Annie’s Amazing Deal: 90% OFF 1st month All Fabric Clubs #quilting #holidayquilters #blockofthemonth

Fabric lovers of the world, rejoice! I have been so amazed by the quality of the fabrics offered in Annie’s Fabric Clubs and now you can get 90% off the 1st month on all fabric clubs. (Note: To change from the holiday club to the club of your choice, click the drop-down in the top right of the page.)

This includes Charm Pack Club, Fabric Strip Pack Club, Fat Quarter Club, Holiday Quilters Club, AND Holly Jolly Quilt Block-of-the-Month Club.

Click here and get 90% off the first shipment for all fabric clubs
Promo Code: SHARE90
Valid through 11:59pm ET on 11/4/21

P.S. I am finally done with major project I have been working on and hope to get some of the Annie’s projects created and posted here! More to come on this.

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Getting Smart with Smart Home Cleaning

There are several devices I have come across in the market with some exciting new smart features to try this Fall. For living in a remote cabin in the mountains, we still love our technology and anything I can do to save time on cleaning, I try to explore.

WET AND DRY VACUUM H11 & H11 Max

Wet Dry VacuumDreame Technology recently launched their Wet and Dry Vacuum H11 and H11 Max that suck up all the dirty messes in one path, combining the actions of a broom, mop and vacuum in one. Using a separated two-tank design, the 900ml clean water tank sprays out fresh water and a cleaning solution onto the roller brush while the internal dirt separation system removes dirt water out of the brush and sends it to the dirt water tank in real time.

The convenience of a cordless system like this requires getting it back on the charging base at the end of use but the smart screen on top will tell you battery power, cleanliness and adds voice commands for operational guidance. Smart tools like this eliminate a closet of brooms, mops and vacuums and gets everyone excited about cleaning.

LITTER-ROBOT LITTER BOX

Litter-Robot has presented a VERY interesting option for not smelling the by-product of my daughter’s two cats she brought with her when she moved here from Texas. Don’t get me wrong, I love these precious cats. I could use less smell emanating from the litter box. Apparently, this patented sifting process automatically separates your cat’s waste from the clean litter. You just have to empty the waste drawer when it is full.

The fun part about this device is that you can monitor and control it from an app. The app sends notifications when the waste drawer is full and lets you run a clean cycle remotely, compare usage statistics, and more.

Fortunately, this device is also multi-cat friendly. The automatic clean cycle and odor-absorbing components in the Litter-Robot help significantly reduce litter box odors for up to 4 cats. I think this might have to be under the Christmas tree for our feline friends (if not sooner).

GLADWELL GECKO ROBOT WINDOW CLEANER

Gladwell, Gecko Robot Window Cleaner sounds like an amazing option for the big windows in our mountain cabin. With the ability to detect edges, it uses an advance algorithm to scrub every part of the window including hard to reach places. It has an app to allow you to control it from the palm of your hand.

Now, I am truly not crazy about adding another app to my phone but if it can help get the windows clean, I might have to try it.

Have you tried any of these devices? Let me know what you think!

Disclosure: Note some items in this post may contain affiliate links and/or are sponsored.

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Duke & Dolly Give A Paws Up Approval to Planet Friendly Chippin Dog Food #ad

We order online ALOT, especially since moving to 40 acres on a mountainside. After receiving numerous boxes of our own online purchases, our dogs Duke & Dolly were quite delighted to have their own special treats from Chippin come in the mail.

Chippin is developing dog foods from superfood proteins including crickets, overpopulated silver carp and spirulina. They launched dog food made from overpopulated silver carp on World Oceans Day, June 8th and they are a trusted partner of the World Oceans Day organization.

We were sent a sampler pack with a bag of dog food and 4 kinds of treats for Duke & Dolly to try. This sampler pack is also available online at Chippin.

-Smokehouse BBQ Dog Treats* w/ Pumpkin & Cricket

-Antioxidant Dog Treats with Banana, Cricket & Blueberry

-Superfood Dog Treats with Peanut Butter, Cricket & Pumpkin

-Spirulina Dailies Dog Treats with Kale, Flaxseed, and Carrot

(Note: These treats can also be a meal topper or snack as well)

A couple more exciting facts & features:

You can calculate how much food your dog needs and subscribe so you receive regular shipments without having to think about it!

This is an all woman owned business! Yay!

With Chippin, you are feeding your dogs healthy, planet saving food. Read about it.

Follow Chippin on Instagram at @chippintime

Dolly is checking out the treats.
Dolly was quite happy with her bowl of Chippin dog food.
Duke wants another snack!

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Kit of the Month Crafts with Annie’s

Need a creative outlet? I was so inspired by the monthly kits available from Annie’s that I signed up for Annie’s Holiday Quilters Club.

I still need to create these clever hot pads and now the next kit just arrived. There is always a common fear related to signing up for a monthly club – getting behind! But, hey, it’s great to have a stash for the winter months to come if you can’t do them all now.

Not into quilting? Annie’s also offers the following:

Creative Girls Club

Annie’s Caring Crochet Kit Club

Annie’s CardMaker Kit-of-the-Month Club

Annie’s Hook & Needle Kit Club

.Annie’s Creative Woman Kit-of-the-Month Club

Annie’s Crochet Striped Afghan Club

Annie’s Knit Afghan Kit-of-the-Month Club

Annie’s Simply Beads Kit-of-the-Month Club

Young Woodworkers Kit Club

Annie’s Fiction Clubs

Enjoy creating!

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Toy Robots Help Kids Learn STEM Skills

Despite the fact that we moved to the farm and are appreciating the simpler things in life, I still love to share STEM related technologically advanced toys that help kids learn. Even our farm couldn’t run well without the technology we have installed here (more on this to come). With one daughter a biological & agricultural engineer and the other pursuing an audio editing career, I understand the need for kids to play with technological toys and learn how these devices work from a young age.

Recently, ClicBot released a really cool STEM robot that kids of all ages will enjoy. Keyi Tech created this robot to help kids from 5-10 and 10-15 get hands-on experience with robots. The modular designs allows children (and their parents) let their imaginations go wild. It is a self-balancing two-wheeled robot that responds to touch, sight and gestures and let you build a personality that seems so real.

Robotics are used across a wide variety of industries and the earlier girls and boys get comfortable with this technology, the more likely they will pursue degrees and jobs in this field.

This educational robot helps kids learn to code by using graphical programming through Blockly by Google. It comes with programs available across skill levels and step-by-step guides and tutorials.

Above all, I think its really fun and fun for the whole family to do together. It’s so mind-blowing seeing things like ClicBot that were only real in science fiction now available in our living room.

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Farm Living Is the Life For Me!

We recently added about 10,000 & 1 new pets to the farm. Bees in our beehive and a bluetick coonhound named Dolly!

The bees have been a new experience for us. Brian bought me a “Flow Hive” the Christmas before we moved. I read the articles about bees dying and the world needing more beekeepers AND I have also never had a serious reaction to beestings and I LOVE honey and anything made with honey in it.

Here is our new Flow Hive, currently set-up with two brood boxes to make room for our growing family of bees, first caught as a swarm up in the mountains above us by a neighboring beekeeper:

I also joined every Facebook beekeeping group both in the local area and specific to the Flow Hive which uses a tap systems to extract honey rather than the traditional means of spinning frames & crushing the combs once the supers are full. More on this to come as we add that piece of the puzzle.

And, here’s our new puppy, Dolly, the bluetick coonhound, Tennessee state dog and mascot of the University of Tennessee. We decided to stick with the Tennessee theme, especially after seeing one of her sisters from the same breeder at Tractor Supply and falling in love. So cute (until she’s nipping at your ankles begging you to walk outside before your first coffee sets in). My article went live in the Today Parenting Team Community about Dolly and getting a dog to ward off the COVID 15 (unwanted pounds) with dog walking exercise. Click HERE to VOTE UP my post, please! 🙂

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Moved To Greener Acres!

We recently moved from our large suburban home on a third of an acre in Pennsylvania to a small mountain cabin on 40 acres in the gorgeous mountains of Tennessee, along the North Carolina border.

Life in Roan Mountain, TN

People ask us “Why here?” One, we love the mountains. Two, Tennessee taxes are amazing. Seriously, I have never had anything good to say about taxes but we got a major break moving here. Third, we are closer to my mom in North Carolina and now it’s so much closer going to visit than when we were coming from PA. To give you some context, I graduated from Appalachian State University way long ago and moved to Pennsylvania to get a graduate degree at Eastern University. I went onto to achieve an MS (Masters of Science in Urban Economic Development), an MRS (married to Brian Peppel), and an MOM (mother of two beautiful girls!). It took me 29 years in the North before I moved back South and we are loving it!

People go on to ask “What are you going to do with all that land?” Well, we are considered forest property by 22.5 of our acres so those trees will stay as they are and remain home to the abundant wildlife from deer to possums to bears (which we hear are coming as the weather warms up). We also have over 10 apple trees on the property, a large fishing pond with bass and blue gill, trout-filled natural streams and we plan to have beehives (Go BEEKS!), fig trees, paw-paw trees and more. And, just have fun. Our side of Heaton Ridge has old but maintained trails up the top of the ridge and we are having fun with our new side-by-side taking people on tours up there. Not far is the very beautiful trail up to the top of Roan Mountain which is home to the part of the Appalachian trail which runs along the PA/TN border.

On a professional note, Brian continues working from home as an IT technical manager and I am still teaching some virtual classes at the University of Valley Forge, and working part-time as a marketing consultant for Free Reign Farm (more on this to come!)

More pictures to come (especially when our new bluetick puppy arrives in 2 weeks)! If you are ever in the area, look us up!

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Week 2 of #CampDreamWorks is underway!

By now, your kids should be having tons of virtual and in-the-real awesome fun with Camp DreamWorks celebrity packed home activities. And, when I say celebrity, you know who I am talking about – the kids’ faves: Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Toothless, Boss Baby and many more.

In case you missed last week’s start, feel free to hop in anytime. What’s Camp DreamWorks, you ask? First, how dare you? Just kidding but really, catch up on Week One in my previous post.

For Week Two, DreamWorks is adding lots of fun new activities like a Draw Along with Branch, Trollstastic Fourth of July activities and Poppy Popcorn recipe. You can jump in any day and even download activities you may have missed last week.

Follow along on the DreamWorks Animation page on Facebook to interact with others sharing their brilliant creations.

Finishing on a sweet note, in case you haven’t tried Tip & Oh’s Purpleberry cookies, feel free to download that this very minute. And, of course, thank me later and share your Purpleberry cookie pictures. I would share mine but my cookie crazed kids may have eaten them before I could take that perfect shot.

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Bored Kids? Join #CampDreamWorks this summer!

Check the Camp Dream Works website each day for fun & educational activities to keep kids engaged and having an spectacular, splendid, sensational summer. On this site, you can find coloring pages, crafts, recipes, music, games, and more.

Here’s a schedule for this week that you can follow or create your own plan and mix it up.

Below you can find one activity you can download now and print. Follow the instructions to create a “fortune teller” to add a little serendipity to each day.

“Like” the DreamWorks Animation Facebook page to get regular updates and weekly activity schedules.

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EXCLUSIVE COUPON CODE for Champions of Magic in Philadelphia June 20-24

EXCLUSIVE PRE-SALE!  Direct from London’s West End, experience the 5 world-class illusionists that make up the CHAMPIONS OF MAGIC this June at the Merriam Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Witness the impossible, including disappearances, levitation, teleportation and a heart stopping finale that keeps fans returning time and time again!

Buy tickets now at kimmelcenter.org with code trick25 for 25 dollar tickets for any seat in the house!

Location:

Merriam Theater (250 S. Broad St, Philadelphia PA, 19102)

Dates & Times:

6/20 – 7:30 PM

6/21 – 7:30 PM

6/22 – 7:30 PM

6/23 – 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM

6/24 – 1:00 PM & 6:00 PM

About the Show:  

The 5 world-class illusionists that make up the Champions Of Magic return to the USA for their 2018 national tour following sold out shows across the globe, rave reviews and a run in London’s West End.

With over 30 million online views between them, this cast of top magicians includes international award winners presenting daring grand illusions, stunning close-up magic and incredible mind reading. Their skills have been seen around the world on TV with appearances on ‘Access Hollywood Live’, ‘The Next Great Magician’, ‘Good Morning Britain’, ‘The Today Show’, ‘Penn & Teller: Fool Us’ and ‘Caught On Camera with Nick Cannon’.

Witness the impossible, including disappearances, levitation, teleportation and a heart stopping finale, all presented with lighting and special effects to rival the biggest theatrical spectacles.

2017/18 Champions Of Magic Trailer from Champions Of Magic on Vimeo.

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