Upcoming FIRST EVER Review and Giveaway!!!!!

I have been in touch with one of the wonderful ladies at Tommee Tippee, and soon I will be doing my first review and giveaway, hosted my none other than Tommee Tippee themselves!! I cannot wait, I'm super excited for this to be happening for the blog, it's a really big deal, and it means so many good things for us here at the Johnson household! I will also be doing reviews in the coming days of several other products, so be on the lookout!

*Hint, Hint* Follow or Subscribe to the blog to get an early entry in!

And as always, Keep it Magickal!!

Shout-Out Friday!

Sorry guys, I know I'm a couple days late, but things have been hectic here, and doing my 2nd Shout-Out Friday slipped my mind, so I apologize! Anywho, here are the shout-outs for this week:

Sites of the Week:

First up, we have http://www.sneakpeeq.com/! This site is all the rage right now, when you sign up with them, you get different "badges" for things you do around the site, such as signing up, sharing on Facebook, viewing their specials section, which typically consists of a few products that are a fan favorite. Your first badge gives you a free item with free shipping, awesome right? Right after you claim your free item and you continue on the site you gain other badges, like 5-10% off your next purchase. Pretty sweet perks for really nice items, that the site has already marked down.

Next up is http://nuby.com/! They have the latest in baby products, and they're always doing a neat giveaway! The site is divided into 3 brands in the US, which are Nuby, Nuby Natural Touch, and Dr. Talbot's. All brands have the most up-to-date baby products and they are all BPA FREE. Their slogan is "every stage, every age, every step of the way," which is in reference to all of their products. I love Nuby products, and use them here and there with my 2-yr old.

Lastly for this week, we have http://www.tommeetippee.com/! They are actually going to be the sponsor of our first giveaway, which I'm super excited about! I will be having my son test the product, I will review it, then we will have the giveaway! Tommee Tippee has the great Closer to Nature line, which my son grew up on. Their products are fantastic, I love them, and so does my son! So much in fact, that when he was a wee little newborn, he wouldn't take any other bottle or pacifier. We also used their milk feeding bibs, which were the most A-MAZING bibs! They saved Kriztofer-Aiden's clothes from getting dirty, whether I was breatfeeding or bottle-feeding, and they protect the baby's neck from dripping milk that can cause cracked skin and not a very yummy smelling baby when you go to tickle their little necks.

Blogs of the week:

First and foremost, I have to give a shout-out to my sister, Amberlynn's Blog, http://lovemetendr.blogspot.com/! Her blog is about a SAHM who is trying to help every breastfeeding mommy out there, one booby at a time! She also talks about her At Home business, as well as daily happenings in the life of a SAHM with two kiddos, a 3 yr old boy and a 6 month old girl. She is really trying hard to make a difference in the world, and with all this hype about breastfeeding going on now, I feel she chose the perfect time to start a blog about the benefits of breastfeeding, not just for the baby, but for the mommy as well!

Second up, we have http://homesteadsurvival.blogspot.com/! This blog is all about well..Survival! She talks about home remedies, delicious piece-of-cake recipes that anyone can make with limited ingredients, and she talks about neat easy peasy projects that can also be done with things one would normally have just lying around their house or stored away. She makes living seem so easy, and I applaud her for helping the little people out, especially during these hard times when not many people can afford expensive meals or fancy lanters for hurricane season. She's my go-to girl for anything handy, and homemade!

Last but certainly not least, we have http://www.savingsaidsimply.com/! Which, Simply put, is a blog all about savings! She's a couponer and a wonderful contributor to helping people find savings on every day items. She does a lot of coupon giveaways among many other fascinating giveaways, as well as a tab on Couponing 101 for beginners. On top of all of that, she does this ingenious tab called Expiring coupon match-ups for drug stores and Publix, that match sales with expiring coupons to help save you more, even sometimes score free items with these!

So, Ladies and Gents, this is my belated, but nonetheless Shout-Out Friday Post! Hope you guys check out these awesome pages, and visit me next week for more, and as always keep it magickal! Happy Memorial Day, and ~*~Blessed Be~*~

Uppity Up!

I am so excited to say that soon I will be working with Tommee Tippee and doing my first review and giveaway! On top of that, everything is getting better for my entire family! I finally have the supplies I need to start my crochet business, so I will be able to continue to be a SAHM and remain in school to get my AA! To add the cherry on top, my friend's business is starting to develop, so we will soon be in Virginia, where we've dreamed of being for the past year! Everything is coming together so perfectly, and I can partly blame that on letting go of the past, but mostly on having continuous faith and believing in my rituals, and sending out positive energy to the universe to make this all possible! Well, I'm going to start on my newest patterns, and I will start posting them here, and on Facebook and Twitter once I get a few going. I'm so excited that you all can be a part of this wonderful change in our lives, Spring has finally brought upon our renewal and melted away the harsh bite of winter! Blessed Be, and Keep it Magickal!

An insightful post from Wiccan By Nature on Facebook:

Apple Love Magick

*If there's more than one potential lover, peel an apple and remove the seeds. Place a wet 

seed seed on your cheek for each potential lover. The last one that remains is the one for 


you.

*Carve a heart into an apple and eat it to bring true love into your life.

*Peel an apple, keeping the peel as long as you can. Drop it to the floor and the letter it 

creates is said to be the initial of your true love's name.

*Cut an apple into 9 pieces. Sit in a dark room and at midnight, stare into a mirror & eat 


the pieces. When you get to the 9th piece, toss it over your shoulder. When this is done, 


the face of your true love will appear in the mirror.

*Add loving feelings to your relationship by cutting an apple in half and share a half with 


your partner.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wiccan-By-Nature/146400632037266

So I came up with this idea, that every Friday I will do a post directed towards different blogs and sites that I've viewed throughout the week and found interesting. This will be the first of those posts, thus deeming this the official inauguration of Shout-Out Fridays!
I'll start of with websites, then i'll go to blogs.

First, we have www.influenster.com! This site is designed for "influential" individuals, those who enjoy trying products then reviewing them online. So you sign up with this site, gain badges towards things you are knowledgeable in, like if you're a student, they have the "VoxUni" Badge, or if you're a blogger, they have the "Blogger" badge, and so forth. If you have a badge that coincides with their upcoming campaign, you receive a "VoxBox" filled with those items accordingly. Super awesome site if you enjoy products and reviews, plus a ton of perks to certain badges!

Next, is www.toluna.com. They are a survey site with extra perks! You can take surveys and gain points towards gift cards and other goodies, and they also have a testing page, that has a new product every month that if you qualify, you get the product mailed to your home for you to test and review. Lastly, they have this fun little toolbar at the top of the "Rewards" section, called Gifties, where you can put your points towards these little icons, and if they have a star next to the picture, you get a chance at a "Real" giftie!

Last site for this week, is.......The one and only www.blogger.com! This site is amazing! I've just started this blog a few weeks ago, and I couldn't be happier with this masterpiece that Google has here! If you enjoy being expressive, whether it be in arts and crafts, couponing, helping others, or just speaking your mind, Blogger is the site to go to. They have so many different things you can do here, From the profile pictures, to the personalized layouts, and if you're really techy, or have a friend that's good with html codes and layout ccs feeds, they have an editor that you can enter in codes and tweak virtually any part of your page to look however you want it to, from the colors to the size of the letters, and the font!


NOW........For the Blog Shout-Outs!

First we have the most incredible www.thriftyniftymommy.com! The author of this page has helped me from the beginning with my blog, so I have to make a personal shout out to her for all that she's done, thank you! Besides that, she helps people all over, she does awesome reviews and giveaways, and keeps you up to date on the newest kid stuff! She does everything from movie reviews to pajamas, and she's amazing at what she does! Check her out, you will instantly fall in love with her blog!

Next up we have couponcousins.net! These ladies are your go-to gals for everything coupons and savings! They give you the most up to date information on all of the coupons that are floating around out there, in-store, online, wherever! They do giveaways as well, and they show off their couponing skills like no other, full of photos and transactions, all the way down to their OOP, Out Of Pocket cost after applying their coupons and sales. They are quite informative as well, with tabs on their site on Couponing for Beginners, How to Stack Coupons, and so on. They are amazing women, and just like Thrifty Nifty Mommy, are here to help everyone!

Last but certainly not least, is www.setinlacquer.com! This woman knows her nail polish! She does amazing reviews on every nail polish that ever existed, very informative and beautiful photos to boot. If you are a fellow lacquer lover, this blog is the place to be! She occasionally does giveaways as well, but I go to her blog everyday to see what new and inventive ideas she has come up with, she is a nail art guru!

Well, that's it for my first edition of Shout-Out Fridays! In the coming weeks I plan to add more than three of each, but for now I will stick to this scheme, until I get the hang of this idea.

Well, everyone have a great weekend, I will see you all again for Edition 2 of Shout-Out Fridays, and until next time, ~*~Blessed Be~*~ )o(



Disclaimer: None of these sites or blogs paid me to endorse them, this is of my own personal choice, and my personal views on each site.

Starting Anew

I woke up this morning, and for some reason, everything seemed......refreshed. Like Spring has entered into my life, and the feeling was so amazing yet so surreal at the same time. Me and Kriztofer woke up at the same time this morning, and he was in this silly, bouncy mood, and it was contagious! I took that feeling with me when I left the house, and it feels like everything is starting fresh. I haven't felt this "new" feeling in ages, probably since Kriztofer was born, but it's an amazing feeling! I feel like I can accomplish anything! Perhaps my ritual I did with my dad on the full moon has something to do with it. Soaking in the magick that the light from the moon gave to us was splendid! It awoke an energy inside me that has long been dormant, and.....I don't know how else to describe this feeling other than....New, Awoken, Magickal!

On another note, thanks to my lovely friend at Thrifty Nifty Mommy, I will be doing my first review and giveway with Tommee Tippee!! I'm not sure what I will be reviewing yet, I'm waiting on one more e-mail, then I will be good to go, so everyone keep on the lookout, it will probably happen within the next couple of weeks, but until then EVERYONE HAVE A MARVELOUS DAY, and keep it Magickal!!

~*~Blessed Be~*~

*The one and only Vairde <3

A small Mother's Day Poem

Mothers are the beginning of all things.
It is they who first understand Life's meaning,
And none ever so well as they.
Mothers are the rightful heirs of Love,
For it is they who give of themselves,
That new souls might have a path to walk....
The joys, courage, peace and pain that is hers,
Is the legacy of the Great Mother Goddess,
For whom all Her daughters are most sacred,
And forever blessed with this secret wisdom:
The wonder and magick of Life.

The magick of your motherhood
is deeply honored, loved and celebrated.

My baby boy is officially 2 yrs old. We've had a rollercoaster of memories we've looped through in these fast-paced two years passed. We went from a wonderful pregnancy, to that first pain-staking minute when he wasn't breathing, to a torturous week of him in the NICU while he learned how to eat and breath on his own.... Yes, we have definitely had some interesting and wild moments, all that have led up to this very moment. Two years after my angel, Kriztofer-Aiden, blessed us with his presence. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect child. He makes my days the happiest, and my nights the most restless, but I cherish every moment of it. He is my baby always and forever, even though he now says he's 2 and he's a "biiiig boooooy!!!!!" No matter how many years he says that, I will always tell him he is forever going to be my baby boy. Happy 2nd Birthday Kriztofer-Aiden, mommy loves you soooo much, you are my everything! ♥ ♥

 

Altered Path

Merry Meet friends, and Good Evening. I've decided that since the blog isn't getting the attention that I hoped it would, I'm going to start adding a few other things to it, a few "everyday" likes of mine. These will include blog posts and topics such as reviews on items that I like and that I receive from other mommies and small business owners. I will still keep to the Blog though with its original message, just adding other topics to it that I hope will broaden my audience. You will all start seeing different posts in the next few days, and as always, your input is welcomed, and rather important to me and the existence of this blog, so please, if ANYONE has any input, whether it be from friends, family, and even other blog owners, please message me or comment on this blog. I would love to hear what everyone has to say about what I'm trying to do hear, and if there's anything I can do to improve the blog. Thank you all for hearing me out, and for continuing to follow me. ~*~Blessed Be~*~ and may the Goddess be with you all! )O(

Shunned and Criticized by Friends and Family

It has come to my attention a new topic at hand, one which pains me to speak of, but I know it needs to be put out there. How can one truly lead an honest, Pagan life when we are constantly criticized and shunned just for speaking about the subject? When I was a teenager and lived with my grandfather, I was getting very deep into Paganism, but I had to keep it a secret from my family and friends at school because every time someone would talk about Paganism, Wicca, or witchcraft, the topic leader would get gasps and immediately everyone would start putting down the Craft, saying it was "evil" and "satanic" and "devil worship." Of course, in my naivety of being a mere teenager, practicing with only two of my young friends, I would never speak of the subject, let alone let my friends know what we were doing behind closed doors, and in the confines of school stairwells.

Friends were one thing, but family, the ones that you're taught to be able to confide in, to tell your deepest secrets to without fear of criticism...... How do you tell your highly devoted, God-fearing, Christian family members that you, their little one, their niece, their granddaughter, are a practicing Pagan? Easy. As a teenager, you don't. The fear of being more of a disappointment than I already was in their eyes because I was wearing darker colors, sleeves on my arms and hands, and always locked myself away in my room while blasting 94.9 Zeta on my radio in order to hide from reality (I was a rebellious teenager, what can I say?), was far too risky at that point in my life. I felt that if I told my family I was a Pagan who actively practiced the craft, they were surely going to disown me. Even now, 10 years later, they never bring up the subject of religion with me, most likely because they see I proudly post pictures and hang banners of MY beautiful faith. My family was the type of family that didn't speak of a subject if they knew the ending result was going to be them learning about something they have absolutely no interest in knowing about, heck, I don't even think they acknowledge the existence of Paganism.

So, how is it that you live a happy young (or long) life as a practicing Pagan with family and friends that are closed-minded and critical? You can either tell them flat-out and reap the consequences, or you just not worry about what they think of you. Be happy with you are, on the inside and on the outside.
I hope this helps those of you out there that are "in-the-broom-closet" Pagans, and I hope to hear from you all about the day you "came out" to your family and friends about your religion. Merry part, and merry meet again. ~*~Blessed Be~*~
)o( Vairde