Review-Snake Oil!

Wahoo! Out of the Box Games has outdone themselves with the clever, family friendly game, Snake Oil. When I read that this was up for review, I had to giggle as we joke about our "snake oils" that we use everyday (essential oils). I was excited to be chosen for this review and thrilled that Big Daddy was home so we could all play together. The game needs 3 or more players and includes directions for a tournament play that can have up to 24 players! We played with all 5 of us and had so much fun!

Set up and directions are simple. We didn't even take all the cards out of the holder in the box, but just set the holder on the table and got started - lol! The game is intended for ages 10 and up. Princess P is 9 but didn't have any trouble catching on and keeping up so I think you could go a little younger if wanted. We started by reading the kids about what snake oil really is. None of them had heard of it so I'm glad it was included on the instruction sheet.

What supermodel doesn't need bra glue?

Such funny combos!!

To play the game, each player gets 6 word cards. There are word cards and then a smaller deck of "Customer Cards." The customer tells who they are...such as pirate, pregnant lady, sports fan, couch potato, or cowboy. All the "non customers" choose two of their word cards and "invent" something that the customer can't live without. You have up to 30 seconds to give your spiel before it moves to the next person. After everyone goes, the customer chooses one person's product as the one they must have and that person wins that round.   

This was hilarious!! The combinations were so funny and random and we all laughed and laughed. The site says the game takes 20-30 minutes to play. We played WAY longer that our first time because no one wanted to stop! I loved how creative the kids were and how they had to think on their feet. They came up with such great spiels and were so convincing that it was hard to decide sometimes.  I really wish I had videoed some of them. They were SO convincing about why we needed their product. So funny. 

This was a great game to bring us all together. It's hard to find things sometimes that both P (at 9) and C (at almost 15) enjoy, let alone Big Daddy and I enjoy too.And finding something that isn't electronic is a huge plus for us. We are going on vacation later this month and Big Daddy said to make sure we bring this!!

At only $19.99, this is cheaper than going out to eat and has brought so much fun to our evenings. It would be fun to play with friends and family. I'd even like to try the tournament! As I said, it's hard to find something that our whole family can enjoy so this is definitely worth the price to me. These moments of hanging around together in the evening are fleeting...gotta take advantage of them while we can.

This is sadly my final review for TOS for the year and we are taking a break from reviewing next year. Talking about going out in style though!! This one was a blast! Thanks for reading and commenting on my reviews. Please keep following the Schoolhouse Review Crew as they have big things in store for next year. I'll miss it, but look forward to slowing down a bit with our homeschooling.

Check out more reviews of Snake Oil and other games by clicking on the banner below and find out more info from the vendor here:

https://www.facebook.com/OutoftheBoxGames
https://twitter.com/OTBgames
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYAQiV5S9ZQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UUTEAg1uDVwq0LNxFAwM7N5Q

 

Fall....for today!

Our tree out front is gorgeous, but it usually only lasts like this for a few days. So, I drug the kids out yesterday and had them stand in front of it for a picture. This really isn't even about the kids (hence the not bothering to brush hair or change clothes!)...it's all about that tree!

OK - the kids are pretty cute too. ;)

Review: Christmas Book

     I'm always looking for new ways to teach the kids the true meaning of Christmas. It's so hard in this world that is bombarding us with materialistic reasons to celebrate this day so I was excited to get to review If He Had Not Come, by David Nicholson.  The book is recommended for ages 6 and up and is $18.95 for a  hardbound book like we got to review, or just $3.99 for an ebook.

     Before we started reading the book, I asked the kids what they thought it would be like if Jesus had never come. They had some answers, like "sad" or "boring." I was just curious of their thoughts before beginning. Princess P and I had read through the book during soccer practice a few weeks before so she and I knew what the story line was.

     Terrific T read the book aloud to us. It's only 40 pages so didn't take too long to read. Every other page is a full bleed page picture that is really beautiful. Charles Jaskiewicz illustrated this and deserves big props for capturing the feeling and story so well in pictures.
   
     If He Had Not Come is the story of a young boy who goes to sleep on Christmas Eve with John 15:22 on his mind. The verse says, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin," The rest of the book follows this boy as he discovers what would be different if Jesus had not come in the flesh to the world.

     It was a very sad and different world than we know today and eye opening to the kids to think about the world like this. It was also eye opening to see that everything in our lives that is good is due to Jesus coming as a baby and then dying for our sins. Think about it!

    There are questions and activities in the back to aid in our discussion with the kids about the book. We chose to do the one that asked the kids to make a list of things that would be different in your life if He had not come. They came up with this:

     We likely wouldn't foster (why do for others? why care for the least of these?), wouldn't go to church, would have different friends. Then it hit them that Big Daddy and I MET at church...if there wasn't a church we likely wouldn't have met and they wouldn't be here!! T added that the world would be full of sin and evil and would be...bad to the bone (and not in a good way!).

     This book was a gentle reminder of the true meaning of Christmas and I liked that they included the ways to discuss and apply what we learned. The book ends with a list of ways to help you celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. I'm looking forward to revisiting this book in the next few weeks as we set up our tree and start looking more towards the big day.

If He had not come...how sad would we all be. :(

 

Check out more info about this book and author by checking out his facebook page or clicking the link to see what other crewmates had to say about it.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/If-He-Had-Not-Come/1543755249189773?ref=tn_tnmn

Let's talk oils...again.

Some friends and I went to a Healing Oils of the Bible class last month. It was fascinating!! God truly gave us all we needed in the Garden of Eden. He provided food and oils for staying healthy, then when sin entered the world, we had the oils already there for diseases and illnesses. It was all there for our use and still is. Thank you, Jesus! I loved smelling and applying the oils that were the same smells that Jesus and his friends used when he walked the earth. I was really drawn to one in particular...Hyssop. The smell stayed with me for days and it's on my order for this month. Hyssop was used to put the blood on the doorposts for passover, and was used to hand Jesus the sour wine when he was on the cross. Coincidence? Not a chance. I can't wait to get it!

October 4th marked the one year anniversary of us using Young Living Essential Oils in our home and I'm still learning new ways every day to help support our family's health with the oils and supplements they offer.  And I love it! It's actually a lot of fun to learn about what can make us feel better and stay well instead of just blindly popping pills or ignoring symptoms. We feel better than ever now that we are doing our Ningxia Red "shots" everyday. It's fun to keep my family healthy. I am also loving sharing these healing oils with others and trying to teach them to take control of their health. It's fun to scan people and have them shocked that the Zyto scanner is right on. Just another tool to help us with better health.

Last November, I started using Essential Rewards (ER). At first, I was confused and it seemed like a scam or something to commit to buying every month. I sent my friend a thousand questions and then decided to bite the bullet...and I'm so glad I did. See, ER isn't that scary. It's actually pretty awesome! You do commit to buying every month, but you can change up what you order each time and get only the things you want or need. The best part is you get a % back in free product credit for each oil you buy. The first 6 months, you get 10% credit. The next 6 you get 15%. And starting at month 13, you get 20% credit every month. YL is so awesome that some months, they offer an additional 10% credit if you spend 300 pv (normally that is $300).  They did this last month and are doing it again this month for a 250 PV order. So last month, I spent $300 and got $75 product credit to spend in the next 12 months. In the past year, I've received over $500 in free products from cashing in ER points. On top of that, they give away products for free for reaching certain order amounts (190/250/300) so I've really got way more than the $500 free! It's a great way to stock up your cabinet to be ready for anything.

If you haven't ventured in to the oily world, what's stopping you? Ask me anything and I'm happy to point you in the right direction. I haven't had anyone start using them and not like them!