Farrah's Little Place in the Blogosphere

In Shusybye: Sleepover Surprise, Shushy best friends Dozie and Zeez discover there doesn’t have to be an occasion to be nice to your friends. After Dozie bakes Snoozles and Zeez one of her famous Sky Pies, the two Shushies think of a special way to let her know how much they care about her friendship. Together, they plan a concert at The House of Snooze in Dozie’s honor. The book also introduces a pair of very comical Shushies, Snort and Wheez who drive the Shushybye Dream Van to pick up all the completed Dream Boxes and bring them to Conductor McCloud. It’s an important job. - FROM THE SITE

OUR THOUGHTS…Mom: Cute read along for the little one just before bed. Sing a song to start and end the story before dreamland. Multiple voices on the read along story with an audible chime to let little ones know when it’s time to turn the page. I found the length of the experience before bedtime just perfect and the songs catchy and soothing for sleepy time. Little one will surely be wanting to listen to this over and over again before bedtime.

10 year old: Cheesy but catchy songs.

9 year old: I liked it {but don’t tell anyone}…LOL

4 year old: I want to do it again!

We also got the opportunity to review Close Your Eyes by The Shusybye Dream Band. Listening to the CD was a fun way to get out our energy to prepare for winding down for the day. The dreamland songs are easy to sing to and will be stuck in your head all day long. Dream Band starts off full of energy and ends perfectly for slumber.

Be sure to check out The Shushybye website as the Dream Band will be announcing some tour dates. Log in to find out if they’ll be playing anywhere near you so the little ones can have some fun.

SHUSHYBYE is where childrens’ dreams are made. Living in such SHUSHYBYE villages as Nap Valley, Snore Shore and Yawn Island , the Shushies – led by SNOOZLES, DOZIE and ZEEZ – make dreams and place them in SHUSHYBYE Dream Boxes that are sent to children via the SHUSHYBYE Train (driven by CONDUCTOR MCCLOUD) as they fall asleep!

The Shushybye Theme Song…

Every night the sun goes down
The lights go out throughout your town
That’s the time to close your eyes
‘Cause soon you’ll be in Shushybye

(Chorus):
Oh my my, Shushybye!
Oh my my, Shushybye!

There’s a train that takes you to
A place where dreams are made for you
Climb aboard, we’ll ride the sky
And soon you’ll be in Shushybye

(Chorus):
Oh my my, Shushybye!
Oh my my, Shushybye!

All the dreams are there for you
Dreams that last the whole night through
So hold my hand and close your eyes
We’re on our way to Shushybye

Chorus:
Oh my my, Shushybye!
Oh my my, Shushybye!
(repeat 2x)

OVERALL RATING…Thumbs Up!!

WHERE TO BUY…Buy the Sleepover Surprise read-a-long book & Close Your Eyes CD at the Shusybye Shoppe.

THE GIVEAWAY…I’m giving away a copy of Shusybye: Sleepover Surprise to one of my lucky readers starting now til Friday March 19th, 2010.

• Leave me a comment by telling me what your bedtime routine is with your child and become an e-mail (enter your email in inner right column at top) or RSS subscriber.
• Tweet about this giveaway for an extra entry (@farrah1230 is giving away a copy of the #book Shusybye: Sleepover Surprise here: http://bit.ly/ahIY5g #tbfr).

TOOT TOOT for me on this beautiful sunny Tuesday! Spring is definitely in the air and to get myself in the spirit of cleansing the dreary winter days, I’ve been de-cluttering and re-organizing. Yesterday I cleaned out and re-organized under the sink. I swear I was under attack by the dust bunnies! I actually tossed out 3 bags of old lotions, make-up, and medicine! I went from “I can’t find anything” and “ooh I had that here?” to “ahh I can finally easily get to that without taking all of this other crap out”. It was such a nice feeling of victory and I definitely felt “lighter” after ridding all of that junk!

After purging all the junk out from under the sink I decided to tackle my son’s clothes as he appears to be going through another growth spurt. Lately I’ve been putting clothes to the side as he tells me they no longer fit. I THOUGHT this was working until I tried putting an overnight bag together for him and discovered his jeans too big in length and shirt a little too short. All I can say is “thank goodness” he’s only 9 and isn’t AS fashion conscious yet. LOL

Since I achieved success with de-cluttering earlier I grabbed him just before bed and together we went through EVERY PIECE of clothing both in drawers and in the closet hanging up. I was amazed at how much he had grown out of! Unfortunately he’s in between pant sizes so it appears I have some hemming to do since my little man is quite the shorty right now. After all the clothes were tried on and sorted, I happily (yet sadly too) found lots of drawer/closet space. Happy I no longer have the baskets filled with clothes from over flow, sad that we’ll soon need to go clothes shopping once again. In the end I have 3 garbage bag full of clothes to bless another little boy like we were.

What’s next on the list? Well, over the weekend I DID give away 57 books (this was amazingly not even 1 shelf of books!) and I have many more to weed out. I’ve promised my husband that since I prefer hardback to paperback I’d starting getting rid of the paperbacks and eventually replace the “good stories” with hardbacks as I come across them.

What are you doing to get into the “Spring” of things?

I’ve gone back to work full time again but that’s no reason for me to go back to spending whatever like we used to. In fact being home for nearly 2 years with the family even while my husband’s work slowed down last year taught us we needed to do the opposite. Now that I’m working, I do have more coming in  BUT I’m watching the pennies come and go and saving for another rainy day while trying to pay off some debt. I’m actually amazed we made it on practically 1/3 of what we used to make but not something we wish to do again.

As I go along my journey towards financial freedom, I thought I’d share some tips I’ve learned so far…

• Shop on non-busy days (usually M,T,W and stay away from holidays) during off peak hours
• Buy in bulk when you can (toiletries, paper towels, household goods, toilet paper, meat, etc) – BJs, Costcos, and Sams are great places for bulk buying (you may even want to buy bulk with another person and split the cost to save money)
• Eat before you shop to avoid impulse food buying
• Create a shopping list and STICK to it
• Bring your coupons, pen and calculator while you shop to stick to your planned shopping budget
• Grow your own vegetables and herbs (salad & herb gardens are great to have around and don’t take long to grow)
• Buy local for your produce items
• Shop big once a month as weekly shopping can make your grocery budget higher
• Shop around for your deals, don’t go to just one place
• After shopping peak-hours you can often find deals in the deli section (bread, chicken, side dishes)
• Give yourself time to look for the deals and shop
• Plan to spend 1 day in the month for bulk freezer cooking and plan it into your shopping list (do this with friends and split the meals & cost)
• Start looking towards the bottom of the shelves, you can often find better deals as stores want to sell what’s at eye level
• Match coupons with sales & promos
• For clothes, shop 2nd hand; you might be surprised of all the brand name items and clothing pieces you may find a just a couple of dollars

WHAT’S YOUR FRUGAL BUYING TIP?

ALFIE’S AT IT AGAIN!

Just when you thought he’d settled down, he’s off and running, on a mission to see more than 15 of the world’s favorite (and busiest!) attractions. As always, he’ll need your help to keep from getting hopelessly lost. Featuring sharp, all-new graphics optimized specifically for your iPhone and iPod Touch, Aefo Alfie is the anticipated new release from Von Nostrum Games. Using a simple-yet-powerful system of controls, search the teeming throngs of the world’s metropolises to find Alfie, wherever he’s wondered off too this time. But be forewarned: this guy just can’t sit still! – FROM THE VON NOSTRUM GAMES SITE

OUR THOUGHTS…Fun app that will keep all ages entertained searching for Alfie. Scan and enlarge your screen to try to find the lost Alfie. Reminds me of the Where’s Waldo books. Visit 2 countries with multiple locations. Even after finding him in all the locations, I found I still took time to find him where I’d already been! My 3 kids 4, 9, and 10 had fun helping me find Alfie and even I alone found the search amusing.

OUR OVERALL RATING…Thumbs up

HOW MUCH & WHERE TO BUY…$1.99 from iTunes

I received this review as a member of the Game Review Network. Visit the site to enter to win your own copy of this game.