Problem solved!

The Nokia Lumia 635 is the best and affordable starter phone out there. Our son fell in love with it’s easy to use features, bright display screen and mix radio.

What are your favourite features of the Nokia Lumia 635? What features do you look for in a phone for your child?

Disclosure: I am part of the Nokia BTS campaign and received product as well as compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.