~2014 Holiday Gift Guide Sign Up~

For all Blogger friends!

Here is an awesome gift guide sign up

to advertise your blog! Check it out!

  

 

Bloggers 2014 Holiday Gift Guide Sign Up

Bloggers sign up Today to get listed on the "2014 Holiday Gift Guide" that will roll out full force Oct 25 thru Dec 25, 2014 . Many bloggers will be participating so its going to be huge !

Right now Sign up is Free and Limited !

** Why Should you Sign Your Blog Up?**
Most of the Business's that have listing on here are ones who hire bloggers for Reviews and PR Jobs through the year, so a great way to get noticed as a PR Blogger and get on the Reps Blogger Lists for when they have reviews and sponsor post jobs etc. ** Does My Blog have to be a Big Blog **
NO - this is the great part, any size blog , any nitch is welcome. The only restriction we have is , your blog can not have pornographic material on it. If it does - Do not sign up - we are Family Friendly ! ** Where will my Link to my Blog Be Seen **
We will have a page specific listing " PR Friendly Bloggers " on the 2014 Holiday Gift Guide Web Site - Visible to all on the landing page and other guide pages. Your Link will be linked to your blog or media kit page ( your choice). This Gift guide will be promoted by many bloggers, as well as the businesses on their sites and social media too during the 2 months. Also we may even feature YOUR Blog in our Special Mailings from time to time. ** Perks **

• PR Marketers for Businesses See Your Page - These are the people who Hire Bloggers to promote Products for reviews, sponsor posts, ambassador programs, etc- all year long !
• There will be special giveaway promotions during this time , Fun Secret Santa for Bloggers Only. ++

** HOW DO I SIGN MY BLOG UP** Click HERE to Sign UP Today !

Keep Calm Door Knob Hanger

Keep Calm and WHAT they say? You see this quote everywhere nowadays and do you know where it was derived? Go on! Made ya look! It was a motivational poster created and used by the British in 1939. It was made for World War II to boost British morale in a time of uncertainty. Evidently the poster was never publicly displayed, but was found in the more recent years. I'm no history buff but when I see things like this, I ask questions, I try and learn about the history behind it. It currently seems to be sort of a fad for all venues.   

It was actually originated during sad and difficult times so I have mixed feelings about this saying being everywhere with so many parodies of it. I always wonder if people know where it came from. 

Having said that, I found this little metal door hanger at Dollar Tree of all places. I think it has a lot of meaning. Since it was so seriously produced, it means more to me than just a cutesy little saying. I love inspirational sayings period, exclamation point, and this one is a humble reminder to me to try and stay calm no matter what. As far as parenting, marriage and ANYTHING in life, there is ALWAYS room for improvement and I find that inspirational quotes are great motivation tools. So I've got this little door knob hanger/piece of inspiration hanging on the coat closet door downstairs, central on our first level to help me and anyone else who can read (smiley face - because we have one who is still learning his letters) stay in line. I like it. Do you have any opinions?   

Say "BYE BYE" To Gnats and Flies!

Holy Gnat Grossness!
---------------------------

We have had some major nastiness in our house lately! GNATS! Bleh! They are so disgusting and seem to be in areas around all our sinks. Evidently water attracts them. Google is awesome though because it helped me find a non-chemical way to get rid of ALL. OF. THEM. Woot! Woot! 

All you use is:

CIDER VINEGAR + A FEW DROPS OF DISH DETERGENT & STIR! 

The vinegar attracts the bugs with its smell and the dish detergent drowns them. Put little containers near the gathering spots of your insects. Ours sinks are where they have gathered the most so I put our traps on the counters and window sills. 

I used ceramic cups and bowls to make it semi-attractive. EWWWWW, yes the winged specs at the bottom are GNATS! I lost count of how many I caught but I poured the solution along with their carcasses down the toilets yesterday and FLUSH, they are G.O.N.E.

DEAD! YES! This simple, at home remedy worked awesomely well! If you get gnats or flies, try it! It has helped us sooooo much! 

  

From Baby to Boy Decor. Sniff Sniff!

Kids! It's cliché, but they really do grow up fast. I attended a church book study yesterday with a small group of moms my age, and children are such wonderful blessings from God. The group session was a great experience and my little guy got to do some crafts for himself. He was so excited about collecting acorns and making art! Yay!

 

My oldest turned eight on Wednesday and my youngest is four. Some days it blows my mind!

 

LOOOONG PAUSE - VROOM! VROOM!

I just took time out from working on these blog photos to do four races of Mario Kart 8 with the youngest. Trying to cherish all the time I have with him at home. It's also a nice perk to get to play with him! I'm such a kid and he's a lot of fun!

 

His bedroom is so special to me because it was his big brother's first bedroom. It's a room we brought both babies home from the hospital to and spent countless nights feeding and rocking them both in. It has been a difficult room to change. We left it untouched with both babies... same paint, same crib, same décor-I loved it!

 

Now the youngest has grown into bunk beds so six months ago I painted the room and have been making updates ever since. Um it is taking me a while!

 

---------------------------------------------- 

Here is a favorite wall hanging I had in there. I loved it!

The room was a light green and this went so well.

It had a newborn picture of each child.

 

 

 

 

 SNIFF! SNIFF!

 

 

Now it's a favorite wall hanging, redone, to go with the big boy theme of trucks and cars and light blue walls.

 

I simply painted the frame with leftover chalk paint. I cut a piece of scrap book paper for $0.50 and got these little cars and trucks at a craft store for under a buck. Glue gunned them on and it cost under $2.00 to make this change. It was a super update from baby to big boy! My son loves it!  

 

 

More On Organizing Kid's Clothes

How's it going? Things are good here, especially after snoozing a little this morning. I don't do it very often but man sometimes a short nap is all it takes to get going.

 

So last week I told you I found something that I thought would change our family's life...

 

TA-DA! Here it is.   

I found this hanging clothing organizer thingy online on ebay for dirt cheap! I bought two, one for each child's closet. Wasn't sure how they'd work but really they work pretty well. The youngest can dress himself now so I applied vinyl stickers in each cubby to represent Monday - Friday to organize the kiddos' clothes for the week.
 
I must share that it is working out great! I LOVE how organized it makes us all. As far as minimizing what we own, I could see now that we don't really NEED half of the clothes in their closets. I think it will especially help on days where we have dress up days for spirit week for school. This divider set has six slots and I will probably use the bottom one for sports clothing when they start sports up! 

It fits nicely and I love how much better prepared we are for school now!

 

I also found a great use for these bins I used one time as coolers for a Birthday party. I'm keeping them in the top of the closets for clothes that are either too big or that they've outgrown. So far, it's working great! YAY!

 

 

Do you do anything special to help your kids get dressed for school?

 

 

Naps!

 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....

 

Happy Tuesday, hope this finds you feeling good. I am feeling really sleepy today. I felt a little sleepy yesterday too and not in the mood to do too much around the house. This is terrible but "When all else fails take a nap!" is my attitude today. Sometimes I think it's good to have this attitude though to re-boost one's self. I think I'm going to try and re-boost now! I'll have some more projects ready for you coming soon.

 

Have a great day!   

 

Cheap Way To Polish Wood Furniture

Hello Monday! Hope you had a great weekend! We had a nice one with a Birthday party at our house yesterday, which was very nice and relaxing.

 

In cleaning the house, I have pretty much ditched most store bought household cleaners to save money and to be more green. I won't tell you all the things I do(I have started some beauty/heath regimens that even I am surprised at) but this one is an affordable and good solution to polishing wooden furniture. Just be sure you test a small spot on the surface of the wood before completely wiping down with the oil and vinegar solution.

 

USE 3 parts Olive Oil + 1 part Vinegar and shake it up each time you use. Apply with a microfiber cloth!

 

 

I don't use it on all our furniture because we have several pieces we were told to simply use a damp cloth when cleaning and getting fingerprints off. I do use it on all my solid wooden furniture though that was the kind we had to put together. It works beautifully! See for yourself! Is this something you think you would try?

Grocery Shopping Organization FREAK of NATURE!

Go ahead. Freak out! Everybody freak out! I'm a freak, you're a freak, everybody is a freak in their own way!  Below is how my husband confirmed it today. Well he confirmed it before my "bag lady" episode and with a single phone call this afternoon while I was out buying groceries. He called asking me where our sandpaper was(the garage is heavily organized as well, uh umm) but THIS below was the icing on the cake in confirmation of my being a freak!

 

Yes, I have matching vinyl/plastic bags for grocery shopping. I have had a set of matching bags for years but my old ones finally wore out so I replaced them with new. My husband thinks I'm a nut. I don't think so. I think it is economical. Call me crazy but it is well organized, good for the environment and makes it fun to shop too. I mean who really has FUN grocery shopping? You have to make it FUN! haha - I picked them up at IKEA and got the plain gray ones for produce and such. I've told you before I am a recycle nut. Oh yes, I recycle EVERYTHING I can, whether paper, plastic, tin, aluminum, light bulbs... I've made friends with the people who work at our local recycling center and have actually learned a lot when I take things to them with questions.

  

 

Anyhow, to help alleviate taking the regular plastic grocery bags back and forth to the grocery store to recycle them, I picked up these bags. I take a lady from church grocery shopping so she has the pleasure of receiving a set of these bags too on our next grocery store outing. LOL. It really will help us keep our groceries nice and organized in the trunk of my car.

 

So now that I've told you how I'm a FREAK, how are you a FREAK? What are you particular about?!?!?!

Yes! I AM a F-R-E-A-K. - An OrGaNiZaTiOn one

Yes, I know it. My husband confirms it all the time. I am an ORGANIZATION freak! It should be my middle name! Next post, I will show you how I was freaky today, organization-wise. LOL!

 

 

Another Umbrella Bouquet

Do you remember my umbrella bouquet? I made it for our front door in April to signify APRIL SHOWERS BRINGING MAY FLOWERS?!?!?

 

 

Now the seasons are changing again but at the same time I made my umbrella arrangement in the Spring, I made another one for my mom and dad for their front door. Here it is BELOW. 

 

 

 

From The OUTSIDE - I LOVE the umbrella and flowers my mom picked out - green with a wooden handle and two shades of pink tulips to give an awesome contrast to the dark green door on the yellow house.

 

 

 

From The INSIDE - The umbrella bouquet offers a calming addition to the front door and even helps brighten the inside of the house. LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

 

On that note. Have a lovely Friday.

 

If I Can Just Find A Lamp!

I got to writing my post for some quick mommy alone time this morning and, "BUMP", I heard my 4 year old jump out of his bed to call me to help him get out of his pull up and get dressed. So I took a break from my post for a few and now I'm back! 

Yesterday I was feeling a little under the weather so my husband rented a movie for me as a surprise. He rented Mom's Night Out. I sat up and watched it last night and it was cute. It was a little far fetched in some areas and cheesy in others, but overall it was cute and had a nice message that sorta hit home with me in a bunch of ways. I won't give away the story line too totally much but one point it made was that being a mom and taking care of her young is enough and important. When I was working outside the home I always used to say I could never be a stay at home mom (and I thought it for all different kinds of reasons!). Isn't it funny the things we say and the words we eat? I didn't want to be home and thought I would do horribly at it if ever I had the choice. I'm home with my children and have been for a while. Some days I feel as though I am failing miserably and others I feel pretty good at it. For the most part it feels good but it took a while to get to the point of being okay staying home taking care of our children. Anyhow, no matter what your job is, it's important, and as long as you do your best at it I think that's all that really matters!

As far as decorating goes, I LOVE this lamp shade below. I purchased it at Ross three years ago because it matched the rug and curtains in our play room. I just can't seem to find the right floor lamp to go with it. If anyone sees a nice simple floor lamp, let me know! I am on the hunt!     

Now it's time to run to the school because my hubs called - my oldest left his back pack and lunchbox at home by the back door. One thing I can say about being a mommy, whether you are working full time outside of the home OR if you're home with the kids, being a mom and having all the mom duties never ends! I better get to the school! Have a great day!

and... WOODEN Ampersand

Good Afternoon! How are you? I'm good but going a little nuts at home with two sickies today. Calgon!!!! Ha! To help ease my sanity, I'm diverting to some home decor fun for a few!

 

I picked up this wooden ampersand at Michaels a couple of weeks ago on a clearance rack. I had a 40% off coupon too so that always helps. I found a place for it and sat on it for a few days trying to decide what color to make it. 

 

I was going to use spray paint but instead used chalk paint that I made with leftover plaster of Paris, white ceiling paint and water.

It's more rustic looking because I sanded the edges with my electric hand sander after painting. I think it's kinda cute! So back to nursing my little sickies! Have a great day!

  

 

Use Metal Spoons Instead Of Plastic In School Lunchbox

 

Hello all! What's up on this beautiful Friday? Hope you have a great day no matter what you are doing. Just wanted to check in and tell you what I'm doing new this year in my child's lunchbox. It's really no biggie but he eats yogurt, applesauce and pudding and takes a spoon for those types of snacks. I pack his lunch every day...

 

This year I decided I'm done with buying plastic spoons! I bought a pack of two metal spoons at Wal-mart for $2.00.  They had packs for $1.00 but they were too close to what our regular silverware looks like and I didn't want them getting mixed in with ours.

 

Super simple - saves $! + saves waste + saves environment. I slapped a dish washer safe sticker / name tag on the back of the handle sent to me from Lovable Labels. So far it has worked out great. He brings it back home every night and I rewash.

 

What do you do to conserve or save money in your kids' lunches?

 

 

Organized Craft Cabinets

Craftastic Magic In The Cabinets (if I do say so myself)!!!!!!!!!!

Oh how it good it feels to get organized and have things set up with total uniformity. This is another job I did a couple of years ago and I'm so glad I did! 

Here is my craft cabinet (in our kitchen) BEFORE I got organized! It was a total and complete mess! I've got a lot of stuff I use for arts and craft projects and this was seriously bugging me. Not anymore!!!

BEFORE I used baby formula cans to organize pencils, paint brushes, etc. but I had too much and it did NOT work!


The cabinets went from an eye sore to a place the whole family goes to for things they are looking for!

I found these RE Sterilite organizers in various sizes at Target. It took me a while to purchase them because I did it in shifts with sales and what they had in stock. I finally got all our supplies in these boxes. 

AFTER I found these removable label stickers at Wal-Mart and went to town labeling everything! Now we can find things! This is one thing that has truly made it easier when working on projects!

AHHHHHH The uniformity! I am certainly an organizer through and through! HA! Happy day everybody!

How do you organize your things? Are you to this nutty degree of organization?!?!?! This isn't even the project I told you I'd share that I thought would change our household for the better! Yay for more to come!

Lamp - Meant For Play Room But Now In Dining Room!

I'm excited! My parents gave me my Birthday present early and here it is! They asked me if I wanted it early or not and I said either way. What the heck if it's early! YAY for them coming to visit and YAY for them bringing it early. I love it!

 

 

I'm not sure if it will stay in this spot permanently yet or not. It was supposed to be for the play room but the kids still play lots of basketball in there so we're holding of on putting it there. Many objects in our house seem to be interchangeable from room to room - this lamp could go in several different rooms really, but I think it fits here!

 

 

 

Below is our cozy little reading nook with the new lamp added! What decorations or things have you gotten for one room but then decided they worked in a different room? Hope this finds you doing well!