Sunday, February 23, 2014

I Heart Crafts!

How has your weekend been? Hopefully GOOD! The weather was nice today so I was actually able to get outside and work on a craft I have been working on with a friend! Woot! Woot! I will try and finish up this week and post it so you can see. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday night!



Saturday, February 15, 2014

DIY Granite Cleaner!

How are you? Did you get snow? We were pounded and it has been so much fun to play in. It's awesome what playing in the snow does for the psyche! It is quickly melting now though. Hopefully you are safe if you've lost power. I know there are a lot of people without power still...  

Since we've been stuck inside the past few days, I'm trying to be productive so I thought I'd share this concoction with you. When it comes to spending money, I'm pretty frugal. I have been making most of our house cleaning products for years to try and pinch pennies. Here is one I make to clean our granite counter tops and I think it works better than ones I have purchased in the past. The store bought ones tend to leave the counters streaked. This one doesn't. I found it at a fellow blogger's site


 

You can find spray bottles at Dollar Tree.

Granite Cleaner
1/4 Cup Rubbing Alcohol
3-4 Drops Dish Soap
Water

Instructions for Granite Cleaner
Pour 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol in your bottle. Add 3-4 drops of dish soap and slowly fill the bottle up with water. Do it slowly because you don't want the water sudsy. Then shake the bottle a little to mix it up and SPRAY!

I use microfiber cloths in a circular motion on the granite. It gives your granite a nice shine! 

Have a a great rest of the weekend!





Thursday, February 6, 2014

Plastic Grocery Bags

First off I am a recycle nut! I recycle everything I can! At first it was just paper and cardboard and anything that goes in the recycling bin. Now it's a lot more than that so when we put the garbage can and recycling bin out on trash day, the garbage can is mostly empty.

Grocery bags are something I started recycling a couple years ago. As soon as the grocery and hardware stores started putting recycling bins near their entrances I jumped on that wagon too. I have also begun recycling every other type of plastic bag, the plastic bread and veggies bags, tp plastic packaging, all of it. I clean all bags and let them dry before taking them to recycle each week. It pains me to see all that goes in the trash and landfills. Not sure what has come over me but I want to recycle all that I can!!!


So anyway, here is a story relating to grocery bags I wanted to share. It doesn't have to do with recycling but offered me a new perspective yesterday. I sometimes lose sight of what is important in my daily activities - I try with everything I can not to, but there are those days and moments... Yesterday I was having one.

Yesterday I was struggling at the grocery store. I cruised the aisles to try and quickly pick up a few items and it seemed like no matter how fast I went, time dragged and it took forever just to pick up a few things. I had both my kids with me, they weren't behaving how I wanted them to. They fussed over riding in the cart so I let them walk. I got them free cookies at checkout to help keep them quiet. They were dancing around and you wouldn't have thought I had just taken them to a public gym to get all their energy out. 

Anyhow I had parked really close to the front door and as I walked our groceries out, with a child on either side of the cart, I was getting kind of frustrated. I caught the eye of a middle-aged man and tried to humorously joke with him, commenting on how my grocery trip would take a lot less time if I came at night without my kids. He smiled a warm smile. I thought he was going to joke back, but instead he asked for prayers saying he had four kids at home and was struggling to feed them because of a job loss and lack of money. He reluctantly asked me if I had any money to help and to please pray for him and his family. He rode his bike to the store. He stood away from my car giving space as not to scare me.
After I got my kids in the car, I dug into my purse and found a $5 bill. I NEVER have cash on me but found some and he was extremely appreciative. I think there was good reason I actually had cash on me. Anyway, I was unloading my groceries and asked myself what Jesus would do. I put a bag of chicken and a package of rice in a plastic grocery bag and asked if he would like that for his family. He was extremely appreciative again and offered to return my cart for me so I wouldn't have to leave my car. I took him up on it and he again asked me to keep his family in my prayers.

I'm not normally trusting of strangers safety first and I teach my children that you cannot trust a stranger. This was one of those situations though where I was struggling and this man helped me to see what was important in that moment. I know I helped him too. It's so weird how something can happen to totally shift your perspective on what is right. Yes, I was a stranger to him and he was a stranger to me but we each helped each other and I'll be keeping him in my prayers.

On that note, have a great rest of the week. xoxo

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Cleaning Schedule Adjusted


So I had to adjust my list in a major way! HAHA
********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Cleaning For The Week

Monday: laundry, mirrors, bathroom sinks, toilets, tubs, shower & empty trash cans

Tuesday: dust all furniture
mirrors, bathroom sinks, toilets, tubs, shower & empty trash cans

Wednesday: baseboards
dust all furniture

Thursday: vacuum & mop & empty trash cans because the trash gets picked up on Fridays!


Friday: do once over before weekend
Enjoy the Weekend!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Christmas Wreath Turned Into Valentine's Day Wreath

So any of you Mommies out there have boys? I am having some difficulties with my oldest in public restrooms at potty time. He is at the age where he doesn't want to go in a women's restroom but I'm not all that comfortable sending him in the men's by himself just yet. When we are at church I'll let him go in the men's room while I wait but that is about it. He has to go with me when it's just me and both boys. At what age did you start letting your son use a public restroom in the men's room?

So off of my tangent... My latest little decoration was for Valentine's Day. I did a simple little trick to turn our Christmas wreath into a Valentine's Day Wreath! Below is our Christmas wreath. It was a straw wreath I painted white and wrapped with polka dotted red and white ribbon.


I picked up a foam heart and strung a piece of twine through it and looped it on the under side of the ribbon on top so it would hang in the center of the wreath.


Simple Enough!







Saturday, February 1, 2014

Staircase Basket BEFORE and AFTER

How is your weekend going? It's been a good one here. The weather has been so nice. Our oldest had a basketball game yesterday and I must say it was so much fun to watch. His team played well as a team and it's great to watch young children learn and progress and work together for a goal! He made one of his foul shots too! The weather has warmed up so we were able to get outside some too. Yippie!

So here is a fun little Before and After. I found this beauty below in my mom and dad's garage last time I visited. They don't have a staircase and my mom had me go through her old baskets. It was cute but not my colors or taste. 



I spray painted the whole basket with a blue Rustoleum and instead of gluing or threading ribbon to add a little something to it, I wrapped the basket with a ribbon and tied it under the top "step" of the basket. It's not perfect but handmade and hand-done never is. That is why I love doing something by hand so much. It's much more personal. It's cute and it holds all the randoms we find downstairs that need to go upstairs. On that note have a wonderful rest of your weekend!