Thinking of Getting Aquatic Turtles?

    They're so cute when they're babies! About the size of a quarter or fifty cent piece, they will steal your heart. However, they don't stay that size forever. If you're thinking of getting aquatic turtles, here are some things you should know.

Thinking of Getting Aquatic Turtles?

    Liam had been bugging us for years to allow him to have some baby red eared sliders. They are probably the most common aquatic turtle people have. Others are painted turtles, cooters, and map turtles. Red eared sliders are the most common because they are the most hardy species and easiest to care for. Once you have everything you need, taking care of them isn't really that hard. But let's take a look at everything you will need to make a sweet home for your baby turtle.

Making a Home

   Housing these little guys (or girls) may seem pretty easy, but to be honest, it's a bit daunting. First of all you need an aquarium. For baby turtles, that's not too hard. We went to Walmart and grabbed a ten gallon one for under twenty bucks. However, keep in mind, these turtles grow quite rapidly, and get pretty large. So they will outgrow this tank.

    Next, they need light. Not just any light will suffice. Turtles need both UVA and UVB light to mimic living in the wild. Without this light they can get sick, and suffer from brittle bone disease which will make their shells get too soft. The light also gives them heat. We got this one from Chewy.com.

Get a Good Filter

    Turtles can be pretty messy. So you're going to want to get a good filter. Also, the light bulb will cause algae to grow quickly, and without a filter, you're tank will be a mess in now time. If you're starting out with a small ten gallon aquarium, this filter will be perfect. You'll still need to clean your tank, but with the use of the filter, it won't need to be cleaned every other day.

Turtles Need a Place to Bask

    Don't let their name fool you. Aquatic turtles still need to get out of the water sometimes. They come out to eat and bask in the sun (or sun light.) We got Liam's the coolest turtle platform by Penn-Plax. Chewy has them in both small and large sizes. The small is perfect for a ten gallon set up, and it's larger than you might think. 

Food

    Feeding your new friends isn't hard. Start by getting them some turtle pellets. (Chewy.com has that too!) You can also supplement them with leafy greens like romaine lettuce, fresh parsley, or even clean dandelion greens from your yard. Just put a piece right into their water. Remember to remove it within a day or so if they don't eat it all. Chopped apples, small banana chunks and tiny shrimp also make a nice treat.

All of this will get you started on your journey of caring for baby aquatic turtles. Set up their home, and then get your new aquatic friends!

Show Your Feline Some Love

    Valentine's Day is right around the corner, so what better time to show your feline some love. Chewy.com sent my sweet granddaughter the Purina Muse Creatables Variety Pack, and she is enjoying every bite of it!

Show Your Feline Some Love

    Of course we love our pets every day, but just like humans, they deserve special love on Valentine's Day. Clara will be enjoying a custom meal from her Purina Muse Creatables Variety Pack. She's already partaken in a couple of them, and she mows it right down. This variety pack is so cool because it comes with Crunchy Bites, Tender Filets, and sauces, so you can create an amazing dinner for your purrfect furiend.

    The pack comes with different recipes. Inside you get 2 flavors of Crunchy Bites, and three flavors each of Tender Filets and Simply Sauces. Mix and match them to make a yummy meal for your kitty.

Grain and Gluten Free

    The Purina Muse Creatables Variety Pack is gluten and grain free. That means no corn, wheat, soy, poultry by products, or fillers. Therefore, you're giving your cat not only tasty food, but vittles that are good for them too. 

    The Tender Filets are made using just TWO ingredients. They're made with tender filets of chicken or fish, and water. That's it. The Crunchy Bites and Simply Sauce also have meat as their number one ingredient. I love it when I know what I'm feeding my kids, whether human or fur baby. 

What Does Clara Think?

    For being a once feral cat, Clara is surprisingly finicky. But let me tell you, she goes crazy for her Purina Muse meals! When she knows I'm preparing one, she's right there. Meowing, rubbing on my legs, and of course tripping me up. (Because I'm clumsy even without a cat between my feet!) As a matter of fact, my other two fur babies are right there, hoping Clara will leave them a taste. So when I feed Clara her Muse, I have to make sure Josie and Bayleigh have a special treat, to keep them away from the cat's dinner. Don't just take Clara's word for it, head to Chewy.com and get some for your kitty.

Keep Offensive Litter Odors From Your Home

    I love my grand cat. She is purrfect! What I don't love is offensive litter odors. And let me tell you, I have a super sense of smell. So in this home, not just any kitty litter will do.

Keep Offensive Litter Odors From Your Home

    If you're like me and have super smell, or you don't want to chance guests smelling the cat box, then you need to check out Tidy Cats. Their Tough Odor Solutions Glade Winter Pine Litter is the bomb! First of all, its from Tidy Cat, which is the only litter my parents ever used for their cats. Secondly, this litter has the power of Glade! The gentle Winter Pine scent is woodsy and wonderful.

Absorbs Ammonia Odors

    This litter doesn't just smell good, but it's designed to absorb the ammonia from your cats urine (which is the source from the offensive litter stink.) Their TidyLock protection not only absorbs that smell, but locks it away to keep it from leaking out into your home. It also locks in moisture so your precious fur babies aren't stepping into their own urine.

Clumping for Easy Clean Up

    I love that this Tidy Cat litter clumps. It makes it much easier for Liam to clean out the litter plan. His chore is to scoop the pan daily, and the clumps make it easier for him to do that job. Plus, it saves me from having to smell that dirty litter. 

Chewy.com is the Bomb!

    We get supplies for our pets from Chewy.com every month. Their prices are awesome, and their customer service is wonderful! With a full selection for cats, dogs, birds, reptiles, and so much more, you will find something for every pet! They even have an auto ship plan that saves you even more money! 

Feed Your Feathered Friends This Winter

     For many of us, its winter. The wind is blowing, the snow may be falling. Our feathered friends are finding it hard to get food. So be a good human, and give them some!

Feed Your Feathered Friends This Winter

    Back in NEPA I didn't put out bird feed. We had so many feral cats in our neighborhood, that they would stalk bird feeders. To me, it felt like I was setting my feather friends up to be dinner. Now that we moved south, there aren't feral cats everywhere, so I can finally put out my feeder! Liam and I were both so excited about this! 

 

    So I did what I always do and headed to Chewy.com. That's because Chewy doesn't just carry everything for dogs and cats. They carry everything for every animal you can imagine! And yes, that includes those gorgeous birds in your yard. From experience of watching my parents feed their outdoor birds, I knew that they seemed to enjoy the sunflower seeds the most. So I got Wagner's Four Season 100% Black Oil Sunflower Seeds. This twenty pound bag is going to feed the wild birds for quite some time! 

Wagner's has been feeding outdoor birds since 1894! Their products are made right here in the USA too. They have a ton of different seed varieties to attract all sorts of wild birds to your home and feeders. Whether you want to bring the cardinals, finches, songbirds or more, Wagner's have every kind of bird feed you will want or need. Check them all out on Chewy.com.

Make a Feeder and Enjoy the Birds

    I didn't have a feeder, but I have been wanting to make one out my old china. I had a tea cup and saucer that had a little chip out of them. They weren't okay to be used for us, but I knew they'd be perfect for a bird feeder. I gently sanded the chip down with my Dremel on low speed, that way it wouldn't bother our feathered friends. After I wiped the dust away, I was ready to make our feeder.

    I grabbed my E6000 glue (my go to for most crafts,) and my teacup and saucer. I placed the teacup on the saucer, so I could see which parts touched. Then I carefully placed the glue on those parts. Next, I put the cup on the saucer, and using masking tap, I taped it down to hold it in place. Lastly, take some moist QTips and wipe away any excess glue. You don't want your birdie friends to be pecking around that glue. Let it dry, and voila! Adorable bird feeder! So grab a feeder (either homemade or store bought,) and head to Chewy.com for some of Wagner's seed. Your wild birds will love you for it! 

Holiday Fun with Goliath Games and Pressman Toys

Liam got a special delivery on Christmas Eve. A GINORMOUS box, chock full of fun from Goliath Games and Pressman Toys. Let me just say, our first Christmas in our new home was a blast!

Holiday Fun with Goliath Games and Pressman Toys

    We have a long standing tradition in our family, which is to spice up Christmas Eve by playing games. It's something we have done since I was a teenager living at home. Then when we started to host Christmas Eve, we carried that on and did it at our house. Just because we moved a few states away from family earlier this fall, didn't mean that that tradition had to end. Our night was still filled with love, tons of laughter, and even a few wet faces! Let me explain! 

Hydro Strike Win or Get Wet

    Let me just say that my ribs still hurt from laughing! This game was so much fun! Remember pinball games? Well Pressman Toys took the fun of pinball and added an element of surprise. Water! In Hydro Strike, players compete to hit their opponents target five times to win. Each time you hit their target, your opponent gets a squirt of water in their face. It's hysterical. First Liam and I played it, then my hubby jumped in with me. It was so satisfying watching that stream of water hit Pat in the face. However, while I was laughing, he would score and then spray me in the face. 

Googly Eyes

    One of Liam's favorite holiday games was always the drawing game we played as a family. Well Goliath Games put a new spin on it with Googly Eyes. This drawing game has the coolest "googly eye" goggles that the person drawing has to wear. It makes it so you can't really see what you're drawing. Which makes the game so much funnier. It comes with three different lenses. You roll the dice, and move your piece on the game board. Where you land will tell you which lenses to put into your goggles. Then pick a card, and get drawing!

Stuff Happens....So Make the Best of It

    Let's face it, Stuff Happens. We either cry about it, or have a good chuckle. In this new card game Stuff Happens, players read hysterical cards of bad stuff that happens. Read the cards, and guess which card is worse than the other. Then rate it on the Misery Index. If you guess correctly ten times, you win! This laugh a minute game is PG-13 friendly, so the older kids and adults are going to love it! 

Mastermind - The Game of Coding and Guessing

    Mastermind Remastered is the game of coding and guessing. First, the Codemaker creates a code that they think can't be broken in ten moves or less. Then the Codebreaker tries to break said code in ten or fewer moves. Can you do it? Grab the game and find out.

These are just a handful of amazing games from Goliath Games and Pressman Toys. You need to head to their website to see them all.

Fun Gift for the Kitty Lovers

    Hey all you last minute shoppers, this is for you! I have some perfect gift ideas for the kitty lovers on your list. It's fun and addicting, and you may just want one for yourself too!

Fun Gift for the Kitty Lovers

    We're huge believers in Family Game Night. So it's no surprise that there are always games under our Christmas tree. This year, we have Exploding Kittens. This card game is a blast and is so easy, that anyone can play it. Family friendly and packed full of fun, Exploding Kittens is a fast paced card game for two to five players. If you have more players, you can add a deck and add more people! 

    We actually already had Exploding Kittens, but we've added another deck to so we can play with more people. This game is a lot of fun to play, and there are always a ton of laughs around our table while playing. I mean come on, just look at some of the cards! They're hysterically "punny!"

Expand on the Fun

     As if Exploding Kittens wasn't awesome enough, there are now expansion packs. Imploding Kittens is the first expansion pack to Exploding Kittens. First of all, it expands your core deck from five to six players. Secondly, it adds some more fun to already amazing game! This expansion even comes with a human Cone of Shame! The first player to forget whose turn it is, must wear the Cone of Shame, which is not only hysterical, but reminds other players of the direction of game play. 

My son refused to pose with the Cone of Shame....but Bayleigh will do anything for treats :)

Streaking Kittens

    Expansion number two is here! Streaking Kittens adds fifteen more cards to Exploding Kittens. In this deck you will add more ways to blow up your opponents, but you'll also have a way to hold an Exploding Kitten card without blowing up yourself. If you draw the Streaking Kitten, you can hold on to your Exploding Kitten. That way if a player has to draw from you, you can then blow them up and take them out of the game. (Insert evil laugh here!)

Imploding Kittens

    Like the original game and previous expansion pack, Streaking Kittens includes more hysterical cards drawn by The Oatmeal. We can't get enough of these silly kittens! And we guarantee you're going to love them too! So grab the base game, Exploding Kittens for the kitty loving person on our gift list. While you're there, get one for you too, and maybe some expansion packs. Now you can gather all of your friends for a night of exploding, imploding, and streaking cat fun!

Connect: 

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Building Toys Just Became Better!

    Move over traditional building bricks! Building toys just became better! Flexo sets take creating something to a whole new level.

Building Toys Just Became Better!

    When I first stumbled upon Flexo Building Sets, I was immediately intrigued. They're much like traditional bricks, but better. Flexo creations can bend and move, in a way the other bricks can't. They're the world's only bendable bricks! Taking rigid construction bricks and adding flexible tendons, Flexo toys are movable, bendable, and hours of fun!

    Flexo creations even float in water, so once built, they double as a fun tub or pool toy. That was a huge selling point for me because Liam has always wanted to take toys into the bathtub, and most aren't made for that. However these are. So your children can have hours of fun.

Build Fine Motor Skills and More

    As a special needs mom, I have always looked for toys that can double as therapy for my son. If I can take something fun, and use it to help build skills he is lacking, then that is a win win for both of us. Flexo Building Sets do just that. Kids work on their fine motor skills while building and manipulating the bricks. They're so busy having fun, they don't realize that they're working on important skills. You can even use the sets to expand on their color and shape recognition as well. Educational enjoyment is truly the best kind.

    Liam got the Crab set from Flexo and I can't wait to sit down and build it with him. It's a great way to spend some quality time together, and have a blast too.

Take Your Creations to a Digital Level

    With Flexo Building Sets, you can take your creation to a digital level. Just download their free Flexo AR app on Google Play and iTunes. Build your Flexo creation, and after you download the app, scan it over your creature or creation, and watch it come to life.  

Works With Other Bricks

    Flexo Building Sets work with traditional brick sets. Therefore you can make those boring sets, even more fun. Seamlessly connect Flexo with other blocks, and let your creativity take hold. Imagine the things you and your children can create together?! 

There's still time to get your Flexo Building Sets before the holidays. 

Get social with Flexo