Tree Hut Almond and Honey Shower & Bath Products Giveaway (ends 9/6)

Almond & Honey Bath & Body

The Almond and Honey forms provide a natural source of Omega 9, which provides daily moisture to your skin. Real honey lends its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties to enhance every bottle. All of Tree Huts products are made right here in the USA, they are not tested on animals nor do they contain Paraben or Formaldehyde donors. Only real and organic ingredients, providing the best care for your skin!

• Almond & Honey Shea Body Butter (7oz jar) $6.99ARV
• Almond & Honey Extra-Rich Moisturizing Lotion (9oz tube) $4.99ARV 
• Almond & Honey Shea Sugar Scrub (18oz jar) $6.99ARV
• Almond & Honey Shea Moisturizing Shower Wash (16oz bottle) $5.99ARV 

You can read Mami's 3 Little Monkeys full review here. 

Giveaway!

One lucky reader will win the Almond & Honey Collection, 4 full sized shower and body products at a $25 value. This giveaway is open to US residents whom are at least 18 years of age at time of entrance and it will run from August 23rd til September 6th. Enter for your chance to win through the Giveaway Tools form below, there is only one mandatory entry and the rest are optional. Complete one, two, all or anywhere in between, just remember the more entries you complete, the better odds of winning you have! 

 Good Luck!   

Disclosure: Pursuit of Simplicity and all other participating bloggers are not responsible for the fulfillment of the above prizes. I received no monetary nor product compensation in exchange for this publication. This event was organized and hosted by Sarh at Mami's 3 Little Monkeys. Please contact Sarh with any questions at mamis3littlemonkeys[at]yahoo[dot]com .

I Love Words...Wordy Wednesday Week Two

About the picture on the left....when you have a teenager, I think it's important to remember this quote.

The teen years are a  time when it's important to muster up the strength and love 'em unconditionally.  I don't mean letting them run a mock. I mean that even in the midst of unspeakable challenges, even if you may have to discipline harshly, they know and you remember that no matter what the crime they are still loved unconditionally.  Even when we are disappointed with their behaviors, they should always know that they are loved and it will be alright in the long run.  Which, if you are a parent of a teenager you know that this is sometimes easier said than done.

I found an amazing article titled, "Raising Resilient Children and Teens" by Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg from the Psychology Today website.  It's funny because so many times I read these books or articles and I feel like they are amazing because they speak right to the issue I'm facing.  It's a lonely place, parenting a teen.  There are so many resources for what to do with the "Terrible Twos" and "Crying Babies" but when it's a problem with a teen...not so much.

One line that I really like and need to remind myself when my boy tells me that he hates me is:  Remember, our teens rarely hate us; they only hate how deeply connected they feel to us.  That should make me feel better.

Another phrase that caught my eye:  Just because you are in the midst of a crisis doesn't mean you have lost your child.  On the other side of the crisis may be a deeper relationship and a son or daughter who has once more learned to turn to you.

That is part of my problem, I am often sick with worry over my child.  I worry about his future.  I worry about his lack of organization.  I worry what his teacher must think of him...of me.  I worry about the choices he makes.  I have worried at times that I had "lost my child". 

Late Spring we had our own major crisis.  During one of our ongoing battles over homework that escalated into a power struggle with words that flew with venom, I hit my son.  I tried to hit him again but he ran out the door.  He eventually found some friends and they must have talked about what was the best thing for him to do, which was to go to the school and call the police.

I'm not proud of this moment and I hope that I never reach a point as low again where I let anger cloud my reality.  Those months after this incident, and this summer when I thought he might go live with his dad were probably the hardest months of my life.  It would be easy to say that these challenges were brought about by a boy challenged with ADHD, split between two households, wrought with teenage angst.  The real reality though is that I let my son down.  I have to be the stability in his life.  I have to be the adult.  I have to be the one that recognizes that these teenage years are a difficult time.  It is a time of steps in our life that we have to take in order to find out who we are, what we really believe in, and where we stand as our own individual self.  It is a time or a phase that that we all must go through in order to reach that higher place.

Teens are not the only ones that must "go through" something to reach a higher place of understanding.  I'm not sure I've ever done as much reflecting as I've done this past summer.  Which is the point of the second picture.  The lesson that I have learned from this is that I need to remember who my son is.  That this young man is still my little boy that caught frogs in the backyard and choose to have donations to the animal shelter in lieu of birthday presents when he was five.  He's still the person who I read animal and Roald Dahl stories to every night and loved dinosaurs more than anything else in the world.  Underneath all of this pain and confusion that he is going through now, is my young man.  I dwell too much on the worries and need to remember the beautiful, passionate, and kind person he really is inside.  I hope I never forget this lesson.

Thanks for reading.

Citrus Lane Subscription- August Box Review

I received my August box last week (on the 21st) and I must say I'm a little disappointed again.  I've been saying that I was thinking about cancelling and this week I really did.  It's not that I'm really upset about the items I received, it's just that I don't think they are things I would have went out and bought.  I'm trying to save money and buy only things of real value to my family.  Here is what I got:

Little Stacker- Monkey
The design of this toy is very nice and the material is super soft.  The toy is pretty cheap though.  The stacker fits together with one very flimsy strip of velcro that is seriously lacking sticking power.  The toy is designed in Vermont and Made in China.  I don't get what this new kick about labeling products, "Designed in U.S.A" and then made somewhere else.  Is that supposed to make us feel better about buying crap?  Anyone want to buy mine ($10 ppd)? This retails for approximately $13.

Cleo's Color Book
We love books so it's hard for me to give any book a bad review...BUT it's gotta really have something for me to get into color books or other basic books.  I KNOW this is for a baby and maybe I'm just grumpy today or something but I'm not really into this book either.  There are so many better options in my opinion for introducing colors.   This is retailing right now for $6.29 on Amazon.

Cleanwell All-natural Hand Sanitizing Wipes -Orange Vanilla                  Considering that I can't find the sanitizing wipes that I received in last month's box, I was happy to see these replacements.  I'm going to use these to clean toys.  They are safe to use on the hands and the face, are alcohol free and biodegradable. Ingredients include thymus vulgarts oil, aloe leaf juice, citric acid, citrus aurantium dulcis (orange) oil, copper PCA, hydrolyzed oats, oregano oil, vanilla fruit extract, water. These are retailing for approximately $5.00 a canister online.

Weleda Calendula Baby Cream
Ah Goo Baby Bottle Strap, Audrey                                 
I'm actually a fan of samples, just not paying for them.  I've heard really great things about Weleda and I'm sure the diaper cream is a great product but I use cloth and I've read that Weleda is not good for cloth so I won't be using this sample.  I haven't decided wheher or not I will be keeping the bottle strap.  We don't use bottles but we have entered into the "throw everything on the floor stage so I might keep this.  Bottle strap retails for $10.49 on Amazon.

Outfit from fabkids
The box also contained a coupon for an outfit from the fabkids site.  The three piece outfits are $39.99 and with the code you receive the outfit for free and pay a $5.00 shipping fee.  That's a pretty good deal for a really snazzy outfit.  However, the site doesn't have either of my boys' sizes.  The lowest is 2T and the highest is XL.  I need baby or teen so I guess I will be looking for a gift.

So again, I really have no reason to be disappointed.  The total for all of these items if I would have purchased them would be $74.00 and that's not counting the samples of Weleda Baby products.  I'm just not going to renew for financial reasons.

Anyone want to share their thoughts and opinions on Citrus Lane or any other subscription box?

Disclosure:  I purchased the Citrus Lane box on my own and was not given compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.  This post does contain affiliate links.

I Love Words....Wordy Wednesday Week One

“Words... They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good any more... I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you're dead.” 
― Tom Stoppard, The Real Thing: A Play

Words can be powerful.  Words can make you feel as though you are the most important person in the world.  Words can make you feel like you want to lay down and die in a hole.  Words can calm a tense situation.  Words can create and effect change.  On the other hand, words are capable of igniting an unstoppable fire, forever dividing anyone in their path.

My son has ADHD.  I won't go into details here of his story, but anyone who has a child who struggles with behavior problems might know and be able to relate to the challenges we face everyday.  We are also a blended family.  My husband does not always have the patience for my son and I am often torn up by this reality.  Also the reality that the world (including myself) does not always have the patience that my son requires.

My son is thirteen and starting seventh grade.  He is the most beautiful, fun-loving and deep down kindest person I know.  He is super intelligent even though his performance does not always show it.  We had a pretty rough year starting middle school.  One that culminated with yelling arguments, numerous behavior plans, phone calls from the school, demands to go live with his dad, family therapy, visits from social services and also a decision to start medication after many years of refusing this route.

Given that I am sort of anonymous, I'm feeling kind of at ease posting this.  I find a lot of support online when I'm needing it.  My family is at odds when it comes to what is best for my son.  Mostly, I hear that he is just a normal boy doing normal boy things.  I'm not so sure anymore that trouble finding him wherever he goes is normal or very good for his self-esteem.  I know he is at such a cross roads in his life (middle school) and he needs a strong and supportive family to back him now more than ever.

So here goes my version or opposite version of the popular "Wordless Wednesday" postings, "Wordy Wednesdays".  Each week I'm posting on my fridge a quote that I want my son and my family to remember and for all of us to hopefully reflect on.  My version (a very inexpensive version) of therapy.

Why I Am a REALLY Bad Grandaughter

I should have went to go get the damn grapes.  I am such a hypocrite.  My grandmother is in the hospital and I can't help but feel that the majority of the blame lies with me and it's because I was too consumed with my own agenda to pay attention.

We just returned from a whirl-wind "vacation" to Florida, which is where I'm from originally.  We planned to stay for six days.  During that time I planned and scheduled time to get my hair done, visit with numerous family members, have a friend take my son's six month photos, and carve out time to see a few friends.  It was jammed packed, my "schedule".  During one of those days toward the end of my running out to our photo shoot my grandmother went into the hospital.

A few days before she had mentioned to me that I should go to the store to get some more grapes for us to eat.  I told her that I didn't want to go to the store.  We had too much food already and besides it was too much trouble to take the baby into the store....we did have more food in her house than anyone could eat before it went bad but the real reason is, it didn't fit into my schedule.

She was sick beginning to get sick over the weekend.  She's the kind of person who will do anything and everything for anyone so it's very hard to gauge when she needs help.  She was up over her head doing things she shouldn't have been doing at seventy years old and was wearing herself down further.  Of course she is also the type of person that always says she is fine and won't accept help either.  By the time Monday came around she was very ill.  I left the house anyway, telling her, repeating what other family told her to do, "Stay here in this chair and get some rest today".

Stay in the chair she did not, she went to the store to get grapes.  Unfortunately she didn't make it into the store.  We left her house at about 12:30 and at about 1:30 she left.  We returned home at about 5:00 from the photo session and she was not home.  Immediately I sensed something was wrong.  Shortly after, I got a phone call from a worker in the store.  The woman on the other line told me that my grandmother had a medical emergency was being put in an ambulance.  She had made it to the store and must have turned the car off and felt light headed or fell asleep from exhaustion from not sleeping the night before.  The problem was, this was Florida and it is not a great thing to fall asleep of pass out in a car in August.

We are not sure how long she sat in that car, but it doesn't take long with the windows rolled up for a car to get dangerously hot.  A worker found her and by the time the ambulance got her temperature it was a little over 104 degrees.  At the hospital it was found that she had developed pneumonia and recently we found that she has the "super bug" infection MSRA  Apparently she had this when she came to the hospital, but it's still unclear whether the pneumonia is caused by MSRA or if it was brought on by her ongoing cold.

This blog is about living the simple life.  The definition of "Simplicity" would include praise for the ability to live intentionally, pay attention to the small things in life, and honor quality time with loved ones.   It's seems pretty hypocritical for someone as self-absorbed as I apparently am to attempt this task of writing on this topic.  What a lesson this has been for me, around and round my mind I'm reminded how very fragile life can be.  In an instant someone can be gone.  We are back North now, we had to leave so my husband could return to work and my older son could start school.  Even though the words are very difficult to type, I hope I can get a chance to make amends and have another visit. This time remembering to slow down and remember not to take anyone for granted.

$50 Amazon GC Giveaway (ends 8/29)

Happy Birthday!!!

Luker Family Tales is turning one this month, and to celebrate, they're giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card.

This even is Co-Hosted by Barbara's Beat, Romania and Missions, and Giveaway Monkey.

This giveaway will run from midnight on 8/15 through 11:59 p.m. on 8/29. The giveaway is open Worldwide and there are daily entries!

The more entries you complete, the better your chance at winning--Good Luck!!!

Enter using the Rafflecopter form below. Winner will be contacted via email and MUST respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen. Must be 18 years or older to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

*This blog was not compensated for this post. The hosting blog (Luker Family Tales) is responsible for prize fulfillment. To have your blog or business featured at Luker Family Tales, email Staci at lukermama@gmail.com

Seth Kornegay Perfume Giveaway (ends 8/28)

Hosted by: Elitemama and Co-hosted by: Java John Z

Sponsored by: Seth Kornegay

About Seth Kornegay:
Seth Kornegay is an elite luxury lifestyle brand that specializes in fine fragrances. They use only the finest pure ingredients from around the world in order to exceed the expectations of the most discerning clientele. Their indulgent products are designed to stand the test of time and they are never mass marketed. Instead, Seth Kornegay has chosen to limit the quantity of each product and solely focus on the quality and individuality. They primary goal is to service the high-end niche client who demands the very best and enjoys exclusivity. All of their fragrances are created in small, hand-numbered qualities with no more than 7500 unites of any one item for sale globally - ever!