Snugg Mini iPad Case Review

I was approached by a representative of TheSnugg.com and asked if I'd like to review one of their products in exchange for said product.

Their products (150 items) consist of cases - for iPads, mini iPads, all kinds of phones, Kindles, and all kinds of accessories.

I requested a cover for my mini iPad. Let's face it. Those things are expensive, and if you don't have a protective cover on it, well, you are just plain foolish.

And why not find a stylish one from The Snugg while you are at it?

I requested one in bright red leather. I received it today.

First off, the package arrived safe and sound (from the UK). No damage whatsoever to the package. The first thing that hit me was the smell of leather. I excitedly ripped open the package, with my husband jealously looking on.

I easily slipped my mini iPad into the cover. Here it is.

Inside

See that cut out on the left side? That is a handle that you can slip your hand into when the top is folded back. This makes it easy to hold if you are showing people something on your pad. But for me personally? It's great because I have arthritis in my hands and sometimes I get pains in them from holding my device. This will ease the stress from my fingers. That tab on the top right is actually a loop that holds a stylus, which is also available on their website.

If you still are not sold on this product, here's some more convincing data:

• My product also came with a card that read, "If you have any problems with the fit of your case, please contact us for an instant, no question exchange." :)  (Yes, there was even a smiley face.)
• 750,000 cases sold in the last year
• Rated 4.8*/5 on Amazon. That is pretty darn good.

So, if you are in need of a case for your phone, iPad, mini iPad, or need any kind of accessory, visit their website at TheSnugg.com  to see all their goodies! 

You will not be disappointed!

YOGA - It's not just for Sissies

Okay. So here's the story.

I am overweight.

Fat.

Maybe that's too harsh. How about if I say that I am "pleasingly plump". Although who's pleased by my plumpness, I don't know. I know that I need to exercise. The doctor tells me, my husband tells me (in a good way), and my inner voice tells me. True, when they speak it sounds like the adults on the Charlie Brown specials.....



I suffer from various health issues like diabetes and fibromyalgia. So exercising would do me a world of good. So why don't I do it?

Shut up. Why don't YOU exercise?

It's not a question of laziness. Okay, maybe partly it's due to laziness. But anything I try to do, part of my body hurts. Like today, for instance. I thought I would try to do Beginning Yoga.

Pull up a chair. Let me tell you how this all went down.

I found a beginning yoga DVD from the library. I watched it all the way through to make sure that I could do the exercises. No problem. Easy peasy, right? Hahahahahaha

This morning I put on my exercise clothes, moved the coffee table out of the way (I was tired already), and got down to business.

It started out okay......standing legs apart, arms stretched out on either side of my body, palms up, then reach my hands up above my head and bring them together in front of my chest.

Damn! I'm doing yoga!

Things started to go downhill after that. I guess what threw me off was when I saw a man standing on my patio looking at me through my blinds.

Well, I don't know if he was exactly looking at me, per se, but he DID scare the bejesus out of me. He was one of the workmen who have been working on the condominiums in our subdivision, which have been re-sided and new decks put on. Every month or so I find a man outside on my patio doing God knows what. THIS man seemed to be fiddling with something. Wait. That sounds wrong. I mean, he wasn't fiddling with something on his person, but something on the wall or the deck or something.

As discreetly as I could, I moved this big old body across the room and yanked my curtains shut. So much for yoga being tranquil and stress-free.

This rattled me more than I'd like to admit. I tried to get into the pose that the instructor was showing, twisting my body into what looked like a Picasso painting

Nude under a pine tree- Pablo Picasso

This was beginning yoga, and I was struggling AND sweating like a pig. (Actually, sweating like a pig is a false saying because pigs don't sweat! To cool off they wallow in mud! So, I guess I was sweating like a fat woman!)

I stretch, I contorted, I was just about there and then.....I fell.

Seriously? Uh, yeah. I fell doing yoga. I am so glad that I was in the privacy of my own home, with only one workman watching me, instead of in a studio with upteen other women.

Of course, I started laughing at myself.

Got right back up and tried again. The instructor kept stressing that "even if we couldn't complete the move, any stretching would help".

I'm sure he was right.

What hurt me the most during this exercise? My feet. I have TERRIBLE feet. I had pains running along my arches. So I had to put my gym shoes on in the middle of the DVD. Hopefully this will prevent the pain from starting next time.

Towards the end, we had to lie on the floor and do some leg stretches. I made the mistake of closing my eyes when I rolled from side to side.

I instantly got nauseous. I got this weird thing that I get seasick very easily if I'm looking down while Jim drives out of the driveway, if someone leans on my chair and it moves, watching a movie with a "shaky" lens, etc. When I get seasick, I instantly get a headache and stomachache.

Yeah. I'm a riot at an amusement park. I'll hold all your stuff or watch your kids while you go on all the rides!

So what have we learned today?

Yoga can cause dizziness, falling down, pains in the feet, and strange men to look through your windows.

Namaste

Friday's Funnies

An old woman was asked, "At your ripe age, what would you prefer to get : Parkinsons or Alzheimers?"


The wise one answered, "Definitely Parkinsons - Better to spill half my wine than to forget where I keep the bottle."

A redneck with a bucket full of live fish, was approached recently by a game warden in Texas as he started to drive his boat away from a lake. The game warden asked the man, "May I see your fishing license please?"

"Naw, sir," replied the redneck. "I don't need none of them there papers. These here are my pet fish."

"Pet fish!?!?"

"Yep. Once a week, I bring these here fish o'mine down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for a while. Then when I whistle, they swim right back into my net and I take 'em home."

"What a line of baloney....you're under arrest."

The redneck said, "It's the truth, Mr. Gov'ment man. I'll show ya!  We do this all the time!!"

"WE do, now, do WE?" smirked the warden. "PROVE it!"

The redneck released the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After a few minutes, the warden said, "Well?"

"Well, WHUT?" said the redneck.

The warden asked, "When are you going to call em back?"

"Call who back?"

"The FISH," replied the warden!

"Whut fish?" asked the redneck.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

We may not be as smart as some city slickers, but we ain't as dumb as some government employees!!

A policeman was rushed to the hospital with an inflamed appendix.  

The doctors operated and advised him that all was well; however, the policeman kept feeling something pulling at his pubic hairs. Worried that it might be a second surgery and the doctors hadn't told him about it, he finally got enough energy to pull his hospital gown up enough so he could look at what was making him so uncomfortable.

Taped firmly across his pubic hair and private parts were three wide strips of adhesive tape, the kind that doesn't come off easily --- if at all.

Written on the tape in large black letters was the sentence, "Get well soon from the nurse in the Land Rover you booked for speeding last week."

Live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look

around you for happiness instead of sadness.

Laughter has always brought me out of unhappy situations.

RED SKELTON

Our Little Getaway Part Two

If you missed Part One, you can catch up here. I mentioned in yesterday's Signs post that Saugatuck is an artsy-fartsy town. It has 19 art galleries! With a population of only 1,000 people, that is like a museum for every 52 1/2 people! Of course, during tourist season, there can be as many as 3000 people in town, so they'd have to learn to share more!

To show how artsy this town is, look at the public bathroom! It is painted using "pointillism", (small dots) and is an exact replica of the famous painting, "A Sunday Afternoon on Le Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat.

We happened to visit Saugatuck just before the tourist season opened. Luckily some of the shops were open, and in particular, Kilwin's Chocolates where we dined on hand-dipped homemade ice cream in a waffle cone. Wait. Let me wipe the drool off of my chin. Sorry. Didn't take any pictures of us wolfing those down. I didn't want to take the time to put down the cone. But I DID take a picture of this whopping big turtle! Feast your eyes on THIS folks! Yes, it DOES cost almost 8 BUCKS, but c'mon, it's the size of your hand!

We also stopped in at the Saugatuck Drug Store. It is like a throwback to the good old days. It has everything imaginable for sale inside. They even have an old-fashioned soda fountain, which, unfortunately, was not up and running yet. Yep, you guessed it, not tourist season yet!

photo credit

We visited Saugatuck's Oval Beach, which has been rated by Conde Naste Traveler Magazine as one of the best 25 shorelines in the world! Who knew?

Later in the afternoon we went to the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. It was a somewhat easy hike (well, a little difficult for this gal who doesn't exercise very much, but I DID IT!!)

The path

Almost there!

That bench has my name on it! Literally! I carved my name in it! KIDDING!!!! I did sit there till I could catch my breath and be able to talk!

A tugboat pulling a boat in the distance....

The weather was so beautiful that day.....sunny and about 65-70. Rain was expected for the following day so we had to come up with something to do. Stay tuned.

Signs - Artsy Town

The tiny town of Saugatuck, Michigan, population of around 1,000,  is located on the east coast of Lake Michigan. During the summer,  the population swells to up to 3,000. Saugatuck is considered the "Art Coast of Michigan", possibly because it has 19 art galleries.

For more signs, visit Lesley here.

Our Little Getaway

Hard to believe that with all the traveling we did while living in our RV, once we got off of the road we didn't go ANYWHERE this past year. Well, except for the the annual camping trip with the family.

Our 29th Wedding Anniversary was coming up, so I took advantage of a deal I saw and booked a two night stay at a bed and breakfast in Saugatuck, Michigan. It turned out that all the available bedrooms were on the second floor, and I have an issue with stairs. Then I found out that they offered three different cottages right across from the big house. So I was able to book a separate cottage for a slightly larger fee.

Saugatuck, Michigan is a little town on the coast of Lake Michigan and is a little over three hours from the suburbs of Chicago. It wasn't a bad drive at all.

We pulled into the rest stop/visitor's center in Michigan and saw this:

which I got a kick out of, because even though there wasn't any water to be seen, Michigan is known for its many lighthouses.

We arrived at the Twin Gables bed and breakfast, and I was impressed with its beauty.

We entered into the foyer and rang the bell. I heard someone tinkling the piano keys and could tell that it was a child at play. After a long wait the door was opened by a very young girl. She said, "You can come in," and took my hand, leading me into the room. "This is the Common Room", she continued, sweeping her arm away from her body, encompassing the room. I was very impressed with this little tyke, who was obviously used to people coming into her home. At that moment her grandmother entered, apologizing for not answering the door. I told her that it was okay, since this little girl had welcomed us.

Here is a glimpse of the "common room" where guests can mingle:

The breakfast room:

Although we stayed in the cottage, breakfast was included. This particular bed and breakfast is famous for their three course breakfasts. One morning we ate homemade blueberry scones with a dollop of cream and jam on the side, and fresh fruit with some yogurt.

Then we were served Eggs Napoleon, a scrambled egg dish on a muffin.

I forgot to take a picture of the outside of our cottage, but here are a few photos of the inside. It had two bedrooms, large living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom.

TO BE CONTINUED.......

Reflections of a Challenge

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is over, and as you can see by the new badge I am proudly displaying on my sidebar (picture that being my chest and it is a medal, will ya?) I am finished with a capital "F"! Now you know this girl likes writing "to do" lists, then crossing them off when I accomplish the tasks. Not only did I cross off each letter, I also crumpled up the yellow legal-sized piece of paper and tossed it in the garbage. Boy did that feel good when I was done!

When I stumbled upon the challenge, I thought long and hard if I wanted to get involved. I have been slowing down on my posts and have even contemplated dropping out of the blogging sphere. I started blogging when my husband and I began our life on the road - traveling in our RV - or as we like to call it, our "candominium". But once we got off of the road, I was posting less and less.

I saw the challenge and thought, "I wonder if we've traveled to places that began with every letter of the alphabet?" So, first task. I wrote the alphabet down on a piece of paper. Next I searched through our countless files of photos on the computer. I wrote down the name of the place corresponding to the letter and the date of the pictures, and would come back later to choose which pictures I would use. Right off the bat I had 24/26 letters. I thought, "I could do this!"

Not only did this challenge push me to write six posts a week, but it also brought back such wonderful memories. The experiences were only from the past eight years, but we've been to so many places that I forgot some of them! It made me realize how lucky my husband, Jim, and I were to be able to just take off and travel across the country and see so much.

Believe me, I didn't know I was lucky at the time. When my husband suggested that we sell our home, get rid of everything or store our things and hit the road, I looked at him as if he had grown two heads. But my husband is a charmer. I still recall sitting at the bottom of the steps in the foyer, crying, while he took a chainsaw to my dresser because it didn't fit down the stairs. (True, it was kind of falling apart, but still.) I thought it was symbolic of what he was doing to my heart by dragging me on the road. My family was appalled that one of their own was leaving the "nest", so to speak. I'm Italian, what can I say?

But, back to the challenge. It was fun, it was hard work, and a feeling of great accomplishment when I finished.

Thanks to Arlee Bird, the founder of  Blogging from A-Z

Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/

and the hosts this year

Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs  http://amloki.blogspot.com/
Alex J. Cavanaugh http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/
Tina Downey at Life is Good  http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude 2.0  http://dlcruisingaltitude.blogspot.com/
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie  http://izombielover.blogspot.com/
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse  http://thewarriormuse.blogspot.com/
Matthew MacNish at The QQQE  http://theqqqe.blogspot.com/
Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small http://nothoughts2small.blogspot.com/

Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs http://stephentremp.wordpress.com/

Livia Peterson at Leave it to Livia  http://leaveittolivia.blogspot.com/
L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk on a Stick’s Tips  http://circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com/
Nicole at The Madlab Post  http://www.madlabpost.com/

Friday's Funnies #10

A man in a Florida supermarket tries to buy half a head of lettuce. The very young Produce Assistant tells him that they sell only whole heads of lettuce.

The man persists and asks to see the Manager.

The boy says he’ll ask his Manager about it.

Walking into the back room, the boy said to his manager, “Some asshole wants to buy half a head of lettuce.” As he finished his sentence, he turned to find the man standing right behind him, so he added, “And this gentleman has kindly offered to buy the other half.”

The Manager approved the deal and the man went on his way.

Later the Manager said to the boy, “I was impressed with the way you got yourself out of that situation earlier. We like people who think on their feet here. Where are you from, son?”

“Green Bay, Wisonsin, Sir,” the boy replied.

“Well, why did you leave Green Bay?” the Manager asked.

The boy said, “Sir, there’s nothing but whores and football players up there.”

“Really,” said the Manager. “My WIFE is from Green Bay.”

“No shit,” replied the boy. “What POSITION did she play?”

Muldoon lived alone in the Irish countryside with only a pet dog for company.

One day the dog died, and Muldoon went to the parish priest and asked,
 “Father, my dog is dead...Could ya' be saying' a mass for the poor creature?”

Father Patrick replied, “I'm afraid not; we cannot have services for an animal
in the church. But there are some Baptists down the lane, and there's no
tellin' what they believe. Maybe they'll do something for the creature.”

Muldoon said, “I'll go right away Father. Do ya' think $5,000 is enough to
donate to them for the service?'“

Father Patrick exclaimed, “Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus! Why didn't ya tell
me the dog was Catholic?”

Three friends from the local congregation were asked, "When you're in your casket, and friends and congregation members are mourning over you, what would you like them to say?”

Artie said, "I would like them to say I was a wonderful husband, a fine spiritual leader, and a great family man."

Eugene commented, "I would like them to say I was a wonderful teacher and servant of God who made a huge difference in people's lives."

Al said, "I'd like them to say, 'Look, he's moving!'"

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

William Shakespeare

Signs - What's in a Name?

Living on the road for several years gave us a chance to see many funny named roads. I always wonder about the stories behind the names. Like this one, for instance! Would YOU take the chance and drive on this road? ha ha!

For more signs, visit Lesley here.

"Z" is for Zion National Park

My husband, Jim, and I traveled this great country of ours for SEVEN years in our RV. We saw many wonderful sights, visited famous and not so famous cities, and wandered through many a National Park. I have blogged through all our travels. I've stumbled upon the "Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2013". I decided to jump on board this crazy train and share with all of you places I have seen in my travels.

Day 26 "Blogging from A-Z Challenge"! FINAL DAY!!! YIPPEE!!!!!

is for Zion National Park, Utah






The first thing I remember about this park is this. We turned down a road to get to the park (I cannot remember the specific road number), and drove about 5-7 miles before seeing a sign that read something like this: WARNING: Vehicles pulling trailers over 35 feet in length cannot drive any further. You MUST turn around and take an alternate route.

It turns out that there is a tunnel with a slight curve to it down the road, and any trailer longer than 35 feet would not be able to make the turn. Now that's all fine and dandy, but, seriously folks, wouldn't it make sense to put this sign back at the intersection? Not only were we in the middle of nowhere on a 2-lane road, but there was no turn around! Jim had to try to maneuver our 40 foot trailer into a kind of 3-point turn to get us going back the other way. We were NOT happy campers. Plus the detour added about 50 miles to our trip! But, what could we do?

So, we finally got to our campground, dropped the trailer, and set out for Zion National Park. There were lots of ooh's and ah's right off the bat.

And then we came across a tunnel.....no problem.

Some more pretty scenery....

View from our truck

And then we came upon another tunnel. 

Only this time, we got pulled over. Uh, yeah. This was the infamous tunnel that was long and had a curve to it and was why we had to take a different route. The ranger took one look at our truck and made us pull over to the side. In the words of my twin sister, "Here we f*cking go!"

photo taken at a different time - it wasn't snowing when we were at Zion Nat'l Park

The ranger made us pay $10 to pass through the tunnel, even though we told him that our truck fit into a regular parking space. He paid no attention to us. The fee was because they had to stop traffic BOTH ways and let us pass through the tunnel by ourselves! We were a little ticked off, but again, what can you do? Truthfully, I think Jim DID feel even more manly, if that is even possible, when driving this honking truck. Anyway, we drove into the tunnel which got completely dark extremely quick. We couldn't see very much even with our headlights on. Jim was worried about hitting the truck on the side of the tunnel. I quipped, "Hey! We PAID for the privilege to ride through this tunnel alone! RIDE THAT YELLOW LINE, BABY!" We sailed through that tunnel, okay, maybe sailed isn't the correct word when we were driving at about 20 mph!

All in all, the scenery is stunning and well worth the trip. Big truck and all!

And THAT, my friend, is the end of this crazy Blogging A-Z Challenge! I sure hope you enjoyed the trip! You've been good travel  buddies and didn't complain one bit! AND we didn't have to stop once for a potty break!

Welcome all my new followers!