Michaela Elizabeth: October 2016

I received If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages free for this review, but everything below is my own, honest thoughts and opinions.

I contacted Carole P. Roman, the author, a couple of months ago because I was interested in reviewing If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages; she not only sent it to me, but also sent me If You Were Me and Lived in... Viking Europe. Both are part of her "If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient History" series, which is a sequel to her "If You Were Me and Lived in... Countries Around the World" series.

This was a couple months ago. A couple months! I can't believe it has taken me so long to get this written! I have absolutely LOVED reading If You Were Me and Lived in... Viking Europe and If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages to my girls! The girls're a little bit young for the books, since I would estimate them geared for ages 7-10, but that just meant we took longer to finish the books. We read probably 2-3 pages at a time before one or both girls were ready to do something else.

Both books are written directly to the reader, in a "you are" form, and while educational, the narrative is easy to follow. Carole P. Roman did a good job at keeping me interested through the story, and I was surprised that I even learnt something while reading her books. I liked that she included a glossary and pronunciation guide at the end of each book, as well as defining the words in context; however, her pronunciation guides don't follow any standard guide I've used in the past, so I was a bit thrown off by some of the words. But it is geared towards elementary school students, so perhaps the phonetics are ones I've forgotten or are more intuitive for the target reading level.

If You Were Me and Lived in... the Middle Ages and If You Were Me and Lived in... Viking Europe are the most recent books in the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient History" series, and I'm excited for when my girls are a little bit older to get the whole series! I'll post a list of all the books in the series, as well as a few of the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Countries Around the World" series, after the sample images, below. Honestly, the biggest demerit I've run into about this is that Carole P. Roman published directly through Amazon, and her website doesn't organize anything other than linking directly to her Amazon author page, so it's been kind of difficult to find the rest of the series.

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Middle Ages cover artwork
[Image description: nearly square paperback book cover with series, author and illustrator names (Carole P. Roman and Mateya Arkova, respectively) in white, and installment name in red; pastel artwork shows a girl in a simple but traditional red dress, with yellow trim on the square collar and wide sleeves, from the Middle Ages. She is wearing a garland headband and her hair in a long braid that appears to be blowing in the wind. She is standing on a grassy hill and her arm is outstretched towards a brown bird and tree that is barely visible. In the distance there is a second hill with castle and a winding dirt path. All is backed by a nearly clear blue sky, with a single white cloud behind the castle and tree. There is a vertical red stripe just to the left of the title.]

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Middle Age sample page
[Image description: two-page book spread with the same traditionally dressed girl from the cover, her braid laying gracefully over her right shoulder and her hands clasped in front of her. She appears to be standing on a grassy field just a bit off of a traditional town. Between her and the town is a a bridge and a waterway. Near the bottom right corner is a single, small cottage, isolated by by trees. On the left-hand page, backed in white, are 4 paragraphs of text describing possible girls' and boys' names, family name and race. All text is addressed to "you" as the reader., for example, "You were called Norman because your family came from Normandy..." The lower outside corners display page numbers 12 and 13, and the book is held open by a ringed hand.]

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Viking Europe cover artwork
[Image description: nearly square paperback book cover with series, author and illustrator names (Carole P. Roman and Mateya Arkova, respectively) in white, and installment name in yellow. Pastel artwork shows a Viking or Scandinavian boy wearing dark blue, long-sleeves with a long, lighter blue tunic on top, that is cinched with a brown belt; all over green leggings and mid-calf brown boots. He is holding a bow, with a quiver and a few arrows slung over his shoulder. He is standing on a rocky outcropping, with waves of the sea crashing on the rocks. He is looking away, over the water towards a Viking sailboat and another landmass, which has a dock, a path and 3 cottages. The sky is cloudy, starting white near the land blended to a light teal. There is a vertical yellow stripe just to the left of the title.]

If You Were Me and Lived in the... Viking Europe sample page
[Image description: two-page book spread with the same traditionally dressed boy from the cover, with one hand on his hips/waist, and the other holding his belt. He is standing next to a traditionally dressed girl with a red dress, white sash around her waist, and yellow or gold chain accents around her neck. She has long, curly reddish-brown hair that comes to her waist, and she stands about as tall as the boy's elbow. They are standing on a grassy plain, with cream sheep, the teal ocean, and blue sky behind them. Off to the right side, there is a green hill, a small cottage with a green roof, a path and a fence in the background. On the left-hand page, backed in white, are 3 paragraphs of text describing possible girls' and boys' names, and family name designation. The lower outside corners display page numbers 10 and 11, and the book is held open by a ringed hand.]

As promised, the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Ancient History" series (numbered by publication date, from oldest to most recent, since her volume numbers don't match the publication order):

The complete (to my knowledge) list of the "If You Were Me and Lived in... Countries of the World" series (also numbered by publication date, from oldest to most recent, since her volume numbers don't match the publication order):

Disclosure: I was compensated for this review, and this post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission on purchases. For more information, see my Disclosures page.

I received the Lebice Popsicle Molds for free in exchange for my review, but the thoughts here are my own honest opinions.

I've had this ready to write for almost 2 weeks now, but I just haven't been able to bring myself to sit down and WRITE. I'm not really sure why, either, so far, these Lebice Popsicle Molds are my favorite product I've had the chance to review! Call it writer's block, if you want, but it's not that I haven't had ideas, it's that I haven't been able to bring myself to get those thoughts into written text.

But, I'm here now, and as I said above, this has been my favorite product to use and review to date! It's been a lot of fun to mix together juices, smoothies and fresh and frozen fruit to make our own "Popsicles." The best part: since I know EXACTLY what goes into these popsicles, I don't mind letting the girls have (nearly, since they'd eat all 6 in one sitting, if I let them) as many as then want. (It probably also helped, that popsicle stick molds were another product that was already on my shopping list, that I was able to review for free. 🤗)

4 sides of the Lebice box (bottom right cut off the leak resistant, FDA approved, BPA free and dishwasher safe circles)

Right off the bat, the Lebice Popsicle Molds sport a bright, festive, summery box featuring fruity colors of oranges, strawberry/raspberry pinks and a kiwi green. I totally didn't realize the fruity-ness of the colors until sitting here trying to describe them. Talk about subtle/sub-conscious marketing! 😉😊 My first impression was how bright and summery the box is. Definitely indicative of a great summer treat--or really anytime in our local, Florida heat.

Also important to note: the molds are leak resistant, FDA approved, BPA free and dishwasher safe. I can't believe I didn't realize until now that I cut these points off when I took the picture. Of course it's just AFTER I decide I don't need the box anymore and recycle it. [Facepalm]

Opened Lebice box with all contents individually wrapped

My first disappointment came when I opened the box. Part of the reason I wanted reusable popsicle molds is because I was tired of buying and throwing away the popsicle sticks and wrappers--though we usually bought Outshine bars or Chloe's Soft-Serve fruit bars rather than Popsicle brand. While I know 9 little plastic baggies are insignificant compared to what we were doing, the individual wrappers still seemed unnecessary.

Closed Lebice box, individual wrapping removed, and popsicle molds assembled

Once the plastic was removed and disposed of, the Lebice Popsicle Molds looked a lot higher quality than they did in the baggies, which look tacky to me. (Probably because I think it's a completely unnecessary waste.)

Lebice mold picture instructions

I just thought it was too funny that there were instructions at all, seems pretty simple: add juice/fruit/whatever to mold, freeze, eat. but it was nice to have the picture that suggest warming the edges to removed the frozen popsicle easier.

Juice and fresh and frozen fruit ready to blend in Vitamix blender

The next several photos are the process of making the smoothie I used as the first sample of popsicles. The instructions came with a couple of recipes and a QR code to more recipes and video instructions, but I just sorta made my own thing. For the first try, I used fresh and frozen strawberries and frozen pineapple, mango and papaya with orange juice and a touch of honey, blended in our Vitamix 5300. (If you want my review of the blender, check out my 30 Day Vitamix Challenge.)

Vitamix on and contents blended into a smoothie

Vitamix pitcher removed from base next to prepared lebice molds

First Lebice mold filled using collapsible funnel

When filling, the funnel filled 1/2 to 3/4 of the way left just about a half inch from the top of the popsicle mold. In future popsicles, I filled them just below the top ridge, but in this first sample, I used 1/2 to 3/4 of the funnel as a measurement.

Filled Lebice molds with 3 yellow and 3 green sticks/lids in place; lebice logo visible

Filled Lebice molds in the freezer

Frozen, ready-to-eat popsicle with mold removed and in background

With the gap left in the popsicle mold, there was a subsequent gap from the lid to the edible portion of the popsicles. When I filled the molds to just under the ridge, there was virtually no gap between the lid and fruity/edible portion, but, of course, I forgot to photograph any future popsicles we made.

Overall, I would totally recommend the Lebice Popsicle Molds to anyone who wants control over the ingredients in their popsicles and/or anyone who wants to limit their waste from traditional popsicles--even though they did come wrapped in the unnecessary individual wrappings, just keep that in mind. They are easy to fill, easy to wash, easy to remove, and my girls LOVED getting to eat popsicles that they helped make.

Disclosure: I was compensated for this review, and this post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a small commission on purchases. For more information, see my Disclosures page.

Michaela Elizabeth

Pages

Saturday, October 29, 2016

"If You Were Me and Lived..."

Sunday, October 9, 2016

#Lebice Popsicle Molds