Toy Story Costume #Jessie-the-Cowgirl

My daughter was so thrilled when we went to Disney World a couple of years ago, she got to  walk around with the Woody mascot lol.  Imagine how excited she was when I told her that she is getting a  Jesse the Cowgirl costume  from the official toy story website.

So without further ado, I am  presenting Rylie errrr.. Jessie the cowgirl from Toy Story.  My son was like "I want  a Woody Costume too!"  I told him that I  might get it for him later on.  Ahhh.... the challenge of having two kids who always wants to have what the other one has.   But anyhow, my daughter had so much fun trying on the  costume that The official Toy Story website has sent me for review.

The set included the jumpsuit with attached belt and cuffs and then  matching hat and hair bow.  I wish that the set included the boots instead of the hat since my daughter has the hat already.  I like the design but the material is too thin.  She will need to wear this on top of   a thicker clothing if she will  wear this on Halloween as it is cold in here  during those times.  The price for this set is $39.97 which I think is a bit high but then again, you can find discounted ones online.  I will be purchasing the boots for this costume  if she decide to wear this on Halloween this year.

 

Disclaimer: The author of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review. Opinions expressed is not in anyway influenced by other factors. The product/s mentioned above was provided for FREE for evaluation purposes.

10 Interesting Things About Learning Mandarin

Chinese (primarily Mandarin) is considered by many as a tough language to learn and the belief is as true as the fear people have of learning it.  So, here are 10 interesting facts about Mandarin Chinese that should get you thinking.  

I have not listed these facts as a part of supplying you with some interesting trivia. Rather, I intend to encourage you to learn the language so many people swear by the thought of learning.

1.  Mandarin might not strike you to be as romantic as the Latin languages such as French, Spanish and Italian, but believe me, it is the most widely spoken language in the world.  With about 1 billion speakers, it sits high atop the list of the most widely spoken languages.  A specific language always plays an important role in any country to co-ordinate with each other.

2. Actually, Mandarin is pretty straight forward to learn, contrary to what most people think. While we look at words like kung-fu (gōngfu in Mandarin) and tai chi Chuan (tàijíquán in Mandarin) you will be surprised to know that the language has words taken from the English language too. If you’re up for a drink, you might want to order a kěkǒu kělè (Coca Cola), a kfēi(coffee) or a wēishìjì (whiskey).

3. Unlike in English, German or French, you do not need to memorise verb conjugation’. Meaning, you do not need to wrack your brains see-sawing between “see/saw/seen”, just a simple word “kan” will do.

4. You don’t have to be conscious of noun declensions. You do not really need to worry about singular and plural noun forms while speaking Mandarin.

5. Just about everything is simplified, the numbering system, tenses, prepositions, and there is no subject/verb agreement too.

6. The language contains a set of one lakhs of Chinese characters, but knowing two to three thousands of characters will enable you to go through the newspaper. Now three thousands of characters seems like an immense number, but it will be easier if you break them up and learn about ten characters a day and (with a good mnemonic system) you could learn everything you need in a year. And given the absence of grammar and a simplistic numbering system, the task in hand should not be as arduous.

7. Mandarin is a tonal language so what you speak and what the other person makes out of it entirely depends on the tone you use.  For example, tang’ and tang’, although similar words could convey two different meanings with changed tones. Tang’ with a high tone means soup and tang’ with a low tone means sugar. There are four basic tones and a fifth neutral tone in Mandarin Chinese. Master them and you will master the language.

8. Learning Mandarin could also help you in learning Japanese as both use similar characters with exactly the same meaning, although the grammar and pronunciations are different.

9. With China gradually gains a superpower status, learning Mandarin could only benefit you more rather than not. The rapidly developing Chinese market will provide plenty of opportunities to a Mandarin speaker with better man management. Moreover, China and Taiwan provide such exotic travel locations.

10. Speaking Mandarin always makes it easier to get around when the time comes to visit a Mandarin speaking destination.  Or even at a China Town near you! 

About the Author: Beth Nicholas is a professional writer for Lingos – the online language learning community dedicated to pairing language teachers and learners, and providing a digital forum for learners to interact with like-minded students.

Reaching for the Stars

My daughter took home a Smart529 form last week. Smart529 is a our state's college savings plan and they always host an essay writing contest for every students in West Virginia to participate to. I always encourage my kids top send in an entry even though the chance of winning is very slim. This gives them an avenue to express their creativity towards writing. This year's topic is about what they want ot be when they grow up. A perfect topic to have them start thinking about their future. This is a chance for them to jot down their thoughts on what they want to be. My daughter is only 8 years old so she does not much of an experience on how to write a good essay so a website like promptessay.com can really be a good help for an aspiring writer like my daughter.

The essay writing contest is dubbed as "Reaching for the Stars".  The grand prize is five thousand dollars and they can use it towards their school expenses.  We saw an update of this on TV  yesterday morning.  The contest committee said that they  don't have a lot of entry due to snow days where most schools were closed for so many days.  This prompted our daughter to start writing her entry and hopefully we could send it in before  the due date  comes.

Hobby Lobby Heaven

Hobby Lobby is the perfect place for our little crafty lady. It is right up in her alley, arts and crafts. She was so delighted seeing different stuff that are not available in Joann's Fabric store lol.  She asked "How come we never came here before".  I told her  that it is way  far from our home to be able to come here frequently.  She was surprised that I did not buy anything.  I know how to control my spending habit, that's why, wink.

She said that it feels like heaven being inside the store.  We bought her a paint set  and  the little man  chose some commando set toy.

Firearm Safety and Gun Violence

 Individuals who are concerned about gun control need to make sure that they can use metal detectors in schools to prevent gun violence in schools.  This is something many people are highly concerned about. Gun violence is something that is affecting individuals and more specifically, our children. Even though the horrific school shootings grab all of the headlines, the number of children affected by firearms in the home are many. Ways that you can protect against gun violence are numerous and it all starts in the home. There are some things that individuals can do to protect children. Ways to protect children both in and out of the home are important. 

Studies have shown that many of these firearm shootings are actually accidental shootings that happen in the home. In fact guns in the home hurt or kill 10,000 children in the U.S. every year. 39 percent of US homes have firearms and properly securing these weapons are very important to make sure that children stay safe. This is fundamental to making sure less children are hurt or killed by firearms every year.

The majority of shooting in the home can be prevented by the use of safety devices, safety devices like locked gun cases for instance. With more than 20 children per day being injured by gun violence, it only makes sense that individuals should do whatever they can to protect children against gun violence in the home. The extraordinary number of children that are killed by gun violence have reinforced the fact that gun safety in America needs to be dealt with. Brain and spinal cord injuries account for the largest numbers of deaths from guns and or gun injuries in the US. Of the gun statistics that have been cited, the vast majority almost 5,000, come from assaults. 2000 injuries roughly came from accidents and the rest were from suicide attempts.

Studies have looked at making it illegal for anyone in the US under 21 to own a handgun. Even thought you have to be 21 to drink in alcohol, in many states an 18 year old can purchase a gun legally from a gun show, or from a private seller. The fact that young people can purchase guns also makes them something that could be used in school shootings. The people who are involved in shooting in the schools are almost all under 21.
Most of he school shooters have been teenagers. Making sure that 18 years can not legally purchase a gun may be a step in the right direction to making sure that children are protected while they are in a school setting. Striving to keep guns out of the hands of young people may be one of the ways to keep guns away from children. 

Another thing training personnel in schools may help These are very important steps need to taken to protect children. This is one of the things schools need to do to protect their students. Every school should also install a metal dectector to help prevent school shootings.

Gymnastics #FlyingEaglesGymnastics&Cheerleading

We enrolled our son to gymnastics at Flying Eagles Gymnastics located  in Steubenville Ohio.  The fee is $45 a month but we paid $130  as it included other fees.  We figured that he would like it because he is constantly full of energy.  He went there twice already, it is only an hour  lessons in a week.  I think that he likes it because he keeps practicing at home.

I am glad that he is into something.  We did not want him to think that we are not giving him  attention like we do with his  sister.  I hope that he would stay in the program.  This would  promote physical strength for him.  During the first  time he went, he was very nervous as you can see, he  is pulling his fingers  in the picture.  He does that when he is  stressed out.

Sending Birthday Money for My Mom

It's my mother's birthday today so I gave her an overseas call last night. We talked for more than an hour. I updated her with my status here and the growth of my kids and and all and she told me everything about our family back home. It was a nice but emotional  conversation that we have not  had in a long time. I was not able to talk to her last Christmas because  the signal at our place was very bad.  I am so relieved that I finally talked to her.  I told her to visit my sister in the city because I am sending the money this week. I want her to have a break for a day or two and enjoy her birthday.   Me and hubby are the only one that supports my Mom.  I feel bad that sometimes, we can't send her as much as we would like to.  We have to wait for the best exchange rate so the money we  are sending  will have enough for her.  

I am so glad that there are  International money transfer that offers the best rate there is.  I will have to double up the amount I have to send this month because my youngest sister whom we are sending to college will be paying her tuition fee also.  I am happy that she is on the last league of the  course she is taking.  Hopefully, she could find a job as soon as she graduates so we can also help my youngest brother who also want to go to school.

A photo of us with Mama by the beach

I miss my Mom so much.  It's been 5 years since we last seen each other  when we  came to visit.  We celebrated  my husband and son's birthday there.I want to end this post by  sending my love to my dearest mother, happy birthday and always remember that we love you!