Backpack, Car or Fish Food?

I realize that I promised a recipe with pictures today for no-bake granola bars, but something has come up in the Mikkelson household that has caused that post to be delayed. We have added two new members to our family. 


We go to a fabulous church. And the children's program? Forget about it {said in my best Joey Tribiani voice}. During the summer, the offer classes for preschoolers on Tuesday. Last week it was water day-lots of water guns, baby pools and an inflatable slide. Today, was all about reptiles. They were able to touch snakes, lizards, turtles and who knows what else. They do a craft project, have a snack that goes along with the lesson (last week they had cupcakes with blue frosting and goldfish to simulate the ocean, ya know, since Jesus walked on water:). Today was extra special. Each child, came home with a Betta fish. Yep, a fish. And when you have two preschoolers, ya get two fish. They sent home a bowl and some fish food to last a couple days too. I must say, watching me leave the church parking lot this morning was quite entertaining. I had two big fish bowls in boxes, Brody's backpack, his snake craft, Delaney's cup, Delaney's shoe (her flip flop broke during class) and then Brody's fish. And then, I had to get it all in the car. Comical, I promise.

She can hardly wait for her turn!

Yay!

So here we are. We have two fish. Brody is still going back and forth with names. It's consistently between Fish Food, Backpack, or Car- creative that one. And Delaney's fish is named Princess. Surprised?


We headed to Petco when Eric got home from work to get some gravel for the bowls and some conditioning stuff for the water. The kids love the pet store, it's quite funny and loud. When we got home, I let Eric take over the fish duties and said I needed to take pictures, but really I just did not want anything to do with the transfer. 

Maybe a little excited:)

Checking out Car, Backpack, or Fish Food...

Meet: Car or Backpack or Fish Food

There's Princess in there....waiting to transfer to her castle

Fancy, right?

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

We don't really have any room for Princess and Backpack, so they are currently residing on our table. Kinda gross, but oh well. So now, as we eat, this is what we look at:

Yep. I feel fancy. 

So there ya have it.

:)

Debbie Downer (But necessary)

(Really, really long....don't give up on me...read..read....read:)


Obviously I have mentioned a few times that I recently became a Shaklee distributor. I did this for many reasons. One: I really wanted a work from home job that I am passionate about. Two: I LOVE the products. I have started to "Shaklee-ize" my house. I want Shaklee to be everywhere. It's my new mission. I started in the kitchen and holy guacamole did I overhaul it! 
This is my cabinet under the sink. NASTY. Lots of cleaning products....lots of toxins. I am over it. Now don't stop reading cuz you think I am gonna go all Debbie Downer on you with all kinds of depressing facts because when you keep reading, you will want to evaluate the toxins in YOUR house and then you will want to be on the "Toxic free bandwagon" too!! 


So here we go:


Fact: 90% of all poison exposures occur at home.


Fact: 218,316 reported poison exposures in 2005 were from household cleaning products.


Fact: Some 20 million Americans have asthma.


Fact: Common household cleaners and appliances give off fumes that can potentially increase the risk of children developing asthma.


Fact: The average U.S. household generates more that 20 pounds of hazardous waste each year.


Those facts are CRAZY! 


Here are some ingredients in the products that have severely harmful effects:


Chlorine bleach: the chemical most frequently involved in household poisonings in the US


Degreasers: may contain petroleum distillates, which can damage lung tissue and dissolve fatty tissue around nerve cells.


Glass cleaners: may contain ammonia. Ammonia fumes can irritate the skin, eyes, and respiratory system


Oven cleaners: can be among the most dangerous cleaning products and can cause severe damage to eyes, skin, mouth and throat.


Butyl cellosolve: can cause irritation and tissue damage from inhalation


A person who spends 15 minutes cleaning scale off shower walls could inhale three times the acute exposure limit.

May be found in:

All-purpose cleaners

Cleaning wipes

Degreasers

Floor polish

Rug shampoos

Toilet bowl cleaners

Tub and tile cleaners

Window cleaners

Are ya totally freaked? I was. Here's the deal, if you really care about this (and I think ya should) check this website out:
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/ingredients.htm

and find out what you have in your home. Just type in the chemicals and see which brands contain them. Then, look up the toxicity of the chemicals or whatever info you can get.

Then, go to my website, and purchase these NON-TOXIC cleaners. 

You should be safe in your own home. You want your kids to be safe- no matter what. So, here is what my kitchen cabinet looks like now:

Yay! It's all hearts and stars now when I open the cupboard!

 It sparkles.

This is all I need. 

My all-purpose cleaner, window cleaner, and degreaser 

(plus the cleaning cloths)

All three are made from Basic H

(aren't they cute?)

The green one is use for wiping down the counters or dusting.

 The blue one is for windows and mirrors- NO STREAKS!

My dishwasher stuff, Basic H wipes and Scour Off

These are awesome! I use them to dust all my furniture, wipe down the counters or fridge. They have SO MANY uses and are much safer than products like Clorox or Lysol wipes

The back label

Dishwasher Powder

That cute little bitty cup is ALL you need. 

No nasty film on the dishes and it does an amazing job!

Scour-off! This stuff smells like cherries and does the tough jobs like hard water spots, the tub, the oven! It's a miracle product! 

With the Get Clean line, the ingredients that are NOT in the products are:

Volatile organic compounds (VOC's)

Kerosine

Phenol

Cresol

Lye

Hydrochloric acid

Sulfuric acid

Sulfamic acid

Petroleum dissilates

Ammonia

Butyl cellosolve

Phosphoric acid

Formaldehyde

Chlorine bleach

Morpholine

This is the Get Clean starter kit- AMAZING. two things I would add are the Scour Off and the Basic H wipes. This line is amazing. It is super concentrated so it makes a lot of product! If you only made window cleaner from the Basic H, it would make over 5,000 bottles of Windex. Hello people!! The bottle of Basic H is $10!! I'm telling ya- just a smart move. I would love to answer any questions you may have- I am super passionate about 'clean cleaning' and I want to help your house too! 

This is why I do this business:

To keep their world safe. Isn't that our job?

Have super day!

Stayin' Cool

It's H.O.T. What do we do when it gets H.O.T.? We get W.E.T. My friends are out for summer break (they are teachers) and we decided to schedule some play dates. The first get together was at the Splash Pad. It is insane that we only have one in Tucson. Seriously. Because we only have one, odds are it's going to be busy. This particular day is was not too crowded so that made us happy. There were 4 adults, 8 kids, 2 playgrounds and a splash pad. It was so cool how we all instinctively jumped into "team parenting". We were watching each other's kids and helping each other out. I love my friends.
Here are some pictures from the day:

The water gun is Brody's favorite

Ami and her triplets, Jaxon and Delaney in the background

Brody and Hunter

In addition to the Splash Pad, we have been swimming a lot! This is from this morning:

What's the word?

Brody is a little lazy when he swims so he uses more flotation devices.

Seriously.... good times

Don't forget to follow A New Normal on FB

18 Holes of mini fun!

Miniature golfing. Not my strongest sport. Not my favorite past time. However, I have learned to branch out and do things in the name of fun for my family. Eric and I were in the mood to get out of the house and do something different. We decided to try miniature golfing. I know what you are thinking- Brody-golf club- golf ball- smelly water with full potential to fall in- I know, I was thinking the same thing. I had such a de-ja-vu thing goin on when we pulled up. I used to go to Golf N Stuff all the time when I was a kid. It was such a fun place to 'hang out'. So there I was, with my husband and KIDS. Really weird. We made our way through the arcade and through the back doors where the bumper boats were lodging full fledged attacks on each other and I can still remember smacking into all my friends when I was in Jr. High. Ahhh, such memories.

We got all our necessary gear and chose which course to take (much to Delaney's dismay, we chose the one that DID NOT go to the special castle. Oops). It became very apparent, very quickly, that the kids have never really held a 'golf ball hitter' as Brody so lovingly refers to a golf club. I realize that there is good reason why we haven't let him, but this activity kinda forced the situation upon us. So Eric took on the role of teacher and I sat back and watched how different the kid's attitudes toward golfing were. Delaney wanted no help what so ever and Brody wanted help, but only on his terms.

I'm pretty sure she doesn't look 4 years old.

Ha, just excited to not have a ball taken away

The kids and their "golf ball hitters". Look at Brody, he just looks like trouble doesn't he?

Brody would hit the ball (after a few attempts) a yell, "oh oh oh" and literally run down the green until it stopped. Usually he would haphazardly hit the ball a few times until it accidentally fell into the hole or he would just get tired of watching it roll so he would pick it up, set it down right on the edge of the hole and let it fall in. A Tiger Woods, he is not. We're hoping he really like football.

Delaney, on the other hand, would fight Eric off, in spite of holding her "hitter" the wrong way and would let it rip. Once she got the hang of the proper holding procedure, she was really good. She would forget to wait until the ball stopped every once in a while, but all in all, chicks got skills.

When we got to the 18th hole, and the ball does not get returned, there were some tears. We went into the arcade to play a few games to ease the pain- probably not the best lesson, but oh well. The kids LOVE skee (skeet? Ski?) ball. Delaney had some serious sound affects going and would occasionally throw the ball across the lanes and scare the bejezus out of us all. They quickly realized that they could earn tickets and in return get something. We went through $20 rather quickly. After some serious math- they ended up with some army guys, some suckers, a ball and some tootsie rolls for Eric.

Yes, there were tears again when we made our way through the 'secret path' to get to the car, which I know just means they had a ball. It was so cool being with my family at a place I used to go to as a kid. I love our little outings.