Reviewing Marbles A Traditional Game of Lent

March And Marbles

It doesn't matter whether Easter falls in March or April, typically at least most of the month of March falls in to the time of Lent. Did you know that a traditional game played during the Lenten Season is marbles? I honestly did not know this myself but I think it is really kind of cool. 

I know I have fond memories of shooting marbles when I was a young girl! I don't know that children play marbles much anymore but what a fun tradition to start in young families. Of course they don't have to just play marbles during Lent but it is a nice time to start teaching them how to play. 

First, a little history of the game. Marbles has been played for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. It is believed that in the beginning eggs, round stones and even cherry pits were used before the marbles of glass came along. During Lent, children and grown-ups alike played this fun game up until the clock stroked 12 noon on Good Friday. Did you know that another name for Good Friday is Marble Day? I didn't know that, either. 

Channel Craft Toy Tin Marbles Game

Marbles is not a complicated game and most kids pick up the rules with one explanation. The fun thing is that it can be played inside or outside and all year long. We usually played outside and we made our ring in the dirt. How about you? Did you play marbles as a child?

In case you have forgotten the rules, here is a fun video to remind you of how easy it is to play.

Did that bring it all back to you? It did me! Oh the hours we spent trying to get each other's marbles. We kind of rotated in our rules. Sometimes, we played "keepsies" and sometimes we gave back the marbles when the game was over. The disagreements usually started if we were doing give-backs because someone invariably tried to claim a marble as having been his or hers. We came up with a clever way to decide...we had a "shoot-off" for the marble or marbles in question.

You know not all marbles look alike and many times we had marbles that were different from the others. Maybe it was a special color of "cat's eye" or an unusual color of swirl. I remember one boy in the neighborhood had a couple of neat corkscrews and one kid was lucky enough to have some "aggies" which were made from agate. Those marbles never came into dispute as to who the original owner was but the more common ones sometimes did. When we played "keepsies", sometimes I would win an exceptionally pretty marble and I would keep those aside and not enter them into the next game because I didn't want to lose them. Maybe that was the beginning of me collecting things! I know I had quite a stash of marbles by the time I stopped playing. Funny, I don't remember what happened to those marbles. I probably gave them to some little kid at some point.

Perhaps this month, during Lent, you could introduce the game of marbles to your children or grandchildren! A fun, inexpensive game that can offer hours of fun and enjoyment.

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How to Sweep Your Floors Without Lifting a Finger

Whether it's Spring or Any Other Season, the Floors Always Need Sweeping ... Ugh!

Did you know you can sweep your floors all day without thinking about it or using a broom?

Yes, that's right .... all you have to do is walk around your home with slippers that sweep for you.

Do You Have Pets that Shed?

Are you buried in animal fur? Do you need a rescue team to come in and find you and the kids buried in a fog of dog hair? Ok, sure, it's not that bad (it could be?).

Floor Cleaning Slippers Featured Here

If you need a rescue, get the entire family their own pair of dusting slippers. They come in sizes that fit men, women, and kids.

Are You Sick of Seeing the Dust on Your Hardwood Floors?

You're not alone. Did you know that darker, shiny hardwood flooring shows almost every speck of dust, especially when the sun beams down on them through windows (yah, you know that already) ... and did you know that's one of the reasons people now choose a flatter finish for their hardwood.

In fact, my brother and his wife had just finished building their home, and they specifically chose hardwood that wasn't shiny to avoid seeing every bit of dust and dog hair they used to see in their
previous home.

These slippers are also a great housewarming gift for people moving into a new house.

In fact, a creative basket of cleaning goodies to make life easier is an ideal gift!

Add these slippers to your cleaning gift basket, and they'll love it! Hopefully, my brother and his wife don't read this article because, guess what they're getting from me?

So, How Do You Clean the Slippers that Do the Cleaning?

It's easy. Just detach the bottom velcroed micro-fiber cleaning piece and toss it in the washing machine. Depending upon your chosen style, some come as an entire piece, as featured in the photo labeled 'another style.'

Get a pair for everyone in the family and have them wear their cleaning slippers throughout the day, and at least you'll stay ahead of the dust!

How About A Slipper Party?

Yeah, that's weird.

But if you're into wacky-party themes, you can hold a 'Help Me Clean My House Party' and everyone gets a free gift! A pair of cleaning slippers that you provide for each person as they enter and that they have to wear at the party.

Sure, your house will have glasses, food, and other party goodies, but at least your floors will look good! Best of all, no shoes on in your home, no bare feet, and no smelly socks. All your guests will be wearing a new pair of cleaning slippers.

Would it be expensive - if you compare these to other items you have to acquire for a party, this is in the range .... 10 Slippers would be about $70 to $150 bucks, depending upon the style you choose.

Have Fun Cleaning!
by Barbara

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Grilling Vegan Style, Cookbook Review

With outdoor grilling season soon to be upon those of us in the colder climates, it's time to tell you about a new cookbook I found. Grilling Vegan Style, by John Schlimm, is way more than just another vegan cookbook. It turned out to be an eye-opener for me.

It's true I have had to turn to vegan eating for my own health, but I also discovered how exciting and delicious the foods can be. One thing I wanted to do was to grill vegetables. Haha - you think a vegan lifestyle is stuck with grilling veggies only? Then you are in for a treat with Grilling Vegan Style.

For the Novice Griller and Expert Alike

Now, I will have to admit that I was a complete novice when it comes to using an outdoor grill. I had just gotten my first grill. But how much charcoal do I put into it? How will I know when the coals are ready? My list of questions was long. And author John Schlimm came to my rescue. He starts off with a simple explanation of how to handle a charcoal grill. After reading his explanation, I made my first grilled dinner easily.

So maybe you have lots more experience than I do. Maybe you have a gas or electric grill. Don't worry. Schlimm has you covered there, too. He details what temperatures look like on your settings, how to prepare your grill for cooking, even how to work with direct and indirect heat.

Covering Recipes for All

Granted, my initial grilling attempts were simple things like veggie kabobs and veggie burgers, but I knew I would expand into all numbers of delicious dishes after looking through Grilling Vegan Style. Schlimm shows you how to grill any number of foods including fruit. Grilled pear halves is now a great favorite at my house.

Those of us who enjoy tailgating have a friend in Schlimm. He has a whole chapter full of great recipes just for tailgate parties. Take a look as his Halftime Pizza recipe for example.

More than just tailgating, he covers picnic options, summer salads topped with grilled goodies, even PB & J sandwiches for the kids in all of us. Personally, I can't wait for watermelon season. Yep, you heard that right. Grilling Vegan Style includes a recipe for a grilled watermelon salad.

Helpful Tips Make a World of Difference

Grilling Vegan Style

John Schlimm is not just your average cookbook author. He adds many helpful tips to make grilling easier, better and more flavorful. My favorite trick, learned from Schlimm, is to soak potato fries in hot water before grilling them. That gives the fries that crispy outside.

He includes a whole chapter on marinade recipes. Not only are they delicious, but he offers timelines to help you. How long to marinate different veggies, fruits and other yummy treats, like tempeh and tofu.

As my world starts to gain warmer days, I'm grilling more and more outside. And my go to cookbook, not only for new recipes, but new ideas as well has become Grilling Vegan Style. Frankly, I'm not sure I would have been so successful from the beginning without it. May you have as much fun grilling as I do.





Posted by: BuckHawk

About This Contributor

BuckHawk decribes herself as "Basically a lazy person who prefers the easy things in life." So that's what she writes about. Easy home decorating, easy recipes, easy entertaining. But, she is also a lover of animals, gardening and crafting. You'll find her writing all over the Web, but with Review This Reviews! she has the opportunity to write about all of her loves.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Review of Hotels.com

How to Find Hotels While Traveling

When I started to think about how to find hotels while traveling on my around the world trip, I researched a few hotel sites and gave them each a trial. I did this by checking prices and booking hotels in a few cities and then cancelling so I could see how hard that would be if I needed to do so. Because besides being able to find hotel deals, I wanted to be able to cancel easily and get a refund easily.

Of course I also checked prices on the exact same hotels to see how much surcharge the sites added to the basic hotel price. Then I read the fine print so see what else could be a factor. Last, I checked the perks of using each site. I wanted to use one site for the whole trip so I could get the most free nights! Hotels.com gives you a free night for every 10 nights you pay for! I love that and took full advantage.

I also wanted to be able to find hotel rates and book from my iPhone on the fly in case we liked a town and wanted to stay as an impromptu adventure. All the sites I checked had this and the prices didn't vary by much so it really came down to customer service, and how easy it was to cancel and get a refund. Based on all these factors I decided to use Hotels.com and I am so glad I did.

Mary and Jesus, Almudena Cathedral, Madrid

Great Customer Service from Hotels.com

Maybe my Madrid story will illustrate why I love Hotels.com so much. First of all, Madrid was the only city where our hotel did not exceed our expectations. But I'm not sure it was the fault of the site anyway. Our "adventure" started a few hours after I booked our room when I got a message from the hotel that was not friendly informing me that I had better not be late or I would be at their mercy and might have to wait up to 4 hours for them to come back and check us in. They explained that they had several properties and would meet us, thus the need for us to be timely. Okay, but we were traveling by train with no control over the train's timeliness, and didn't know how hard it would be to get a taxi or how long we would have to wait for it.

This made me ill at ease so I emailed customer service at Hotels.com that I would like to cancel and get a different hotel because they seemed so nice in the description and then changed into jerks about being on time. But somehow I used the wrong email address and it was not received until the following week so I never got a response.

 Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Spain

So we went on to Madrid anyway and actually got to the hotel before we were due but guess who was late? Them!!! The other thing I should mention is that I had emailed them and told them I had a broken ankle and would need to be on the bottom floor or there would need to be an elevator. So guess where they placed us? On the 5th floor!!! And there was no elevator!!! I did manage to climb the stairs to the top but the last straw was that this room looked nothing like the photos that had been posted on Hotels.com. I won't bore you with all the details of how different it was! LOL

This was just too much to deal with so I called customer service even though it was very expensive for me to do so. (Roaming charges are expensive for my carrier!) After telling the representative my sad tale and explaining that the room was nothing like the photos and I thought they had been defrauded by the hotel, the representative put me on hold for just about 2 minutes and said they would be crediting my account $200 and investigating the photo situation. And of course I did not have to stay in a room so high up with no elevator! Yay! Plus I got the correct email address so this would never happen again.

This made our eventual room in Madrid essentially free so we still love Hotels.com. It could have been prevented but they fixed it and paid us back. What more could you ask for?

That is the only bad experience we've ever had anyway! Most of the hotels we booked turned out to be prettier and much nicer than the photos. And we have gotten so many free nights! Plus many of the hotels we stayed in upgraded our room for free. I have never stayed in so many beautiful rooms. I think this is because they want to be on the top of the recommended list at Hotels.com. So they treat its customers really well hoping for good reviews. It works! I'm a very happy customer!

All Photos © Heather Burns, All Rights reserved.

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Review of Photography book by Scott Kelby

 

The Perfect Gift for the Photographer on Your Gift List

Do you know someone who loves books and photography? If so, I have the perfect gift idea for them. I too love both books and photography, so reading about photography is a natural for me.

My favorite series of photography books are written by Scott Kelby. Scott gives tips to the reader as if he were on a photo shoot with them. He doesn't bore you with tons of details but rather gets right to the point and says "try doing it this way". Whether you are a someone who just likes to take photos for fun or you are a new or not so new photographer trying to get the most out of your photos, Scott has some great tips for you.

I invite you to look over the books on this page and then think about those people on your gift list. I bet you have someone who would really love these books!

Happy Shopping

all photos by the author-mbgphoto

The Digital Photography Book - Scott Kelby

This book was my first introduction to Scott Kelby and I can tell you the pages are getting rather worn from all the times I have read and looked at this book. I love the way Scott gives you step by step instructions on how to perform various photography skills.

Scott starts out the book with a basic chapter on telling you how to get really sharp photos. The following chapters tell you how to shoot like a pro whether you are shooting flowers, weddings,landscapes,sports, or people. Scott also includes chapters on avoiding problems, traveling with a camera and printing. All of these chapters are great and the way they are designed you can review a certain chapter right before you are going to shoot that subject.

The last chapter in the book shows beautiful photographs and then gives you the formula for shooting the photo. The book has great, easy follow instructions.

Click Photo for Amazon

Predawn Sky in Minnesota 
colorful predawn sky

This photo used a tip found on page 62 of The Digital Photography Book . It is entitled The Golden Rule of Landscape Photography and states a landscape photographer can only shoot during two times each day; dawn and dusk.

The Digital Photography Book -Volume 2 - Photography Tips

Book two is written in the same format as book one and gives you many more great tips for photography. It adds a chapter on using flash, one on setting up a studio and a great chapter on shooting portraits. In addition it has chapters on landscapes, weddings, travel, and macro that give you more great tips on these subjects.

One of my favorite tips from this book is found in chapter 4 on page 114 where it tells you not to stop shooting after sunset. It states if you are patient and wait, after many of the photographers have packed up their bags, you will capture some magnificent shots. On many nights just after sunset the sky turns a deep,deep blue and beautiful colors appear. These will only last for about 10-12 minutes so you must be ready.

In September, I went to the grounds of a nearby college and I was shooting sunflowers at sunset. I had gotten some great shots, but then I remembered the tip about waiting around after the sunset for the great colors in the sky. I waited about 10 minutes and the sky broke out in beautiful colors. There was a fountain nearby and I photographed the beautiful sky reflected in the water of the fountain and pond. The resulting photo is seen below.

Beautiful Sky after Sunset

Beautiful Sky after Sunset

 

The Digital Photography Book- Volume 3 - Tips to Shoot Like a Pro

Volume 3 picks up where book 2 stopped. It has two more chapters on using a flash and using your studio. This book also has a great chapter about tips to using different lenses. it tells which lens to use under different circumstances. It also includes chapters on shooting products, people, outdoors and sports.

I have always found the fisheye lens to be fascinating, but was never quite sure when to use it. In chapter 3 of this book, Scott explains that he like to use a fisheye lens if he is sitting up high in a sports stadium and if he is shooting skyscrapers and wants to get them all.

The Digital Photography Book Part 4 - more advanced photography tips

This book is on my wish list for Christmas. It has great reviews. It picks up where volume 3 leaves off. One of the reviews I read said that if you are a beginner you will want to start with volume 1, but for the more advanced photographer part 4 is by far the best of the group. I can't wait to delve into this book.

The Digital Photography Books - boxed set

This set contains volumes 1-2-3-and 4. It also includes a new #5 that I have not read yet. It would make the perfect gift for the photographer on your list. Whether they are a beginner or someone who is more advanced, they are sure to find helpful hints in Scott Kelby's series of digital photography books.