The Difference a Year Makes

With being part of the Mosaic Reviews Team, I started keeping track of statistics for my blog and other social media.  Most of them have changed a bit in the past year.

Blog Followers:            January - 38,  December - 47
Blog Facebook Page:   January - 22,  December - 38
Google + Followers:     January - 1,  December - 8
Pinterest Followers:     January - 46,  December - 86
Twitter Followers:        November - 16,  December - 17  (not such a big difference in just a month!)

Review: Hello Fresh

I had the opportunity to review a food delivery service from Hello Fresh through the Mosaic Review Team.   There are two types of boxes to choose from Classic (with meats) and Vegetarian.  You can pick either a 2 person or 4 person box.  They send the ingredients for 3 meals each week and with the Classic Box, there are 3 that are the "default" meals with 2 optional ones that you can trade for if you'd rather have them (you do this after you check out in the "my account" section).  

swapping meals 

You can also pause deliveries if you want (be sure to press the "save" button after you do this!)  You have to cancel your account if you don't want to continue or it will automatically continue. 

This is our experience:

The Fed Ex guys handed me this box at the end of the driveway while I waited for Andy's bus.  (They were driving a Budget Rental truck!)

The box is thickly insulated

All the meals are individually bagged and labeled

The freezer packs!

We unpacked the box at 4:00 pm. I put the freezer packs in a dishpan on the counter and they still had frozen spots until 9:00 am the next day!  That's 17 hours!!!  They are reusable, so I put them in the freezer to use later.  I wanted to see how long they would stay frozen if left in the shipping box.  I put them in the box at 4:00 pm on Wednesday (like a delivery) and put the box on the kitchen floor.  They were still slushy and cold at 5:00 pm on Friday!  I took the temperature in the box and it was 48°!  


Individually bagged and labeled for each meal:

Chile Dusted Shrimp with Corn Relish:

Steak and Brussels Sprouts Stir-Fry:

Roasted Pork Tenderloin (with Lemony Skillet Potatoes and Zucchini):

Our favorite meal was the Pork Tenderloin with potatoes and zucchini.  I found the recipes easy to follow and liked the step by step instructions.  It was convenient to get all the ingredients you need to prepare the meal (other than staples like Olive Oil and sugar).  It made it easy to know what to have for lunch and I didn't have to figure something out.  The 2 person Classic Box that we tried out costs $69 (which includes shipping).  I wouldn't be able to pay that much for 3 meals, but it may be okay for someone who doesn't want to get out to do shopping. 

I had to contact the customer service and they were very friendly and solved my issue quickly. 

If you enter the code TICKTOCK50 you can get 50% off all e-Giftcard purchases and new customer sign-ups until Monday 12/23. Discounted e-Giftcards can only be redeemed by new customers.

I checked at Meijer to see the prices of things that came in our box and this is what I found:

Chile dusted shrimp                $9.45

Steak and brussels sprouts     $4.07

Pork Tenderloin                      $4.87

                                          --------

                                          $18.69

I figured the price for just the amount of each thing that was actually used in the recipe.  It would be more to buy the whole container (since you can't buy just 2 Tablespoons of something!)

I received a 2 person, 3 meal box to try for free in exchange for my honest review.  No other form of compensation was received.

@hellofresh , #hellofresh , #mosaicreviews , #hellofreshpics

Review: Udderly Smooth Lotion

As part of Mosaic Reviews, I had the opportunity to review Udderly Smooth lotions.  We received three different types of products to try out.

1) Hand lotion
2) Body Cream
3) Foot Cream

The hand lotion came in a flip top tube (it makes me think of a toothpaste tube) while the other two came in tubs with screw off lids.  My first opinion of the tubs with the screw off lids was that they wouldn't be as convenient, but this isn't what I found to be true once I actually started using them. Having the lid come off allowing you to access the lotion is handy when you are putting lotion on a larger area than your hands (like when you are putting lotion on your body after a shower)  You are able to more easily control how much lotion you take at one time that way.   They do have pump lids for their screw off lid tubs if you really want a pump, though.

I found the lotion to be very moisturizing and that a little goes a long way.  At first, I thought that it left my hands feeling greasy.  But then I realized it wasn't a greasy feel, just the moisturizing left on my hands.  I could snap my fingers and open door knobs right after applying the lotion, which I wouldn't be able to do if it left an oily residue.  I think it is the lanolin in the lotion that I am feeling as my hands feel similarly to how they felt after I applied lanolin to the wool diaper covers for the kids.

During the winter, my skin always dries out and I am constantly putting on lotion.  There are times that my hands are so dry that they crack.  I then have to end up putting on a bandaid to allow the sore to heal.  This year, I had a crack form on my knuckle.  I was about to put on a bandaid, but delayed since I was getting our picture taken that day.  I kept rubbing Udderly Smooth hand lotion on it instead.  The crack was gone the next day!

I have been using the Shea Butter Foot Cream on Dan's feet.  He has some sort of callous or growth on his big toe that he hasn't been able to get rid of.  I used the foot cream once or twice a day and it seems to have decreased the size of the growth on his toe!

Before

After 2 weeks of using Shea Butter Foot Cream

You can order lotions for yourself here

Body Cream, 12 oz. Jars   $5.75
Shea Butter Foot Cream, 8 oz jar  $6.50

Hand Lotion, 4 oz. Tube  $2.75

Hand Lotion, 2 oz. Tube  $1.75

The website also lists stores where you can buy their products.  In our area, it lists Meijer and Walmart, although I didn't see it in an online search of Meijer.

I've used the lotions for 2 weeks and haven't made much of a dent in the tub!  I think it is a good value for as long as it is lasting.

Udderly Smooth lotions do not contain any dairy or bovine ingredients, nor were tested on animals.

@UdderlySmooth

#udderlysmooth

#mosaicreview

I received these lotions for free in exchange for my honest review.  No other form of compensation was received.  Your results may vary from mine.

Book Review: "A Light for my Path: An ABC Book Based on Psalm 119" by Davis Carman

We love books at our house.  I'm sure I've mentioned that before!  We were happy to get the chance to review "A Light for my Path: An ABC Book Based on Psalm 119" written by Davis Carman, illustrated by Alice Ratterree,  and published by Apologia.

We enjoyed how the previous letter's object showed up in the pages for the next letter and the kids had fun looking for them.  There were a few that we couldn't find, though.   It was helpful that they gave a list of the plants and animals they used so you can identify them easily.  I liked the beautiful pictures in muted colors.

Even though it is an ABC book with both upper and lower case letters, it isn't meant for just little kids. I really liked how it got the kids thinking about God's word in different ways.  It is more than "just" the Bible.

The back half of the book has Psalm 119 grouped under the Hebrew letters that they start with.  I talked about how each section starts with the Hebrew letter listed at the start of that section.  To further show this, I looked up the Hebrew Bible online.  It showed the Hebrew side by side with the English.   The kids thought it was really interesting to see the Hebrew language and how they read from right to left.   I showed them the beginning of each verse for each section started with the same letter.

The online Bible that I used also had an option to listen to it in Hebrew.  The kids were very intrigued by how the Hebrew sounded.

 "A Light for my Path" has 80 pages and is available for $14.00.  (Reference: 978-1-940110-03-5 )

 I received a free copy of "A Light for my Path" to review for the Mosaic Review Team.  No other form of compensation was received.

Review: iTooch 3rd Grade Science app

We were asked to review an iTooch app from edupad.  They have apps available for iOS, Android, and Windows platforms.  They have Elementary (grades 3-5) apps for Math, Science, and Language Arts (Plus Health for 5th Grade), Grade 6 has apps for Math, Language Arts, and Health.  Grades 7 & 8 have Math, Music, and Language Arts.  They have SAT prep apps for Math, Critical Reading, Biology and U.S. History. There is also a "French as a Foreign Language" app. Not all of these apps are available for all the different platforms, however.

We downloaded the "iTooch 3rd Grade Science" app from the Google Play Store to use on our Android tablet for free.  They also have Math and Language apps available here.

We thought the phrases it displayed while loading were funny.  Some of them were:
iTooch is combing his hair
iTooch is cleaning his room
iTooch is taking his dog for a walk
Engine is warming up
Activating rocket launchers
Fixing zorblocks

It said "This may take up to 1 minute".  It took at least 5 minutes, which wasn't too bad (this wasn't installing the game, just while it was opening it)

I don't have a 3rd grader (I have a 2nd and a 4th) but I decided to go with the 3rd grade app because Emily is above grade level in most subjects.  The 3rd Grade Science subject included "Physical Science", "Life Science", and "Earth Systems Science".

It starts out with a practice time and after finishing that, it went right into a timed test about the subject.  We didn't realize that there was a text that went along with the practice/tests.  That helped to explain the subject much better!

It seemed sort of hard for it to register our touches for the answers and we had to do it a few times before it would take it.  Also, there were questions where it wouldn't let us open the keyboard.  It'd pop up and then disappear right away before we could type anything.  You couldn't enlarge the practice or test to make it easier to select, either.

In the Earth Systems section, it said that the earth atmosphere wasn't hospitable (ie didn't have oxygen) "long ago" and one of the questions was "Oxygen was always present - True or False"  I didn't like the false information that the earth didn't always have oxygen.  It had to have oxygen at least by Day 3 when God created the plants and I would assume it was there on Day 2 when He made the atmosphere!

Overall, I found the app useful to strengthen knowledge.  I'd just have to make sure to point out the errors that it has.

I downloaded this app for free in order to do my review for Mosaic Reviews Team.  Your experiences may differ than mine.

Review: Homeschool Programming: KidCoder Beginning Web Design

When the opportunity to review a computer programming course from Homeschool Programming, I thought it looked like something that my older son would enjoy in a few years, but wouldn't quite be able to do *yet*  as it is recommended for 4th - 12th grades and he is just starting 1st grade this week.  My husband thought it looked fun, too, so we decided to go ahead and review the KidCoder Beginning Web Design course.  When my husband was in college (his double major was in Electrical Engineering and Computers: Systems and Networks), he studied Pascal, Basic, Fortran 77, Cobol, C ++, Visual Basic, Visual Basic +, and Machine Code, so he knows some about computer programs, but hadn't done anything with html which is covered in Beginning Web Design.

 

The program was easy to download and install.  It walked you through the steps to get you started.  Having never done any online homeschool programs (or any homeschool programs at all!), it was a little confusing at first as to where the "syllabus" was, but then we realized the Table of Contents showed that you just do one lesson a day for four days a week for 13 weeks and you're good! 

Topics Covered in this Course

• Mark-up concepts
• Website layouts and files
• Backing up projects
• Essential HTML symbols
• Styling of text
• Using symbols and lists
• Internal and external hyperlinks
• Navigation bars and footers
• Simple CSS effects
• Spacing and positioning
• Graphics and image editing
• Tables

There are also videos to go along with the course, which is wonderful if you have an audio-visual learner!

My husband had some difficulty finding the "Activity Docs" as it wasn't where it said it was going to be in the pdf/book, but under "Student Menu".   He found a few of the examples a little comical (Like using crocodiles to explain the angle brackets), but on the whole, my husband thought it was laid out in an easy to understand way and builds nicely towards making your own web page. 

KidCoder Beginning Web Design is available for $70 for the course only, $85 for the course and videos, and $20 for just the video.

We received a digital download (pdf) of the book and online access to the videos for the review, but purchasers will receive an actual book and a CD with the videos. 

I received a free copy of the KidCoder Beginning Web Design 1st Semester in exchange for my review for Mosaic Reviews.  No other form of compensation was received. 

Review: Typecrush: A Puzzling Game of Words

Typecrush is sort of "Grown up Hangman".  Each letter is assigned a color based on letter frequency analysis (how frequently it appears in the English language).  

People try to guess what the word is by looking at the enclosed chart showing which letters are in each color.

I was intrigued when given the opportunity to review this game. 

When it came, it was smaller than I was imagining, but the letter 

cards were bigger than I expected!  

The kids wanted to play it as soon as it arrived.  I picked a 

word and chose the letter cards that corresponded to the 

letters in my word.  I laid it out on the floor face down, and 

the kids just stared at it!  I decided that it was too difficult 

for them to be able to guess the word as a whole, so we 

did a modified version of the game.   They do recommend

the game for ages 7 and up, though!

I let them try and guess one of the cards.  They would point 

to the letter card and ask, "Is this a ____" and if it was the

letter they guessed, I'd turn the card over.

Andrew only guessed letters in the blue row 

(most frequently used letters).  I guess he liked

those letters best!  If they thought they knew 

what the word was, they could guess on their 

turn.  Then they would have a turn at picking

the word for the others to guess.  I had the 

younger kids pick a word out of a book so I

knew it would be spelled correctly!  

Besides the way we played and the way it's meant 

to be played (guess the word), I think you could also  

use this game for "blunders".  You could pick 

the letters for the word and lay them face up (so you

can see the letters) and the other people try and 

unscramble the letters and guess the word.

Typecrush costs $25.  This is more than I would want

to spend on a game, but I do think the game is a 

really nice game.  The game pieces are all letter-pressed 

and made from 100% recycled material.

I received this game for free in exchange for my
honest review of the game through Mosaic Reviews.  No other compensation
was received.