Valentine’s Scavenger Hunt to Find the Ways I Love You

Click here to read Valentine’s Scavenger Hunt to Find the Ways I Love You on Hands On As We Grow

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I have been wanting to do a Valentine’s scavenger hunt for a long, long time… probably since last Valentine’s Day! I wasn’t sure how exactly I wanted to do it, but I had ideas floating around in my head.

We’ve done a simple Valentine’s scavenger hunt in the past with just some numbered hearts to find and match. It was a great number learning activity and the heart twist made it fun.

I knew I wanted it simple like that again, but it wasn’t until I saw this heart-a-day banner from Jones Design Company that I knew exactly what our scavenger hunt would be.

I told the boys the night before that we were going to do this Valentine’s scavenger hunt. George was so excited in the morning that he wanted to do it right away.

I’ve been trying to get them to play more outside lately, so this was my ticket. In order for me to set up the scavenger hunt, they would need to head outside and play first in the morning. They ended up going for a walk with Dad and I had some time to get this ready.

To set up this Valentine’s scavenger hunt:

I cut out lots and lots, and lots more hearts. I cut out about 30 for each of the kids, each kid got a different color.

The number of hearts depends on the number of days until Valentine’s Day. I also cut out extra to do a bigger hunt on this day. They ended up having 8 hearts to find for this particular hunt, but the scavenger hunt will go on every day until Valentine’s Day.

The kids can cut out the hearts too if you want to include them in on the setup. See the pretty heart garland they cut and made last year.

On each of the hearts I wrote something I love about each of the boys. Henry had the purple color, George the light pink and Louis had the bright pink. I actually didn’t end up writing any on Louis’s because he can’t read them and wouldn’t appreciate it much yet anyway. His were kept blank.

We used 3 hearts as directions for our Valentine’s scavenger hunt.

The first “direction” heart was the beginning of the scavenger hunt that they would find when they got back home:

On the back of Henry’s starting heart, I wrote extra directions since he is the only one that can read.

It asked him to read his brothers’ hearts to them so they’d know what to do, as well as the ways I love them. I also wrote to tell him that there would be 8 hearts to find today, and 1 heart each day until Valentine’s Day.

Then another heart gave them directions to hang the hearts they find on their bedroom door. A fun way to see the reasons I love them so much!

And the last direction on a heart said that when they spot someone else’s heart to not let them know about it. Let them find it!

Of course, these were hidden, so the directions weren’t followed from the start. But that’s okay. I meant for them to follow this for the additional days until Valentine’s Day  more than this initial scavenger hunt.

And then they came home!

It was excitement from the start!

Henry was in before the other boys and read his right away.

George and Louis gathered around him as they came inside too. And then they were off to find their 8 hearts!

They were so excited to read the ways I love them.

I even got extra hugs and kisses when they found the hearts that said I love their hugs and kisses.

Here are even more scavenger hunt ideas for kids!

And now their hearts are hanging on their doors to be added to every day until Valentine’s Day.

A new heart, and reason I love them, will be hidden each night (much like you guys that do the Elf on the Shelf) and the boys will search and find the heart every morning until Valentine’s Day.

And their bedroom door will hold all the reasons I love them so much!

Have you ever done a scavenger hunt with your kids?

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Club Building 101: A Guide to the Things that Matter

 By: Larry Baldridge, Workshop Manager for True Spec Golf

In our last article, we talked about all of the factors involved in a well-executed clubfitting process. But that's just one-half of the battle.

Once a proper fitting is performed, it's up to the build team to assemble and achieve the desired specs the golfer performed best with. This is no easy task.

It takes a well trained and experienced technician to build up what I call "A Balanced Set of Clubs". I'm not talking about balance in the traditional sense - what I mean is that every club is built to an exact specification with extremely tight tolerances that produce a consistency in the set makeup.

There are a number of factors that a club builder must address to create a balanced set of clubs, as follows:

• Grip
• Shaft
• Loft and Lie
• Club Length
• Swing Weight

As you can probably guess, no one factor is more important than another if you are serious about building a balanced set of clubs.

Grip Size and Weight

An experienced builder looks for consistency for an installed grip size as well as sorting the grips so that all of the grips are the same weight. This helps contribute to a consistent swingweight when the build is complete. Grip sizing is extremely important, and unfortunately, this is typically the most overlooked spec.

The majority of golfers do not realize what size grips they are playing throughout their set. Terms I hear out there: “standard”, “midsize”, or I love this one, “just add two wraps”. Grips are no different than a lie angle or CPM; they are a measurement, a number. There is a very specific way a builder measures a grip. The figure to the right shows grips sizings for both men and women.

A shaft’s O.D. (outside diameter) plays a huge part in determining what size grip will be installed. The way we accommodate different butt OD’s in a set is sometimes adding more or less tape under the grip.  In some cases, we may not use any tape or stretch the grip down the shaft a certain amount to achieve the desired size. In a lot of cases, we will use different ID’s, Inside Diameter grips to achieve the desired size. Some grips come with different ID’s in the same model.

A good builder recognizes this and knows how to match up the sizing throughout the golfers set.

Shaft

Not every shaft is perfectly round or the same in diameter size. The tolerances in shaft diameters or butt O.D.’s usually differ +- .002” to .004”.  I have seen some shafts differ as much as .007” to .008”. Weight sorting shafts is also a must in achieving a consistent swing weight as well as getting very good outcomes in frequency once the build is finished. The builder has more control dictating the final CPM of a shaft using a parallel tip shaft, which requires tip trimming and butt trimming.

Taper tip shafts do not require tip trimming, only butt trimming, so weight sorting each shaft is especially important for this type of shaft.

A great builder looks for a consistency in weight to help assist in creating a progression in the slope and gradient for the CPM's (Cycles Per Minute) of the iron set as well as wedges. As far as woods and hybrids, a builder knows how to manipulate the flex or CPM's of a shaft, so the golfer receives a club that is identical to what they tested during the fitting.

Loft and Lie

Once the builder is ready to address the loft and lie angles of the irons, they can find challenges in adjusting these specs. Cast clubs, in a lot of cases, can be difficult to adjust and the builder has to be very careful in the technique to ensure there is no damage to the clubhead. It’s been said over the years that cast clubs are not bendable. This is 100% not the case. All cast clubs can be bent, some more than others. 

Forged clubs are generally much easier to adjust, but the builder also needs to be careful not to create marks on the club head with their bending technique. Forged clubs are usually a much softer metal, and a good builder knows how to accommodate these types of clubs. What we typically look for is a consistent progression in lie angle and loft angle of the set, based on what the fitter prescribed for the golfer. A very specific machine is used for this adjustment called an Angle Machine or Loft and Lie Machine.

Club Length

The length of a club or set of clubs should also fall in a progression, generally differing a ½” between each iron and a ¼” in the wedges. However, this may not always be the case for every golfer we fit. Sometimes a fitter will recommend the golfer’s wedges be the same length or that they follow the progression of a ½” all the way down to the lob wedge. 

When it comes time to build to these specs, a good builder knows how to properly weigh out the club heads so that the swing weights are consistent to what was prescribed. Length plays a huge part in determining what a swing weight will be as well as what the final CPM is for the shaft. If this is not addressed properly, the result will be a very inconsistent set of clubs. This can really hurt a golfer in achieving a consistent ball flight.

Swing Weight

Swing weights should also be consistent throughout the set, whether the fitter or builder want the same swing weight for every club or they want to have a MOI matched set. Depending on the golfer's swing, a fitter may prescribe a typical swing weight for their clubs, but in a lot of cases, the fitter knows to introduce a heavier or lighter swing weight in order to get a better result in ball flight.

A trained eye knows when it is best to introduce swing weights that differ from what we as humans and golfers have felt for a very long time. This is where the fitter and builder work closely together to ensure that the customer is testing a set of clubs that can be duplicated for the final build.   

The Final Product

I firmly believe that if a golfer has a balanced set of golf clubs to match up to a repeatable swing, the golfer will be much more consistent with better misses and a tighter dispersion, ultimately resulting in lower scores.

from MyGolfSpy http://ift.tt/2kHbVCz

Organic Check-Off Program: Protect Our Healthy Food Future

Today’s post is going to differ slightly from my health and wellness articles, but it’s a topic could affect all of us who are worried about the food supply and availability of organic foods for our family.

There’s a big new initiative on the horizon, and it affects a topic near and dear to my heart (and to many of yours as well, I’d wager):

How to get good food and more of it, for less!

It’s called the GRO Organic Check-off Program, and it’s the next big thing in the organic food industry. In fact, this idea has been years in the making. This program means that organic food producers will work together to make organic food more widely available than ever before … It would mean lower prices for organic food while still ensuring that our organic farmers are being given the best tools to stay profitable and successful and keep growing organic, while also driving down prices for consumers!

Sounds great, right? But organic farmers and the OTA (Organic Trade Association) need your support to make this plan a reality.

What’s a Check-off Program, Anyway?

Check-off programs in general are not exactly new. Does the phrase “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” sound familiar? Or maybe you’ve heard of the “The Incredible Edible Egg”? Check-off programs brought us these now famous advertising campaigns and very popular slogans.

The term “check-off” just means that producers of a certain type of food group (for example, all the beef producers) would check off a box indicating they wanted to participate in the program. They would then pay a fee toward the check-off fund. (Some check-off programs are in fact mandatory, which is controversial.)

These programs don’t promote one brand over another but the food commodity as a whole (eggs, beef, dairy, and now organics!).

An elected board puts the funds to work in a variety of ways. The check-off program handles education, marketing, advertising, strategic expansion into new markets, and so on. It’s worked wonders for many sectors of the food industry.

And it’s about to do the same for organic food, but only with our help!

Organic Check-off Program: Why The Time Is Now

American consumers clearly want organic food in their grocery stores. The Organic Trade Association (OTA) reports that this sector of the food industry has grown by double digits almost every year since the 1990’s. Recent years are no exception, with a 10. 8% growth rate and a record $4.2 billion in sales in 2015. (Compare this to the overall food industry which grew at a rate of about 3% that year.)

While the demand is great, the supply is not. The same report tells us that as of 2014 only 1% of America’s farmland produced organic food. If you’ve dabbled in economics, you know that high demand and low supply drives up prices … as we all know too well when we’re trying to decide between conventional or organic at the grocery store.

Up until now, the organic food industry hasn’t had an official national check-off program. The OTA describes exactly why the industry should band together now at this critical point:

“We can either leave consumers guessing about what organic is, or we can come together to educate the public about what the organic seal really means. We can be solely dependent on others for research dollars to help solve industry challenges, or we can generate a pool of funds to help ourselves. We can struggle to meet the growing demand for organic, or we can work together to grow domestic acres and encourage more farmers to transition.”

In short, there’s no time like the present to make organically grown food more available and cost effective than ever and to make sure the farmers that grow our organic foods have all the resources available to stay in business and to expand!

What An Organic Check-Off Program Would Do for You

The GRO Organic Check-Off Program has 3 main goals:

1. Encourage more farmers to enter the organic food sector
2. Help all organic farmers be more successful and profitable
3. Increase consumer confidence by educating about what the organic seal really means

It’s estimated that the program would raise $30 million dollars per year to use toward these goals. More specifically, a nationwide organic check-off program would raise money for the organic industry to:

• Educate consumers about what the organic label really means
• Distinguish organic from lesser claims and unregulated seals like “natural”
• Confirm the science behind the environmental and public health benefits of organic
• Undertake research to solve problems such as invasive pests and weed control
• Bring new farmers into organic production through information and technical assistance
• Reduce the supply crunch by transitioning farmland to organic production across the U.S.

Small organic growers would no longer have to struggle alone but would have the support of a coordinated, nationwide organization with their best interests in mind.

And all of this means we get to feel better about our choices in the grocery store.

How to Get Involved Today

For the next two months, the USDA is asking for public comments in the Federal Register on the proposal for the GRO Organic Check-Off Program. Anyone—consumers, business owners, or organic food producers—can comment to show public support for this initiative that promises to make organic foods better understood, more accessible, and less costly.

Still have questions? Check out these helpful FAQs with all you could ever want to know about the GRO initiative!

Ready to vote for a better food future? The USDA wants to hear your opinion! Between January 18, 2017, and March 20, 2017, you can influence this decision by entering your comment of support at www.groorganic.net. Use your power as a consumer and let your voice be heard!

Do you think an organic check-off program is a good idea? If you do, be sure to register your comment and ask others to do the same!

Continue Reading...Organic Check-Off Program: Protect Our Healthy Food Future

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Mortgage rates move lower for Monday

If you're purchasing or refinancing, it may be a great time to lock in a rate.

from Bankrate.com » Mortgages http://ift.tt/2jKZZRK

Mortgage rates move lower for Monday

If you're purchasing or refinancing, it may be a great time to lock in a rate.

from Bankrate.com » Mortgages http://ift.tt/2jKZZRK

How to Make a Sticker Puzzle for your Sticker Fan (2 ways!)

Click here to read How to Make a Sticker Puzzle for your Sticker Fan (2 ways!) on Hands On As We Grow

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I love when a Hands On As We Grow reader shares an activity! This sticker puzzle is a smart fine motor activity tested and shared by Brittney P.

I am constantly on the lookout for new items to up-cycle. My son loves stickers, and I’ve sometimes wondered what I could do with the sticky outline on a sticker page. You know… the part that’s left after you take the stickers off?

I came up with this fun activity for my puzzle-loving toddler… and guess what? You can use it over and over if you want to. And I finally found something to do with the sticker outline!

If you have a child who loves puzzles and stickers like mine, then this is an activity you must try. It’s so simple!

The basic supplies for this activity:

• 1 page of stickers with a variety of shapes and sizes
• 2 sheets of any color cardstock paper (affiliate link)
• Scissors

Plus a few items that are optional, but recommended for younger kids…

• Bowl or ledge to temporarily place the stickers
• Sheet Protector (affiliate link) or gallon-sized zip bag

Method #1: Make a Reusable Sticker Puzzle

To make your sticker puzzle, start with your sticker page. Peel off the stickers and stick them to a piece of cardstock (I used white).

Now take off the outline, the sticky part that is left when you take the stickers off. Start at a corner and gently peel it off so you don’t tear it. Then stick it onto a piece of cardstock paper that is a different color than the sticky outline. I used orange.

I cut down the orange cardstock to better fit the size of the outline. And then I also cut out each individual sticker piece. (It actually didn’t take as long as I thought it would.)

That’s it! Now you just put it together like a normal puzzle. My son loved his sticker puzzle, and he will be able to do this over and over again. (Maybe I should have thought about laminating each sticker piece for extra durability…but that just wasn’t in the cards today.)

For storage, I put it all in a gallon-sized ziploc bag. And I always recommend doing an activity like this on a cookie sheet to help contain all the little pieces… especially if you’re in the car or anywhere outside the home.

Note: I am planning on putting either velcro or magnet pieces on the puzzle pieces and the outline so they stay in place better.

Method #2: Super-Quick One Time Sticker Puzzle

If you don’t have time to cut out all the puzzle pieces, here is another option that was just as fun!

This set up is so easy. The sticker page I used even had some missing stickers, so I simply cut out a part of the page that had all the stickers still there.

Take off the outline again and stick it onto a piece of cardstock paper that is a different color than the sticky outline. Again, you can cut the cardstock paper down, or leave it as is.

Next, take all of the stickers off the page and stick just the tip of each one onto the edge of a bowl, a window ledge, or the edge of a box, etc.

You could let your child take them off him/herself, but that depends on how well he/she can do that without ripping the sticker. And stickers with crazy shapes can make that hard. So, your choice… I went ahead and took them all off myself.

Here are some more ways for kids to work on tricky fine motor skills!

We learned very quickly that my son likes to make sure the sticker fits exactly in the right place. EXACTLY. And well, that’s kind of hard for a little kid, so he kept wanting to pull it off the page and of course it tore the cardstock.

So I grabbed a sheet protector and that made it much easier to peel off in case he didn’t get it exactly right! (You could use a gallon-sized zip bag, too.)

You may be able to peel off the stickers from the sheet protector and put them back on the white sticker page they came on and do this again. We didn’t try it, but it may just work.

And if not, at least you had a few minutes of fun together doing it one time! And if you want to do it again, just grab another page of stickers!

What does your child love doing with his or her stickers?

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64: How to Keep Your Family Safe With Tips from Former CIA Agent Jason Hanson

If you watch the news, it can feel as if life is never truly safe and that even a routine trip to the park with children can be a dangerous endeavor.

The truth is that we are statistically safer than we’ve ever been, but those statistics don’t matter to the families who have been victims of crimes. So how do you keep your family safe without living in constant fear and how do you separate common sense prevention from paranoia?

Learning from a Former CIA Officer

In this interview, I talk with Jason Hanson, a former CIA Officer and the New York Times bestselling author of Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life. Jason has appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank, Fox & Friends, Dateline, NBC Today Show, and Rachael Ray, to name a few. He runs his Spy Escape & Evasion school on his 320-acre Spy Ranch in Cedar City, Utah.

Jason shares his story of how he became a CIA agent and how he uses the knowledge he gained through operative training to protect his family. He also teaches workshops to help men, women, and families take practical steps to keep safe.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• The number one way to reduce your chances of becoming the victim of a crime
• How criminals, when interviewed, could identify potential victims in seconds just from looking at pictures
• What to do if you are ever in a dangerous situation with your children
• The reason women (and especially moms) need to be concerned with self-defense
• Ways to teach your children to be safe at home and when out and about
• How to have a “family safety plan” for your home and what to do if an intruder ever enters
• What to do to reduce the chances of home invasion, car jacking, and kidnapping
• Simple tips to stay safe while traveling
• How to use some spare change and a sock for self defense
• The one place Jason would never take his family (hint: it is a popular vacation destination)
• A simple tool you can carry anywhere (even in airports) to help defend yourself
• If and when you should carry a gun or knife for protection

Resources We Mention

• Jason’s Tactical Pen
• Spy Escape and Evasion blog

Special Thanks to Today’s Sponsors

This podcast is brought to you by Kettle and Fire Bone Broth. If you love the benefits of bone broth simmered on the stove all day but want a quick and easy way to make it, Kettle and Fire is for you! They have the first grass-fed (and grass-finished) non-perishable bone broth and it is ah-mazing! Kettle and Fire Bone Broth can be found in many Whole Foods on the west coast and you can also order online here.

I use their bone broth on a regular basis and used it to create the recipes in my new bone broth e-book (releasing later this year).

This podcast is also brought to you by Thrive Market. If you live in a real food desert like I do, it can be difficult to find certain organic, specialty, or allergy-friendly foods. Thrive Market makes it easy by carrying thousands of the non-perishable foods that I use most often at discount prices.

They’re like a combination of Costco, Amazon, and Whole Foods. They are online like Amazon, have a yearly membership fee to unlock discounts like Costco, and carry high quality foods like Whole Foods!

I order from them regularly and highly recommend them. Check out all of their products and grab a free jar of coconut oil here.

Continue Reading...64: How to Keep Your Family Safe With Tips from Former CIA Agent Jason Hanson

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