Five Simple Things (August 27)

Hello.

Tomorrow is my forty-fourth birthday and my giveaway is still going strong. Be sure to enter it before midnight to get your name on the list. You can enter here, or here. It's a great fire pit mat and I just loved collaborating with Daxlena on this. I am loving my fire pit grill mat and I can't wait to take it with us this autumn camping and also on some of our surfing trips. 

1. This Moment.

I enjoyed this day. I sat and watched cartoons, braided my hair, and ate cereal like a little kid. I also enjoyed my new copy of DREW Magazine and took a much needed selfcare day. No regrets, at all!

2. This Test.

We've been using these weekly tests when we start feeling any type of illness coming on that resembles the Coronavirus symptoms. Luckily, even when being around others that have tested positive, we have been doing our part to mask up, sanitize often, and wash our hands frequently, and it's kept us pretty healthy. These tests are rapid tests and can be found at most smaller retailers, or pharmacies. A lot of the stores have them up front at the checkout counters. It's a set of two tests and keeping some on-hand isn't a bad idea. The picture below shows exactly what's in the test kit. Regardless of whether you are vaccinated, or not, having these in your medicine cabinet for each member of your household is a smart idea. These tests are also available online here. 

3. This Picture.

This moment with the sun and the water spray was not even planned and as I was attempting to take a picture of the bathroom window, he popped his head out and sprayed the water from his mouth. The timing is amazing and it turned out cool after the fact.

4. This Sample.

It was an interesting week with Influenster. I received a few samples of products to try for free and leave an honest review. This cat litter was one of those samples. I liked the smell of it before it was poured into the litter box. This variety has a nice, subtle lotus blossom scent to it, but once used, especially urine, it didn't hold onto the smell at all. After two days, it was a no-go for us. It does a good job of containing the dust, but the smell-even though it states, "outstanding odor control" it doesn't live up to its claims. We have one cat and it didn't do well at containing her odors even after three days of constant cleaning. There are other scents, one being the lavender scent, that we will be trying, too, to see if those are better for our kitty. There are pros to this litter overall, though. It has no harmful chemicals, no artificial perfumes, and no silica dust. It also is made from natural corn and it better for the environment. You can learn more about the litter here.                            

5. This Product.

I received this for testing purposes from Influenster this week and although we don't normally eat Kraft products, it was fun to make. The shapes are based off of the movie Space Jam and the box sample sent to me was a family-size. We enjoyed it a lot, because the shapes of the pasta were so cute! But, the taste, because we don't normally eat it, was so salty. It was incredible how much salt was in this product that people normally take for granted. It was a fun product, but not something we would buy again. These samples come from and influencer program and I get them free for testing and to give honest feedback on what I think. You can sign up for this program here and start receiving free products to test, too. It's a great program and companies really appreciate your honest review and feedback on their products and merchandise. 

Did you catch the moon above Jupiter and Saturn this week (21), the Full Corn Moon (22), or the Teapot Asterism (26)?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for the Daxlena 

firepit grill mat. You can enter here on the blog, 

or over at my Instagram page. Tonight is your last 

chance, so get your name entered before you run 

out of time! Good luck!

Positive affirmations this week:

Guard yourself against Alzheimer's Disease. You have a greater risk if it runs in your family, but even without it being hereditary, there's still a slight chance it could affect you. Memory loss is a big issue with a lot of people, but keeping the mind sharp, even if you don't develop Alzheimer's Disease. Here are some steps you can take to keep your mind in tip-top shape:

1. Keep your BMI between 18-24, if you're under aged 65. Losing additional weight is your best defense.

2. Quit smoking and don't stay around secondhand smoke for long periods of time.

3. Get the right amount of sleep. Less sleep takes its toll on your mind in more ways than just memory.

4. Eat right to keep your heart healthy and exercise often. Diet and exercise are great at any age.

5. Do weight baring exercises as you age to keep strong and keep from becoming frail.

6. Take vitamins and extra vitamin C. Adding additional vitamins may prove to help with memory loss, and brain health.

Safeparty Fire Pit Mat

I had the wonderful opportunity to team up with Daxlena and test their Safeparty Fire Pit Mat this past month and we gave it the best testing we could think of. We used it on the beach, at home on our deck, and even in the grass. With the dry temperatures here and a burn ban put into place by the state fire marshal, we were worried we weren't going to get to test it out with heat. But, we got that opportunity this week when the heat finally broke and gave us a small sprinkling of rain, along with some milder temperatures. 

Daxlena's Safeparty Fire Pit Mat was created by accident with an unfortunate incident. The incident happened with a poor quality fireproof mat that not only caused a first degree burns, but also lots of damage to a newly installed porch. The experience, although unfortunate, it wasn't in vain and Daxlena decided to change things for people in the future and prevent others from having similar experiences. They worked with multiple materials and product suppliers over the course of a year and developed the blend of materials that are now part of the Safeparty Fire Pit/Grill Mat. The high-quality materials have been tested to provide optimum heat resistance and protection for your deck, patio, or lawn, and also to help protect against heat penetrating surfaces that could lead to injury, or burns. 

Daxlena is a family-owned business and their perseverance in creating a product that they themselves would use on a daily basis is important to them. Their Safeparty Fire Pit/Grill Mat is one of the products they stand behind and know that it will save your family and friends from suffering similar accidents like the one that prompted the creation of the mat. 

The mat is designed to protect your deck, patio, or even the grass from the heat given off by a fire pit, grill, or heating element.  The mat can withstand up to an incredible 1300 degrees F! It's heat resistant, easy to use and clean, and durable. It's waterproof with nonslip silicone on the bottom that allows it to stay in place and not slide when being used. It has thermal insulation between the layers that offers that extra help in stopping the heat transfer. And, on the top, it has an aluminum fiber fabric that reflects up to 95% of the heat being given off by your fire pit, stove, grill, or heat source. It's triple-layered and at 38" around, it gives a large protection area from heat.

Burn and heat marks on anything is annoying and at times extremely costly to remove or repair. This fire pit/grill mat is definitely worth it! With it being waterproof, if any sparks, coals, or tender fall out of your grill, or fire pit, you can rest assured that this mat will catch it and allow you the easy clean up without the burns. No more grass burns, either!

You place the reflective side up, place it where you plan on having your heat source, place your grill, or fire pit directly on top of the reflective mat and relax. It protects all surfaces with high quality materials that actually work. It's compact enough to take anywhere and everywhere. Just fold it up and place it back into the soft bag and place in your truck, or even in a backpack. Once you're done using it, spray the mat and you're good to go for another cookout, party, or gathering.

Thank you to Daxlena for allowing me the opportunity to test out this great fire pit/grilling mat! It was a real pleasure and it exceeded my expectations 100%!

(If you're here from the Instagram giveaway, please tell me below how you would use this mat if you won. Be sure to do all the required steps on the Instagram post here in order to be qualified. Good luck!)

Don't want to wait to see if you're a winner? You can purchase the Safeparty Fire Pit Mat here.

Congratulations to Miguel Maguire. You are the winner of the Safeparty Fire Pit/Grill Mat. An email was sent to your email you registered here in your comment.

Five Simple Things (August 20)

Hello.

We took a bit of a drive to the beach this past week, but it wasn't to surf. We did a photoshoot with a new fire pit mat I received from a company named Daxlena. Post on this will follow soon later today, but I loved the fire pit mat so much, I bought one to give away. This week is my birthday and to celebrate my forty-fourth, what better way than to give away a give to someone else? So, stay tuned for that post later on the blog and on Instagram. We also did a bit of cleaning up around our yard this week. Put several items curbside for others to take. Which, living in a city, free items don't seem to last long. I am just glad to offer them up to someone else that can use them. Skylar and I made fingerprint powder in the Rain Valley Red Snails Classroom this week. It was a lot of fun testing out different fingerprints on different surfaces. The powder was rather time-consuming to make, but totally worth it. It kind of fits in with our podcast, too, so we had a lot of fun with it. You can make the fingerprint powder here. I've posted step-by-step instructions. It's super easy, and really worth the time to learn about fingerprints and ridge details that are unique to each person. Here are five things this week.

1.  This Place.

Such a magical place.

2. This Supplement. 

Been looking for more natural ways to help with my anxiety and PTSD triggers and I have found a great addition to my other supplements. Omega-3 seems to help with that. I like the taste of these because they have a bit of lemon to it, and there's no after taste. I got this particular brand here.

3. This Sunset.

Jeff sent me this from his work parking lot this week. The sunrise here is so behind everyone else, but our sunsets are some of the best you'll ever see.

4. This Hack.

Skylar came up with this super simple/no brainer hack this week. We bought a camping toilet to take on our road trips and our surf trips, and pulling the paper out of the middle has been extremely convenient. What a clever kid, he is!

5. This Shoot.

These pictures were part of our photo shoot with the Daxlena fire pit mat. I'm holding a giveaway, so be sure to enter it here, or here, to win one of these. 

Did you catch the Summer Triangle this week (16), or Jupiter at its brightest (19):

Positive affirmations this week: 

When someone says something to you that upsets you, or brings up emotions within you, stop. Stop and realize that your emotions are your ego and showing that their words upset you gives them control. If you are easily offended you are easily manipulated and the person trying to trigger you knows this. Train your mind to respond with a calm, and collected manner. It takes practice, but it can be done. I no longer see people's insults, criticism, judgement, or rude comments as an insult towards me. I collect my thoughts and respond accordingly to their faults. People project a lot of their own failures onto others. The one thing that has helped me get better as this is feeling sorry for the person saying these harmful comments. When you see it in a way that triggers your empathy more than self worth, it does get easier to handle other's negative opinions they push upon us. Trick your brain into choosing happiness over negativity.

Have a nice weekend.

Lemon Squares

I hate cooking. Anyone that knows me well will tell you that. Cooking, baking, or even standing in the kitchen making a sandwich, I hate it all. Which, seems odd to say, as most people that are in my bloodline seem to enjoy it a lot. I've never been one to find any joy in it. I've heard people say that it gives them joy, or melts their heart to watch people eat what they've cooked. Nope, not me. If you like it, cool, if not, I'm not surprised. Ha! But, there are random times where I will go into the kitchen and make something completely unexpected. Skylar tells me all the time that he likes that part of me the best. When I cook, or bake something that no one expects. He tells me that's his favorite kind of cooking and describes me as-"The unexpected cook." 

The unexpected baking I did this week was lemon squares. I took advantage of our local food co-op's citrus sale in January and stocked up on organic Meyer lemons. I ended up juicing all of them and freezing the juice to use at a later time. Well, this week was the "later time." 

These lemon squares are five ingredients and are delicious and easy to make. 

Here's what you'll need:

For the crust:

• 1 cup softened organic butter
• 2 cups organic sugar
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose organic flour
• 4 organic eggs
• Juice of two organic Meyer lemons
• Organic powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or 176 degrees C.

Mix butter, 2 cups of the flour, and ½ cup of the sugar in a bowl. Press the dough into the bottom of an ungreased glass 9x13-inch* baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Do not over bake. Set out to cool completely.

(*roughly)

For the lemon filling:

Mix in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or by hand, 1½ cups of sugar, ¼ cup flour, all of the eggs (one at a time), and add the lemon juice slowly. 

Pour over the top of the cooled crust.

Bake at 350 degrees F (176 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until the top is firm and set. 

Allow to cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar. This step is optional, but it does make for a tastier lemon square and it just looks pretty. Place them on a plate and serve. We like to eat them when they are still a slight bit warm, but they are also delicious when they are chilled.