A New Children’s Book Category!

IMG_4718If you didn’t know, aside from writing at St. Louis Dad I have another side venture. That is illustrating children’s books. So far I have illustrated a lot of them. Some of the stories I have illustrated are focused on a specific subject. Others are filled with nonsense or with a life lesson. I haven’t posted about the illustration work before because I wasn’t exactly sure how to showcase it. Now I have a good idea of what I want to do. So be on the look out for some new posts in this new category starting very soon!

I have worked with authors all over the world on these books. Check the map below. It shows many of the areas I have worked with authors on projects. Many of them are available on Amazon in the Kindle store. Some of them are even available in print format. I will be sure to indicate in each post what options are currently available. Some of the books may be available for free from time to time. If they are I will be sure to let you know.

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If you are ever interested in working with me on a children’s book just let me know. I am open to just about any sort of project, but there is a process. Just let me know what you are thinking and we can work out all of the details.

A Flip of a Switch

IMG_4660My wife and I had a rare night alone together. My sister kept both of our kids and so we got to sped a quite night watching some movies and working on a few of our own projects. The next morning we decided to go to our favorite Waffle House and grab some brunch. We got to sleep in after all so we took full advantage of that.

Our meal was delicious as usual and while we were finishing up an adorable little boy ran past and his mom was behind him. My wife smiled and asked how old he was and the young mom said “three”. Then she added, “it’s like a flip of a switch and now he’s just so wild.” We laughed and my wife said that we hope our little Alex will flip a switch and reign it in some when he hits three next year. A few other pleasantries were said and then they took off. Us not soon after.

I am hoping that a switch might flip sooner rather than later. Later in the day we picked up Alex and took him to the store with us. He was good at first but after going around a few aisles he started getting a little wild. He would add several toys to the cart. We would put them back and he would add them again. We would put him in the seat of the cart and he would try to climb out, so we would let him walk.

I know what he is doing is perfectly fine. He’s not being a real monster. He’s not tearing down shelves or screaming like a banshee. He just moves a little more quicker than us, and I like to exaggerate a little. He is learning though. He tests us and cries trying to get what he wants. We’re seasoned parents and don’t budge on his demands. We don’t negotiate with toddlers. Okay, I’m laying about the last part. I think a lot of parents do, but I think we all would rather not admit it.

All in all our night off was great. Our morning off was even better. We actually got to sleep in. Little breaks like that helps us parents unwind and recharge for the next few months of up and down, chasing, cleaning, cooking, playing, and more that will be done with the kids until we have our next night off. Until then my friends, until then.

Cutting the Cord with 1ByOne’s HDTV Antenna

IMG_4504I have had cable television for as long as I can remember. I also have had Netflix for a long time and I watch both fairly equally. We are always looking for ways to cut costs in our home and our cable bill would definitely be a good starting point. I didn’t have one of those new fancy digital antennas for my t.v. so if I were to cut my cable I would lose out on all of the local channels. So here comes 1ByOne to the rescue. They sent over a shiny super thin amplified HDTV antenna that has a great 50 mile range. It is super thin and can be easily mounted on the wall if necessary.

IMG_4617After getting my t.v. setup with over the air service a scan had to be done to find all of the channels. I was only anticipating 5 or 6 channels but to my surprise over 30 channels were found. That is really impressive. Along with 30 channels there is also an on screen guide so you can see what’s on all of them and see what is coming up. I’ll admit that most of the channels are a little lame, but there are a few gems available. Notably PBS Kids, both of my kids are fans of Sprout, and while it’s not exactly the same, they do show some of the same content.

The lack of sports programming, specifically Cardinals baseball and Blues hockey will probably help keep the cable boxes around for a little while longer, but I can definitely see using this antenna along with with some streaming options as a great solution to reducing costs.

If you’re looking to cut the cord and ditch your cable or satelite provider I definitely recommend checking out 1ByOne’s antenna. The HD clarity is great and the channel list is definitely worth the one time price for the antenna instead of a monthly price tag that could probably buy 3 or 4 antennas. Throw in Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime and you will have a nice television experience without a hefty price tag.

You can purchase a 1byone Shiny Super Thin Amplified HDTV Antenna on Amazon US or Amazon UK. Also be sure to follow all of 1byOne’s social media accounts to stay up to date on their latest product offerings as well as other cool info!

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1byone.com provided St. Louis Dad with this product as compensation in exchange for an honest review. Please visit 1byone.com for more awesome products that can help make your life better!

StLouisDad.com Instrumentals Vol. 10

StLouisDadcom Instrumentals Vol 10

Here is the tenth installment of StLouisDad.com Instrumentals! This volume contains five tracks that I think might be suited for more mature content. I use a sample from the movie A Time to Kill in project 50, and there is a gun shot sample used in another one of the tracks. These are some really great instrumentals, but a couple of them just might not be suitable for younger audiences.

StLouisDad.com Instrumentals – Vol.10 will be released under a Creative Commons license. Read more about the specific license attached to these instrumentals here. If you have any questions about any of the instrumentals I can do my best to answer them, just send me an email.

Please comment below or email me with a link to your project if you use one of these instrumentals. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did making them and be sure to subscribe and follow me on TwitterInstagram, and Facebook to find out when Vol. 11 will be released!

Listen to a sample of this download!

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