Happy Halloween!

Winner of Gertrude's Broken Wand Book

The winner of Gertrude's Broken Wand is Melissa! Please send me your info as soon as possible!

For those who did not win here is a little Halloween surprise for you! Starting today on Amazon Kindle, Apple iBookstore, and Nook, get Gertrude's Broken Wand for $.99! Spooky holiday sale ends Nov 1!

Happy Halloween!

Family Friday

Today is Friday! I am so happy! We had a crazy weekend last week. My best friend who lived in Virginia moved a few years ago to Ohio. The move was for medical reasons for her youngest son. Then a few weeks ago I found out she was going to move to California because her hubby got promoted. I was so sad :( Thankfully they were going to a Virgina Tech game so we decided to go see her before she moved again.

Our trip we thought was going to be smooth sailing. We just got new front tires on the van, new front brakes, the van inspected and new tags. So we thought we were good to go. While almost to VT the van started acting weird. The van wouldn't accelerate and it was shaky. Fun times. So long story short we only got to spend 2 hours with my best friend.

We decided to head back home but on the way my hubby was afraid that the van would mess up again and we'd be stuck somewhere at night. So he called someone he worked with and told them he would not be in on Monday. We stayed the night. Of course the van started acting fine. We thought all was good. We decided to make a detour and went to Crabtree Falls.

Of course on our way back home the van messed up again. Fun times I tell ya! My hubby pulled over and as he was checking under the hood of the van we noticed someone slowing down. Your initial thought would be they were going to ask if everything was ok right? Well that was our thought. No! They slowed down to ask if they were close to the falls! EPIC FAIL! I couldn't believe it. My husband and I were dumbfounded. All we did after that was laugh. Good grief what is the world coming to?

Sorry for the long post. We made it home ok but still not sure what is wrong with the van. A friend of ours thinks it could be a fuel sensor. So hopefully we will figure it out soon.

Ok the best part of our trip...the pictures!

Foamhenge (This was on our way to VT. Yes made of styrofoam)

My best friend and I with our babies.

Crab Tree Falls

Family shot :)

Overlook on the way home

Trick or Treat Thursday

Today for Trick or Treat Thursday I found a site with a few last minute costume ideas. I posted some of the ones I liked below but there are others so go check out Quick and Simple Website.

Spider

The base for this costume is a black shirt, pants and three pairs of black socks stuffed with cotton batting. Safety-pin the sock legs to the shirt's side seams. Then attach the legs to one another and to the shirt's elbows using a needle and clear fishing wire. Tie secure knots to keep the legs in place.

Clark Kent

The simple addition of a Superman tee and a pair of drugstore glasses with the lenses popped out turns an everyday shirt, pants and tie into a dynamic costume. A length of florist's wire and a couple of safety pins will keep a tie at attention. (If you don't have a super man tee you can just get a blue shirt and print out a template for the Super Man S. Even a grown man can do this costume.)

Greek God (or Goddess)

Start this getup with white pants, a tee and sandals. Then cut a sheet into a rectangle and snip a slit in the center for a head hole. Two yards of gold cord can form a belt, and additional trim can make bracelets and a headband. Cut lightning bolts out of cardboard and paint them gold. (You could make something different for a girl to hold.)

So what are you and your kids going to be for Halloween?

My kids are all going to be super heroes. For us grown ups I am not sure yet. lol

Review Group: Another review is up

Check out my review on the App Meteor Math.

You can find more reviews on:

Don't forget to check out

Ok don't forget to check out some giveaways and some percentage off on some of the following things...

Giveaway for Neptunes Kids Blue Lizard Sun Screen. Ends when the first 3 people refer a friend to their FB page.

Giveaway for Gertrude's Broken Wand children's book. Ends Friday October 28th.

Giveaway for Cooper and Me children's book.

SmileBooks discount code for 30% off your order.

Guest Post: Salvage Savvy

Today's Guest Post is from Connie from Salvage Savvy. Thanks so much Connie I love the DIY projects you posted about!

I'm so glad to be here at Mom's point of view today! My name is Connie and I have a blog called Salvage Savvy. I am a mom of three beautiful and amazing kids: a 9 year old, 7 year old and our newest addition who is already 10 months [babies just have a way of making you realize how fast time flies by, don't they?!].

I am a momma who loves to decorate... but everything I do [whether decorating, buying school "stuff," shopping for clothes or going to the grocery] has to be on a budget because we [like most families] just don't have a lot of extra cash to spend. At Salvage Savvy I get to share all kinds of thrifty DIY projects and design tips to help my readers create unique decor for their home without breaking the bank!

Here are a few of my favorite projects [so far]:

I love this artwork because it looks so expensive, but it's super easy and only cost about $15 to make. In fact, my 7 year old helped me do this one, so you can even get the kiddos involved!

Create your own UNBELIEVABLE Artwork!

I also turned an old, plain pillow into this for $0 dollars [see... I told ya' I'm thrifty!]. Check it out to see how you can use items from around your house to do the same!

Pillow Talk (DIY Style)

And for this project I took an old lamp [it looked "fine," but I needed fabulous!] and for only $8 I was able to transform into a really eye-catching piece.

$8 Lamp Makeover

Do you have cheap glass vases sitting around your home [of course you do... we all do, right?!]? I used spray paint to turn a few of mine into two-toned mirrored vases... and all of the paint is on the outside, so you can still put water in them!

Painted Glass Vases

And lastly, I also offer decorating advice at Salvage Savvy. Have you ever loved, loved [loved] a paint-chip-sample-thingy [yes, I use all kinds of "technical" terms!] at the store, only to paint that same color onto your walls and discover it's the completely wrong color? [Yea... me too.] Well, I have learned the best way to select the perfect color every time, and share it with you in this post!

Advice

Well, those are a few of my favorite things, I hope you've been inspired to create more for less!! I'd love it if you would come and visit me at Salvage Savvy, and thanks so much to Terri for letting me join you today :)

Gertrude’s Broken Wand Review and Giveaway

Halloween is just around the corner and so is the book launch for Gertrude’s Broken Wand. It launches today the 22^nd! This is the first book in the Marmalade series written by Jason Thibeault and published by Dime Novel Publishing.

First before I go into detail on this book, let me tell you how much we loved it! Halloween is one of our favorite holidays in the year. Our house is known as the “Scary House.” You will have kids in the neighborhood ask “Have you guys been to the scary house yet?” We love that our house is known as the “Scary House” because we put a lot of effort into decorating each year. So you can imagine how perfect that this book is for my family. What else would you expect from a book that has the curse of a perpetual Halloween? It is a perfect book that fits right in with our “scary house.”

Our plan as a family was to read a chapter a day. The chapters are short and to be honest when you start reading the book there is no way you can just do one chapter a day! We were hooked within the first two chapters that we read. My kids wanted more and to be honest so did I!

So what is Gertrude’s Broken Wand about?

On an otherwise normal 4th grade school field trip, Rebecca gets separated from her classmates while trying to find the bathroom. But when she slips in the dark and falls down a hole, she ends up in the land of here, an enchanted kingdom that is suffering from a powerful curse…everyday is Halloween.

But it’s not costumed trick-or-treaters that roam the land nor is it candy they want. Ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, skeletons and a host of other baddies, eager for a taste of warm flesh, have turned the once beautiful land into a spooky landscape.

Unfortunately, Rebecca’s problems have only just begun for when she landed in here she also landed on Gertrude, the kingdom’s witch, breaking her wand and the one chance to lift the curse. Now Rebecca must get Gertrude’s wand fixed, avoid getting eaten (or worse), and find a way home all before the sun sets. Because here needs a real name or it, and everything inside, will cease to exist forever.

Sounds awesome right? It is and it fits right in with Halloween. I loved that my kids begged for more when we stopped for the night. My kids sighed and said “Awe mom!” They wanted me to keep reading. There are not many books that keep my kids asking for more but this is one of them. Now they can’t wait for the second book.

So if you love Halloween and love good books then this book is the right one for you and your family. I recommend getting this book. I also challenge to you put it down if you can.

Gertrude’s Broken Wand can be found on Apple, Amazon (print and e-book) and Barnes and Noble (e-book only.)

You can read the first chapter of the book here.

Now on to the giveaway! One lucky person will win a copy of Gertrude’s Broken Wand.

*Please note this is for US residents only.

All you have to do is leave me a comment with your email (I will not accept any comment without an email.) or do one of the following things below for more chances to win....

Follow me on Twitter 1 entry (if you are a new follower)

Follow my blog 1 entry (if you are a new follower)

Like Mom's Point of View on Facebook 1 entry (if you are a new follower)

Follow Jason Thibeault on Twitter 1 entry

Like Dime Novel Publishing on Facebook 1 entry


Tweet about this giveaway 1 entry per daily tweet.


*If you do any of these please leave it in a comment below. The contest will end Friday the 28^th at midnight.

*Please note I did receive a complementary book and I was not paid for my review. This is my honest opinion of the book.

SmileBooks Review

Are you looking for a nice holiday gift for your family or friends? If so you should check out SmileBooks. SmileBooks is a company that offers many different products such as photo books, cards and calendars. I got the chance to review one of their photo books.

The photo book I got was an 8x11 Hardcover. I also used the Design Service. The Design Service is a great way to save some time on making photo books. If you have ever made one yourself and you are perfectionist like me then you probably spend a good couple of days making sure you have the book just right. The Design Service cost $10 for 26 pages. With the Design Service you get a real designer to create your book and you get to review and approve the design before it is printed. I did love that I could hand over the design of the book to someone else but it was so hard. I am used to doing everything myself.

After you pick the design service you go on to pick the style of your book and the mood. I picked Pastels Scrapbooky. I wanted a book with a scrapbook feel to it and also I liked the pastel colors. Next you are sent to a page to select the size book you want. Also if you want soft cover, hard cover, linen wrapped or faux leather wrapped. I got the 8x11 Hardcover which costs $39.95. From there you are taken to a page that allows you to select the number of photos per page and the number of pages. I selected 3 photos per page and 26 pages. The more pages you select the more the price will go up. And finally one more page. You will be on a page that allows you to upload between 66 to 88 photos. If you decide to, you can upload exactly that amount of photos and you choose which ones will go in the photo book. Or you can upload more than the 66-88 photos and let a designer choose what pictures would be best suited for your photo book for an additional $4.95. I personally can’t give up all of my control. I have to do something. So I chose to upload the exact number of photos I wanted to use. Yes this still took some time but I didn’t spend days on the book like I normally would.

After you finish all the steps and upload your photos you then wait for your designer to work on your photo book. You will be sent a link with a preview of your book. Once you get the preview of your book you can then choose to print it as is or make changes by typing in a box to the designer on each page. I went through about 4 different previews to let the designer know that some photos did not belong together and that I wanted other things changed. You can also add captions in your book as well.

So what do I think of my book? I love it! Here are some photos of my finished book…

Front

Back

Spine

Inside

Remember the holidays are just around the corner. This really is a great gift for someone you love. I will be giving the book to my husband. Most likely for his birthday because that is coming up in November. (I hope he doesn’t read this blog anytime soon.)

So to help you out on your holiday shopping you can go over to SmileBooks and get 30% off of your order by entering the code: MOMPOVSMILE30

You can also find SmileBooks over on Facebook.

Enjoy your shopping and let me know what you end up getting!

*Note I this was a complimentary book. I was not paid for my review and this is my honest opinion of the product.