This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alvin and the Chipmunks. All opinions are 100% mine.
I remember those cute little critters, Alvin, Simon and Theodore, AND their sometimes patient sometimes not owner-manager who was also like a parent to the furry little animated creatures, David Seville. I can hear their squeaky little voices in my head now singing….and can hear David shouting Al-VIN!!!!! This cartoon was popular during the late 1950′s and in the 1960′s.
In 2007 a movie version of the cartoon was done, something that my husband and I watched when it was on cable television this winter because we both remembered the cartoon as children…and there has since been a “Squeakquel”, ugh, sequel, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”. If you are a parent of grandparent, you might want to get of the DVD that is now available so you can enjoy a lot More Munk Mayhem provided by foxfamilyflicks.com. You can also have a lot of fun with the kids and grandkids (or yourself;-) at munkyourself.com (see pic below). Choose and customize your favorite chipmunk.
I you want to get the “Squeakquel”, you can buy it now on DVD, Blu-ray and by Digital Download. The DVD comes in a double DVD pack that includes a bonus disc loaded with more music, mayhem and sing-alongs, so you can “squeak along” with your furry friends…all of this for the same price as the movie DVD alone.
I have a wonderful e-book that tells me what holidays and observances take place during the year, and discovering that April is Couples Appreciation Month was a fun find, because this month my husband and I celebrate 31 years as a couple…we dated for 7 months before we married on April 7th of 1979.
This past weekend we went away to celebrate in Lancaster, PA, remembering both our anniversary and Easter, or Resurrection Sunday as we like to call it. It was God who brought us together, after all, through a friend who invited me to come back and visit a church I had attended during High School. At that point 7+ years had passed since I had been to the church, and when I went and was invited to a get-together after, I met the man who would be my husband. He had moved here from Colorado on business, and worked only a block away from me. It took a couple of months for us to start dating, but after our first date, we were inseparable, and have been ever since.
Here’s to other couples that have been together for years because of your commitment to love one another and work through the challenges of life, through thick and thin, or as we said in our vows, “for better or for worse”. We’ve had both in our marriage, the “better” makes life fun, the “worse” makes a relationship stronger if you work through the challenges and come out on the other side.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of wellnessdaily.com. All opinions are 100% mine.
The children were mine, and I was the “health nut”. Yep, when they were growing up we struggled with good health, and spent so much time at doctors offices, and money paying doctor bills that I don’t even like to think about it, but all of that lead to a big change in our home around the mid-1980′s.
First I discovered alternatives to drugs and tried them with success, then I decided to study nutrition, and be certified in Nutritional Counseling. It was then that our eating habits changed a lot. The improvement in my children and myself was amazing…and only the family members that were consistent with their right eating and with the alternatives I suggested when needed, remained healthy until their adult years.
Now that my children are adults, they make their own choices, and with the help of websites like www.wellnessdaily.com and all the articles and tools it provides, their task is so much easier than mine. I didn’t know anyone who had internet access when I first hit the books and did my studies in Nutrition, now access to knowledge is so readily available! It is good to find good sources for that information, like the link I’ve provided above.
wellnessdaily.com has a great online community, put together by the makers of some of my favorite turkey burgers and other foods, Jennie-O. In fact the first 2500 that register get a $5 rebate on a Jennie-O product…that would just about cover a box of those healthy, low-fat burgers…so why don’t you head on over for a visit, and be grateful that you have as many online tools available to you as you do.
You, too, can be a “health nut”…do they still call people like us health nuts??
No, this isn’t about any of my loved ones or family members…at least I don’t think it is, though the things I’ll share were commonly practiced a few generations ago and beyond. It’s about how people remembered those they loved…when they were dead…through photos and “death masks”.
I came upon all of this quite by accident when going through some old photographs. I didn’t know what I was looking at and did some research online, and through searches on eBay where I sell old paper items.
There is a death mask pictured here, this was a way of preserving a persons features after they had passed, a casting was taken in plaster or wax. Another way people remembered those that passed that is even more peculiar is through photographs…with the person dressed and standing with a stand, sometimes posing with a wife or husband, or a mother sitting and holding her deceased child…I know, it all sounds quite depressing, but I think I handled the subject much better here – Death Masks and Post-Mortem Photos – stop by for a visit if you have a moment.
I can remember going to the “eye doctor”, now of course I know he’s really an Optometrist, because I had trouble with my eyes. I was a young girl in the 1950′s at the time, and got a pair of glasses similar to the frame you see here, light blue across the top, and they weren’t bifocals. My biggest problem was that I had astigmatism, and only needed them for reading at that time.
I remember how embarrassed I was to remove those eyeglasses from the little leather-like case at school…in fact back then it may have been a real leather case…I didn’t want anyone in the class to see me in these odd-looking things. I actually managed to get away with not wearing glasses for quite a few years because I hated them as a child, then finally had to wear them for reading, next for reading and distance, and now as a woman well into my 50′s, I wear progressives all the time.
I just got a pair last spring through my optometrist because our insurance covered a pair, but want to get an extra pair that is just for reading, so am looking into getting them through an online site, Zenni Optical, that has them for amazingly low prices, about 1/10th of the price the optometrist offered for an extra pair…some for under $9! We have purchased through them before and were fairly satisfied.
Deaf History Month means more, I suppose, to someone who is deaf or has a deaf family member, but should mean something to all of us, as none of us are guaranteed that we will hear well for the rest of our lives. For our family it is significant, because my youngest brother is deaf, along with other disabilities, due to an illness in infancy.
The observance of Deaf History Month came to be due to some key events that took place in the time period it covers. While many month-long observances cover a single month, this one spans two…the dates are from March 14th through April 15th. The key events that took place that make that time period significant are:
March 13 – On this date in 1988 the “Deaf President Now” movement succeeds, and Irving King Jordan becomes President of Gallaudet University.
April 8 – On this date in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a charter establishing a college for the deaf, so April 8th became known as Gallaudet Charter Day in honor of the start the first University for the deaf, Gallaudet University.
April 15 – On this date in 1817, the first public school for the deaf is opened, the “American School for the Deaf”
For me, memories of having a brother who is deaf are first and foremost in my mind when I hear “Deaf History Month”. Along with being deaf, he has other disabilities as a result of having Spinal Meningitis when he was a baby, only 6 months old while we were on a family vacation. The impact that a disabled family member has on a family is dramatic, and can take many twists and turns, but I will tell you that God has been faithful in providing for us, and for my brothers needs in the past and for the future.
When he was young, there were no programs for what was referred to as “multiply handicapped” children, so he didn’t fit in a deaf school because of his other disabilities. There is much more support for families with disabled children now, and I hope it will continue to be something that our government will support, no matter how poor the economic outlook is.
I received an email the other day from a woman who was sharing about the recent passing of her father (the day after Christmas), and care-giving. I was able to relate as I remembered the passing of my Dad before the holidays four years ago. With his passing, and helping my Mom with the day to day things that he used to do (my sister more than any of us as she lives close by), the mind tends to realize that it won’t be long before we, too will be (hopefully) collecting social security, on Medicare, and thinking about things like medigap policies to help cover things Medicare doesn’t. You begin to educate yourself about things that you usually don’t want to take the time to think about.
Dad did the best he knew how to prepare for these things, and Mom, with a bit of help, has done a great job learning to do things she never had to do before as far as paying bills, handling medical papers, and so much more. I appreciate my parents, and am realizing that some old posts about my Dad and Mom have probably gotten “lost” in the blog over time, so let me give you some links to special posts about them done from as early as 2007 to the present:
No, this isn’t about any of my loved ones or family members…at least I don’t think it is, though the things I’ll share were commonly practiced a few generations ago and beyond. It’s about how people remembered those they loved…when they were dead…through photos and “death masks”.
I can remember going to the “eye doctor”, now of course I know he’s really an Optometrist, because I had trouble with my eyes. I was a young girl in the 1950′s at the time, and got a pair of glasses similar to the frame you see here, light blue across the top, and they weren’t bifocals. My biggest problem was that I had astigmatism, and only needed them for reading at that time.
