Review: Easy Canvas Prints

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Easy Canvas Prints with an offer to review their product.  After checking out their website, I was able to give them an enthusiastic "yes".

Their website was very easy to use: simply upload the picture you wish to have printed on canvas and follow the step by step directions.  They have a variety of sizes to choose from, standard and gallery wraps, different borders (it's important to play with this section and get just what you want), and optional finishing and touch up services.  It takes literally minutes to complete.

And the finished product is phenomenal.

I got an 8x10 canvas with gallery wrap and mirror border.  I chose a close up photo of some shells that I took while on my recent camping trip with my daughter.  She wants to decorate her room in a beach/shell theme, and I thought the print would be perfect for her room.  I'm very happy with the quality of the canvas, and my daughter LOVES her new canvas.

Here it is.  The colors are vibrant and wonderful.  I may have to take some more shell photos and get some more canvases to make a set.  She truly loves her new canvas.

Definitely check them out!

Costco has laminated wall maps!

I don't know if they are at all Costco stores but I thought I'd let you know just in case you were looking for a good map. They have four available at my store:
World Map with Flags
USA Map with Flags
Animals of the World Map
Illustrated World Map

I think I got the correct four. I bought the first two. Then there was one with animals all over it and one with illustrations. It looked like it had major points of interest on it.

They are 37.5 inches by 51.5 inches and half the price that is listed on the manufacturer's website.


And yes, that is a photo of Sam perusing the world map in his pajamas.  He came home from taekwondo tonight and changed directly into pajamas (he gets home at 8:30pm).  He saw the maps and wanted to open them instantly.  He thinks the flags feature is pretty cool.  He also pointed out that they show all of the tiny countries in Europe that many maps don't.  He loves maps.

Why Best Buy is often the Worst Buy

Copying my husband's recent blog post:

To say I am unhappy with my recent experience with Best Buy is an epically understated understatement. But I will relay the information calmly and fairly, because I believe that this particular manager is absolutely wrong, and frankly do not believe that what she passed on as policy is in fact policy.

On Sunday afternoon, June 19th, I went into Best Buy to see what laptops they had in stock. My 3+ year old Lenovo had begun dying, and the time to wait for another custom-configured Lenovo threatened to be too long–I rely on my laptop for work.

Despite my initial hesitation of going into Best Buy at all, it turned out to be a decent experience, and I picked up an HP that, while it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, I thought it would work well enough.

Got it home, installed Windows 7 Pro on it (because I use for work, and it came preinstalled with Windows 7 Home Premium on it), my apps, transferred data over, etc. It was then that I noticed something–there was a slight dip in the keyboard around the area of the I and O keys, and an even slighter one on the other side. But it periodically wouldn’t register key strokes.

It got progressively worse, so on June 24th, I contacted HP support. The agreed with the assessment of the issue and gave me two choices: to send it in to them for repair, or return to the store. I chose to return it, because I had no desire to keep it after such a short time, and it was well within Best Buy’s return window of 14 days.

HP support’s email to me included this tidbit, which is crucial:

NOTE: Please backup the data from the hard drive and remove any third party hardware components installed in the notebook as it will be restored to factory defaults which will erase the hard drive and any third party hardware found may not be returned back.

Makes sense–they would test in part by reimaging the system.

So I finally have time to return to the Lacey Best Buy today. Everything going fine until the General Manager’s approval. She refuses to accept it as a return. Why? Because I wiped the drive to ensure my personal data was gone, and because according to HP’s policy, they would reimage it anyway.

Here’s where it gets almost funny, if it wasn’t so infuriating. First, the associate initially helping me made the mistake of telling me that if they repaired it, they would do the same thing. Second, I pressed her to show me, in writing, the policy by which she was refusing. And here’s what she gave…on the back of the receipt, the policy states, under Non-returnable Items, this:

Items that are damaged or abused

Seriously?! In a section that is clearly talking of physical damage, she is arguing that because there is no OS installed (remember, I wiped it), it is damaged. I tried pressing it further after she slipped and talked of “that’s how she interprets it”, but she decided to stop discussing.  And frankly, I was too angry to continue to listen to such nonsense.

In the meantime, I’m waiting to hear back from Best Buy’s social media team.

So now it’s up to you (not that I don’t have a backup plan of getting a copy of Win7 Home Premium and loading it if needed–though I actually thought of loading Linux on it, because she only stated “an OS”, not the actual OS that came preloaded).

If you are on twitter, tweet and RT this. If on Facebook, post this to your wall. (You can do both with the link below in the Bookmark and Share section). Get the word out an help me end such unbelievably poor policy interpretations and asinine arguments…and get me my money back. I only have until Sunday. Help me.

Crayola's Deceptive Marketing

If you purchased this shrink-wrapped box of crayons, what would you expect to find inside?  It may not be what you expected.

In past back-to-school sales, I've purchased 24 packs of crayons for next to nothing.  The price was great, but we got tired of having many crayons in the same few colors.  This year, I wanted to purchase a package of crayons with a large variety of colors...something like a 64 pack...only I knew they had come out with even more colors since my childhood days.  I saw this 120 pack and bought it, ready to go home, open, and enjoy the new variety of colors.

However, that's not what happened.  Instead we arrived home and found not 120 different colors but two identical boxes of 48 crayons, a box of 24 colors, and a cheap plastic sharpener.  Nowhere (and I mean nowhere, not even in the fine print) does the box state that it is a repacked set of smaller boxes.  I was quite disappointed in Crayola to market this box so deceptively.  Fortunately, Target took the opened box back without issue.

Quality Sewing & Vacuum - Tacoma

When I first walked into Quality Sewing & Vacuum, I realized almost immediately that I would never buy a vacuum at a discount or department store.  The difference in customer service was astounding, and they have proved themselves again in an unexpected way.

We recently learned that we have lead paint in our home and because of that, I would have to increase my efforts in keeping our home clean.  Dust is especially a problem because that's where little ones get the most exposure if they aren't actually eating paint.  Friction on painted surfaces, such as opening and closing windows and doors, and walking on paint chips (or on our very high lead content porch) causes microscopic lead dust which then resettles on furniture, the floor, toys, etc.  Young children crawl along the floor getting that contaminated dust on their hands, which then go into their mouths.  Or their toys, now dusty with invisible lead dust, gets put in their mouths.  I need to be diligent in cleaning hands, toys, furniture, and the floor.  Sweeping, which kicks up the dust only to have it resettle on the floor, is no longer an option.  I needed a vacuum.  I needed a good a vacuum, one that works on wood floors with a bag (don't want lead dust puffing up into the air when you dump a bagless canister), one that had a HEPA filter. 

Vacuum stores not being on my radar, I went straight to the nearest department store that I knew sold a selection of vacuums.  Customer service consisted of a very nice lady who basically said, "Here are our vacuums," but had practically no knowledge of the products.  I came home with a Dyson.  It had the filter and the reputation of being good but not the bags.  The second time I used it, it began letting out this horrible, ear-piercing shriek.  It went back the next day. 

A little more research on vacuum makers found me on the website of those makers and a list of dealers.  Tacoma's Quality Sewing and Vacuum was on that list.

I walked into Quality Sewing and Vacuum with all four of my kids.  The sales reps didn't bat an eye at my kids and were more patient with them than I.  It's nice to be in a place that handles kids well.  I was asked a few questions on my needs and presented a few choices, along with a demo and a discussion on the differences in features between the choices.  It was obvious that the rep knew her products.  I asked about a different model I had been looking at online and found that they only had one, a window display, but they quickly brought it down for me to see.  It was in perfect condition, and we discussed the features it had compared to the ones we were looking at.  It had the features I needed.  While the others had additional features that would have been nice to have, they cost more.  I was offered the window display with the optional HEPA filter installed ($60 value) for the price of a new one.  I took it.  They even cleaned up the vacuum.  They easily talked me into their TLC program, which for $99 gave me "a year's supply" of bags (3 boxes of 4 filters...a $60 value), free maintenance at a year, and 25% discount on all accessories for the life of the vacuum.  I walked out of there with my new vacuum excited to try it out.  It's been everything I had hoped for...and super quiet to boot!

Today I received a hand-written thank you card from Quality Sewing and Vacuum along with a invitation to attend a Sew Fun presentation for free.  These presentations are normally $10 and include the presentation, coffee, tea, and cookies.  Hmmm...I just might try attending one.

I was really happy with the service I received at the store.  I love my new vacuum.  And the thank you card was a nice extra special touch.

If you are local and in the market for a new, high quality vacuum or sewing machine, I definitely recommend Quality Sewing and Vacuum in Tacoma.

Colored Pencil Woes

Crayola, Roseart, and Pentech please hear my plea! Would you please make your pencils worth buying? Unless something changes, I'm done buying your pencils.

"Why?" you ask. Because I'm tired of sharpening your pencils only to find the center broken all the way through to the bottom of the pencil. They are unusable. Sure, I might get lucky and find a couple of pencils in the set that are usable. Or I might find a couple that are only broken in the bottom half. That's not enough. When I buy a full set, I expect to be able to use the full set.

I'm sorry my dear colored pencil makers. I can't live like this anymore. I'm moving on and will be looking for a new partner in our coloring lives. In fact, I already have someone in mind.

SpellQuizzer: Fun Spelling Program

A little over a month ago, I received an invitation to try SpellQuizzer, a spelling program for helping children learn their spelling words. Now that we've been using it for several weeks, I can tell you what I truly think of the program.

At first, I was skeptical. I figured Sam would probably like it, but Mika would be indifferent. She usually is when it comes to computer learning programs. To my surprise, both kids not only liked it, but are now begging me regularly for more spelling words. Their enthusiasm for the program means that it now has a permanent place in our homeschool routine.

SpellQuizzer is a simple program that it easy to use. Creating spelling lists is as simple as clicking on "Create a spelling list", giving the list a name, and adding the chosen words. Adding words is simple; you type in the word and record yourself saying the word and a sentence using the word. If you want to, you can add a written reminder phrase to assist your student. You can also tell the program if the word is case-sensitive and if you want the list to be randomized when quizzing. It's that simple.

When the student is ready to practice, they simply open the program and choose a list to practice. After listening to your voice recording, they attempt to type in the correct spelling. If they are correct, they get the next word in the list. If they are incorrect, a pop-up box will give them their spelling in red and the correct spelling in green. Once they've finished the list, they are given the option to try to incorrect words again and again until they get them all correct.

One of our favorite features of the program is the sound effects that you can add. You can choose sounds to play when the child is correct, incorrect, and when they've gotten 100% on the first try. We have the program yelling "ya-hoo!" for every correct word, "oh-no!" for every incorrect word, and cheering when they get them all right at the end. I initially thought it would be too much, but the sound effects keep the kids motivated and smiling, and keeps my 2 year old laughing.

SpellQuizzer isn't just spelling software; it can also be used to help students practice their vocabulary. I have also been using it to help Mika practice her vocabulary each week. Rather than recording the pronunciation of the vocabulary word, I have been using the reminder phrase option to type in a short definition for each word. It works quite well and can be used for all manner of vocabulary words, whether they are from a vocabulary building program, history, science, literature, or any other source of vocabulary.

Spellquizzer can be used with any spelling and/or vocabulary curriculum. You can even download pre-made spelling lists for SpellQuizzer from their website.

Now, you've heard about all of the great things about SpellQuizzer, you might be wondering if there is anything I do not like about the program. And there is. The program, as designed, is for student practice only; there is no reporting feature for the teacher/parent. I feel that it would be helpful for the teacher to have some sort of reporting feature (with a print option) to let the teacher see where the student is struggling. Is the student consistently misspelling the same words or sounds? It would also be nice to be able to print a report of the words that have been passed for homeschool records.

The good news is that I've discussed these helpful features with the creator and he is considering a "pro" or upgrade version of the program including these features. For now, though, I'm happy using it the way it is and look forward to the upgrade when it arrives. As it stands, it is definitely worth its low price.

You can even download a free trial. Maybe your kids could be the next ones to start begging for more spelling lists.

School Bells Part 2

I wrote previously about trying out a school bell program to help us keep on track with our schedule. I mentioned how helpful it was and how much I liked the program. Well, I have an update to that.

We've continued to use a school bell program each school day. I still love it! For the first time, we've been able to stay on track and actually get, not only something done, but a lot done each day. Each day feels successful. There's no more feelings of failure. How can you not love that?

What has changed, though, is the program that we are using. After seeing the price of Timez Chimes, I went looking for an alternative and found School Bells.

School Bells does all of the same things that Timez Chimes does. Once you set it up, it runs in the background so it doesn't take over your computer. However, you do have to leave your computer running (or laptop open) for it to work. You can set it to ring at any time of the day, up to 100 times per day. It comes with several bells, chimes, and gongs. If you don't like the options provided, you can upload wav, mp3, and midi files. You can even use songs and fade it out after a certain amount of time, if you want. While there doesn't seem to be a limit to how many sound files you can have, there is a limit to how many you can use in a day. It appears that you can only use four sounds at a time. It would be nice if this was unlimited so you could use a different sound for each alarm, but oh well. One nice thing about this program is that you can name each alarm. Rather than trying to remember what time 1 and 2 are you can name them "chore time" or "math" or whatever else you want. It's a nice feature missing from the other program. Another nice feature is the clocks shown on the main page. They show the current time and how much time is remaining until the next time rings. This could definitely help when deciding what to do next or when to stop so you don't run the risk of having to stop mid-lesson. There are so many great things about this little program.

The best difference between Timez Chimes and School Bells is the price. While Timez Chimes sells for $160 regular price (or $78 on sale), School Bells is only $19.95 for a personal/homeschool license. There is also a free trial available if you wish to try it for yourself first. Check it out! It's this unorganized mom's new best friend.

**Disclosure: This review was provided of my own free will. I did not receive anything from the publisher, author, or anyone else for the review. I'm just sharing my feelings, opinions, and experiences that are part of our homeschooling experience.

School Bells

We've been trying out Time Chimes, an automatic school bell program that I heard about from Sprittibee. It's been a great help at keeping us on task so we can get stuff done. It's been wonderful at helping me not get too distracted. You don't know how nice that feels unless you are a chronically distracted, disorganized mess like I am. After years of trying to be more organized with my time, I just might have found the answer. In the words of Wheezie from Dragon Tales, "Loooooooove it!"


I can give you a wonderful example of how great the program is on a parenting level. This morning I opened my laptop to check my email (and to make sure Time Chimes would chime at the correct times). While I was on the computer, the 8am chime went off. My kids instantly got up off the couch, where they were watching the special features on our Spiderman 3 DVD, and began their morning chores. After chores, they have free time so they went outside to ride their bikes. At 9am, the program chimed again so I opened the door and called for the kids. I told them it was breakfast time. Without a single argument or sigh, they put their bikes away and came inside. There's no question about what to do because they know what comes next after the bell rings.


The program is a simple one. You simply tell it which sounds you want it to play at which times. Once you've created a day's worth of bells, you can save it. The program allows you to save different sets of times for each day of the week and an alternate set for each day of the week. In the morning, you just load which set you want (or it will default to the current day of the week) and leave your computer on for the day. It does the rest.


There are only two things I don't like about the program. The primary problem I have with it is that I run it on my laptop which means I have to leave my laptop open all day for it to work. My desk top is upstairs and we wouldn't hear the chimes if I ran the program on it. I would prefer something like a stand alone alarm clock that could be programmed in the same manner. The other thing is the cost. The website says you can download it for trial only but they want you to pay for it for long term use. There's nothing I can find in the program that limits the use, either in function or time, but I always follow the rules. The cost to purchase is high at $78 on sale. However, after just a few days of using it, it just may be worth it.

Edit: Oh, but wait! There are other programs out there that are much less expensive. Maybe I can find a free one.

Acer Laptop Woes

If you are looking to purchase a laptop, I do NOT recommend Acer products.

My husband bought me a brand new Acer laptop last August. I've only had it about 9 months and it has already had multiple parts break on it. The touch pad buttons stopped working properly. The space bar developed problems. And the DC power box/pin broke causing recharging problems. So, much to my dismay, I had to mail it halfway across the country, at my expense ($17 via UPS) and survive two weeks without my computer.

I can tell you that I was not happy to be without my computer for two weeks. I had no access to my documents, my family's photos, or my passwords. Because every website has different requirements for user IDs and passwords, I use Roboform to remember them all for me. Because of that, I don't know all of my passwords and ended up being unable to access two crucial websites while my computer was in repair. This ended up being a significant problem.

As you can imagine, I was thrilled to get my computer back today. There was one problem: in the process of fixing my computer, they broke something else on it. My wireless connectivity button is now broken. It was just fine when I sent the computer to them. I called them about it and they were oh so gracious to pay for the shipping to them this time. I'll still be without my computer for 2-3 weeks again.

I know that I'll need access to some of my documents while it is gone so I'll have to email them to myself so I can use them on another computer. I'll also be copying some other files to CD in case I need them and writing down all of my passwords so I have access to those websites I need.

What a pain!

When I'm ready for a new laptop, you can be sure it won't be an Acer. I'll be looking for something that, hopefully, will be better made. I'll definitely look for better repair service. While requiring customers to mail their laptops to the company and then wait 7-10 days for repair before their laptops get mailed back may work for the company, it definitely doesn't work for the customer.

Whatever happened to providing quality products and quality customer service?

Favorite Homeschool Product

Today's Heart of the Matter Meme is to tell about our favorite homeschool product. I've been thinking and thinking; it's a hard question for this eclectic homeschool mom because we use a little bit of everything and nothing really stands out. Assuming by "product" we mean something tangible, I'd have to pick three-ring binders.

At the beginning of the year, I pull all my kids' workbooks apart, hole-punch them, and place them into binders. There's a few reasons I do this:

1. We can put multiple workbooks into one large binder.
2. With them consolidated, we don't lose workbooks.
3. We can take all of our work to our chosen spot of the day easily.
4. We can remove pages easily to take with us on appointments.
5. We can remove pages easily to make writing easier; there's no spines bending the pages making it hard to write near the center of the book.

Here's my son working in his language arts binder . This binder holds his spelling, phonics, language arts/grammar, and reading comprehension work for the entire school year.

Learning WrapUps

Math. You either hate it or you love it. Regardless of how you feel about it, it is one subject that you must learn (the basics at least) just to get by in life. Fortunately, we can make the process of learning math more interesting by using manipulatives. I have used tons of manipulatives in my attempts to get my math-hating daughter to at least tolerate math. Most have failed. One has succeeded.

Learning WrapUps are a cool way to help kids learn their basic math facts. Learning WrapUps are key-shaped manipulatives that you use to match up a value on the left with the answer on the right. I'll use addition for an example. The addition set comes with 10 keys held together with a rivet. In the middle of each key is a + sign and the number you will be adding (ie. +1, +2, +3...). On the left of each key are the numbers 1-12 written out of order down the length of the key. On the right side of each key are the answers again written out of order. The goal is to wrap a connected string around from the left side over to the correct answer on the right side, around the back to the second number on the left, then to the correct answer, around the back to the third number on the left and so on. There is an animated clip showing this on their website if you are having trouble visualizing this. When you've done all the problems on the key, you hook the string at the bottom of the key and turn it over. There are lines on the back...if your string lines match the lines on the back of the key, you got all the answers correct. It's an easy, self-correcting way to practice your math facts.

The basic math set comes in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. They also come in other subjects like pre-algebra, states and capitals, vocabulary, spanish, and science. We bought the basic math facts set that comes with a rap CD that raps/chants you through each key giving you enough time to follow along.



Here is our set. You can see two of the sets have one key completed and ready to have the answers checked. The CD are shown in the photo too.

Here is a photo of my daughter working with the division set. She's not quite ready for this set but likes doing the 1s and 2s. As you can see that aren't too big which makes them very portable.

I'd like to tell you that my kids think these are as neat as I do but they don't. My son thinks they are pretty cool and will work with them without being told. He's my math loving child. My daughter doesn't like them but then again she doesn't like anything that has to do with math. However, she will tolerate them which is a huge step up to getting her to practice/learn her basic math facts with other methods.

I think they are great for several reasons:

• There's no paper waste.
• They are portable.
• They are easy to use.
• They teach the facts out of order so they are learned better.
• They don't make my daughter cry.
• They are durable.
• They come with ideas of how to make them into a game (races).
• You can use them for several children over many years.

Did I mention that they are portable? I'm going to keep ours in the car so the kids can use car time to practice or take them into the doctor's office to work on while we wait.

And, you should know that I'm not getting paid in any way for this post. My goal of this website it to share about our homeschooling, including things that we like and things we don't like. This just happens to be one that I like.

Oh, and they also sell another cool thing called a Learning Palette that I haven't tried yet but can't wait to get for my youngest as soon as he's old enough for it. I'll be using them for preschool skills but they go up to 5th grade, I think.