Bulldog: Seat Removal

I have not been keeping you all up to date as well as I had wanted to. Of course life gets busy. When you add a big ol' bus conversion to the mix, things can really get interesting. Okay, so you all got to see our Bernadette "Bernie" the Bulldog when she came home.

At that time, she was very much a kid toting school bus, seats and all. Those seats were the first thing that had to go! I of course did not think to get a picture of when we had all the seats in Bernie, but we all know what that looks like, now don't we.







At first, Hubs tried many different ideas to get the seats out. It was hot, the bus was hot, and those seats, wanted to stay put. Hubs tried unbolting the seats much like they had just gone in. It worked on maybe one or two bolts. Boy was it slow and tedious!





Finally we went to a quick but hot and dirty method of seat removal: the grinder.
Every seat had to have its aisle bolts ground off. When on a hot bus in the middle of summer, the last thing you really want to be doing is using a grinder, but it had to be done. You can see Hubs taking a little break when he had about 1/2 of the passenger side done.

The kids loved when we got 1/2 of the seats out as they had more room to run around. That was their idea of helping. But hey, no way could they be on there while the grinder was going, so helping was a bit out of the question. While bummed, they did enjoy playing inside the nice cool house. 

 Finally, we got all of the seats out of the bus. I must say, Hubs got it done in record time once we (he) started just grinding those suckers out of there.

And now we had our first look truly at the amount of space that we had in our bus.
I think this is going to be one awesome adventure to go on. And then, it will take us to so many more! Continue with us as we keep working on the demo part of our dream camper build. Next up, our walls and floor get ripped out.

The Skinny on Skinny & Co.

Who doesn't love reviews. More often than not, when I am looking for a new product, I look for reviews before I buy. Here is where I help you find a great new company; Skinny & Co.

Coconut oil has become huge as we learn all the ways it can benefit our health and beauty. Skinny Coconut oil is made in small batches that are cold pressed, and they only use 100% pure raw coconuts from the jungles of Vietnam. 

I received a few products that I want to share with you today. I received five products to test out and will cover most of them here. I tried out a sugar scrub, oil pulling, body butter, facial oil, and a pure coconut oil. 

First, my favorite product. I am a sucker really for scrubs. I love how they make my skin feel, and this one is just down right awesome. When I opened the jar, I just wanted to eat it up, it smelled that good. The best part, I could! See, not only can I use this as a sugar scrub on my skin, but I could also use it in coffee or tea, or on my lips. Everything is completely natural in it, so it is totally edible. I have not tasted it yet, but I have been super tempted to.

I was in one of my best friend's wedding in September, and I got these products just in time. My legs really needed some tlc, and I started with this baby. The sugar and vanilla in this scrub send you straight to the spa. After using it, my legs did feel so nice and soft. I was in love.

This was actually the very first product I tried from this line, and it was my first time using anything with coconut oil. To be honest, I had to look up oil pulling just to know what this was for. For those who do not know, oil pulling is taking a small amount of coconut oil and swishing it in your mouth for 10-20 minutes. It can help freshen breath, whiten your teeth, and remove plaque. With those kinds of benefits, I was going to give it a try. Skinny oil pulling oil is infused with peppermint oil to really freshen your breath while pulling. I loved the peppermint in this. Truly, I only pulled once, as it was not something I was really in to. Although it is not my cup of tea, for those who do like to oil pull, I would highly recommend this product, as it was nice with the added minty feel.

Of course you cannot try out a bunch of coconut oil products without trying the good stuff, just by itself. I was so happy when one of the jars I received was their pure coconut oil. I have been wanting to try out coconut oil for some time, actually since my mom started using it when fighting her cancer. So, it has been over two years. My family is not big on the taste of coconut, so I had to be careful with how much I used at any one time. This jar stayed in my kitchen. I liked using it to help replace some of the oil I use in cooking. If I can boost my metabolism at all, I will be a fan. This oil has not been overpowering at all, and the family hasn't even noticed when I do use it. Another win. 

 

These are the last two products that I was given for review and testing. This is where I had some pause with my review. I love using the oil for how it can help my health and the scrub is nice. With these two products I would end up with a little more of an oil feel to my skin that I just was not a complete fan of. I know that others truly love these products, but they were just not necessarily my forte. There are many ways that I can use the body butter, but some I have to wait on. The body butter can be good to use after getting a bit too much sun, for now I have to wait until summer to really test that out. Also, it can be use for skin rash or baby acne, and I don't really come across those much anymore. So, I don't want my pause to make you not try out these great products. They could be awesome for many others. 

Overall, I have loved working with the company and trying out these great coconut oil products. They have been so wonderful to work with.

Now, I want to give you all a chance to try out their products as well. The great people at Skinny & Co have given me a discount code for you all to use! Just head on over to their website and you will receive 15% off any Skinny & Co. order, when you use the discount code - SKINNYCO15.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. All opinions are completely my own.

Our Newest Adventure

After much thought and discussion, we have embarked on a new adventure as a family.

WE BOUGHT A SCHOOL BUS! 

Yes, you read right, a school bus. No Hubs nor I are becoming bus drivers. 

     I would like to introduce you all to Bernadette "Bernie" the Bulldog.

"Bernie" after purchase, but before coming home.

She is a 1996 66 passenger International school bus. She will be stripped down (it is actually already happening) and turned into our dream camper. The official name for this type of thing is "skoolie." Skoolies have been around for decades, really.
     
     We are doing this as a family and the kids are so excited. In all honesty, they are bummed when we say they can't help with some part of the demo.

     You will be seeing a bit of this gal I hope, as I plan to chronicle this adventure on the blog. We are pretty excited for this chapter in our lives. I leave you for today with a picture of "Bernie" in her new home, until next time...

Time Lapse

More than a year has gone by since I posted on this blog. More than a year has gone by since I really gave much thought to this blog. So much has happened. It got me to thinking about what started this whole venture in the first place. LJ. When I started blogging back 2009, my little LJ was a wee munchin.

It always brings a smile to my face to see pictures when he was so tiny. And this is when he was 2 already.
It wasn't long after that we learned that LJ would be a big brother. He wasn't quite 3 when he did become a big brother, though he still was not really big at all.
Fast forward to today and my little LJ is growing to be such a little man. This spring was his very first season of playing soccer. Amazingly enough he was not the smallest kid on his team. There was one boy just a smidge smaller than him.

Even at the very first game, he wanted to try being a goalie. He did pretty well at it too. He really did enjoy soccer this year and we will be doing it again this fall. Even after his tournament day with four games in one day, he loved the game. Actually, he loves the games more than practices he says. Of course who wouldn't. Practices aren't always as thrilling as games. I get it.
Speaking of games, how about one good action shot?

That is my little man about to kick the ball back down the field. I don't know that he ever was one to make a goal, but he had so much fun. He ran, and played, and got all sweaty, and had fun.

Now, I know I mentioned by baby girl earlier in the post. I would be remiss if I did not give a glimpse of her since she has grown so much since I last posted. Here is a picture of my "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" at our town's annual fair. Thing 2 has helped her big brother come out of his shell a bit and we got him to try the tea cups, and he loved it! He spun their cup while she lounged back and enjoyed the ride.

Where has the time gone? The lapse in time from then till now has been astounding. In 6 years we went from a tiny little one, to two ever growing not so little ones. Before I know it, I will be registering Thing 2 for Kindergarten. Then I will have two in school! TWO!

*Powerocks Magicstick {Review and Code}*

I have been very quiet on here. Life has been busy. What mom would not say that, especially around this great time of year. We all get busy and some things are left undone. A big part of life these days is technology. It seems everyone has at least a cell phone if not a cell phone, a laptop, and a tablet, or some other form of electronic device. Now, how often do you find yourself away from outlets all day, and while heavily using your phone, you are notified that you have almost no battery life left?
My phone is not very old (less than two years). It isn't top of the line, either. I have to charge my phone every night. If I need to use it for more than the occasional call or checking email, it very well could be dead before the end of the day. If I am out, I am done. At least, I was.
Now, I have a great little life saver! Enter the Powerocks Magicstick!

I was contacted by Powerocks about checking out their Magicstick and then telling you all about it. When I checked out the website a bit, I knew I had to try this! I jumped at the chance really. It sounded like something I really needed. I have a feeling some of you might be thinking the same thing. 

The Magicstick by Powerocks is a portable charger for your USB electronic devices. You charge it through USB and charge your device using the same cord. 

If you need a special cord to fit your device, that is fine. You can use basically any USB cord you need to. So, let's go through this. Here is everything that came in the box:

I love that they sent me a red stick. Love it. And it is about the size of a larger lipstick tube. Then you get a short charging cord, a travel pouch (nice touch), a reg. card, and the little booklet telling you how to work it (though really, even with slight tech abilities, you figure it out on your own). 

This is super simple to use. The end of the stick has a light telling you how charged it is. Mine was glowing green so I even got to do a little test run with my tablet to get some pics for this review.

I fell in love very quickly with this. It is nice and compact. I can actually hook this up to my cell phone and put everything in my front pocket. Only a little bit of each item actually runs above the pocket line. Perfect.

If I had to find anything that could be a con to this product, it would be that it can quite a while for the Magicstick to charge. But for this, you have to consider that one charge on the Magicstick could give you up to two full charges depending on your device.

All in all I think this is a great product. It would make a perfect last minute stocking stuffer too. Like I said, who doesn't have some kind of electronic device that travels with them everywhere? It can really be a life saver if you keep it with you. Being a USB charged item itself, charging in the car wouldn't even be that difficult to do. 

If you would like to look at these more, check out Powerocks Magicstick's website. The Magicstick I received retails for about $49.99. 

Want a better deal? Just for my readers, I got this message: "Here is a promo code for 20% to your readers for the Magicstick: Powerblog20." 

That's right! You could get 20% off your order if you use the above promo code. Better hurry though, you only have 8 days until Christmas to get these and fill everyone's stocking!

Disclaimer: I received the above product free of charge for the purposes of this review. All opinions are my own.