Thursday, April 30, 2009

Three Things This Thursday


  1. Wednesday was Hubby's birthday. His new crocs arrived in the mail, I bought him a cake (he doesn't like homemade cake), and I made two of his favorite things for dinner....Cheese Enchilada Pie and Artichokes.
  2. Today is his second vein surgery. He is very nervous about it, but I'm hopeful that it will go well. He has agreed to allow them to give him an IV for the procedure this time. They will be giving him a medicine that is supposed to help him not remember the actual procedure, so it will be interesting to see if it works on him. Prayers for successful surgery & quick healing would be greatly appreciated.
  3. Facebook now has a setting for Pirate English, it's a bit hard for me to decipher, but at the same time it's hilarious!! I spend way too much time on Facebook.

Visit Pridelands Mommy for more 3 Things this Thursday

A Thousand Words Thursday




Visit Jen at Cheaper than Therapy to see more A Thousand Words Thursday

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Things I LOVE Thursday...Happy Hour at Sonic




The weather has suddenly gotten HOT. My favorite treat for a hot afternoon is a Cherry Slush. Sonic Drive In has great slushes, but they are rather expensive. Fortunately, they have a 1/2 price Happy Hour everyday from 2-4 in the afternoon.

Yesterday, I got a 44 ounce Cherry Slush for $1, I was very happy, not only do I LOVE a Cherry Slush, but I also LOVE a bargain!!!

To see more Things I LOVE Thursday visit the Diaper Diaries.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Works for me Wednesday...Fighting ants

One of my least favorite things about Spring is that it brings out the pests. Specifically ants. When we lived in California, the ants would come in the house in the Fall when it started raining to escape the rain and again in the late Spring looking for water & to escape the heat. We've been in Tennessee now for 4 1/2 yrs and I have yet to figure out exactly what the ants here are looking for. These ants are not looking for food, there is plenty of water outside, but not so much as to flood them out, so WHY do they insist on migrating across the carpet in my dining room towards the front door? Is my house simply a short cut on their migration route? I am using a couple of new strategies this year to both control & discourage them.

First, I have put down a line of 20 Mule Team Borax along the edge of the carpet next to the French doors that come in from our deck, next I have been vacuuming practically every hour in hopes of sucking up enough of them that they notice this is NOT a good migration route. A friend in a playgroup I belong to uses her vacuum to suck up flies (& possibly spiders), so I thought maybe it would work with ants too. They definitely don't seem to like the Borax, but it's potency only lasted about 48 hrs, I need to reapply. I'm seeing more ants again unfortunately. I received a notice from a local pest control company that they are spraying in our neighborhood at a discount, but I'm hoping to avoid the use of pesticides if at all possible. Any suggestions for additional natural remedies would be greatly appreciated.

For now, the vacuum, plus Borax method is working reasonably well. To see more Works for Me Wednesday visit We are THAT Family.

Take me back Tuesday

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy

Another cool new carnival I found recently.



This was taken of Hubby & I at his High School graduation in 1984....2 1/2 years before we were married.

To see more Take Me Back Tuesday hop over to A Giveaway Addicted Mommy

Monday, April 27, 2009

Make a Happy Home Monday.













This is a new carnival I found during the Ultimate Blog Party. This is my first week participating & I'm very excited to get started!!! As my first project, I have chosen my hallway linen closet. It is supposed to be the home of my sheets and towels, but over the last few months a bunch of other stuff has taken up residence there. Now, there is barely any room left for the sheets & towels.






Here is the before picture:






Making your Home a Haven..Review Week

This week Tammy is doing a review on all the steps so far. Since I came in late, this is a HUGE help to me. Every week when I finish writing this post, I feel more enthusiastic about the changes I'm trying to make in my house. I've really enjoying this carnival. Tammy's questions are in italics.

Is your wake-up time set realistically, and are you being disciplined in following it?


I'm doing pretty good about seeing the kids off to school. I am looking forward to school being out for Summer in a few weeks so that I will get to sleep in until at least 7 every morning.


Is your
morning routine functioning to boost your morning, or do you need to alter it a little?
My morning routine is working pretty well. I've tweaked it to put the load of clothes from the night before into the dryer immediately when I get up & get a second load started....this is really helping me to get caught up on the wash.


Have you been doing your
evening routine? Do you need to change anything?
My evening routine works and I haven't needed to make any changes to it.

Is your bed time working out? Do you need to tweak it, or just be more disciplined?
I'm still really struggling with going to bed at a reasonable time. I knew this would be hard for me.



How has
your attitude been? If you're including prayer and quiet time with our Heavenly Father during your day or routines, have you been working on letting God lead and calling on His strength to show a positive, uplifting and loving spirit towards those in your home?


This was covered before I started participating. I have been putting in extra effort to try to be uplifting & positive whenever possible with my kids & Hubby. I don't have a set time for prayer or quiet time. I've found that if I manage to get to the bathroom alone, that is a good time for a few minutes of prayer. I prayer through out the day for friends & family whenever I think of them. I am allowing myself to realize my blessings & just spontaneously be THANKFUL for them. I have a favorite praise hymn that often plays in my head. At times of stress I breath deeply & think the words to myself. I'm also trying to follow where I think God is leading me rather than forcing my own desires on everyone around me.


Visit Tammy at
Tammy's Recipes to see more Making your Home a Haven.

Music Monday

It's Spring, so we have officially been invaded. This year, I'm trying Borax along the walls to deter them from coming inside. I put it out on Saturday night & by mid day on Sunday there were only 1 or 2 stragglers left. It doesn't seem to have killed them, they just decided to go somewhere else, hopefully far far away from my house.

This has always been one of my kids favorite songs & the video is cute too.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

This sounds FUN....Home Town Swap

hometown swap button


Shannon at Welcome to the Nuthouse is hosting a Hometown swap. I'm excited to be joining in. When my oldest daughter was little, we participated in several of these for her online playgroup, it was sooo fun!! One time I was matched up with somebody from Niagara Falls, my kids still talk about the cool stuff we received. If you've never done something like this, you should really give it a try. If you have done one before then you know how GREAT it is both to pick out what to send & to receive your surprise package in the mail. Shannon is giving a special prize to the person that refers the most people, so although I'm sure I won't win, please let her know that I told you about the event. Click on Shannon's button to get all the details.

Scenic Sunday


I took this in my yard this morning.
Our beautiful Spring sky
To see more Scenic Sunday visit Miti.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Pink Saturday

It is Beverly's Pink Saturday again, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful comments about my first post to this carnival last week.....here are my pink pictures for the week.

My Mom made pink tutus for my three daughters & my granddaughter for Christmas. My oldest daughter LOVES to play ballerina.
Pink is her favorite color too!!!


This is my middle daughter, she is the baby from my Pink Saturday post last week.


Granddaughter wasn't feeling very cooperative about taking a group picture, but I had to include this picture to show the adorable Pink shoes my two youngest received from their older sister for Christmas. My girls all LOVE shoes, especially pink shoes.
Here is a slightly better group picture, you can almost see my granddaughter's cute little face.


Stop by to see Beverly and more Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Friday, April 24, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday

--1--


It's been a very busy week. My youngest son turned 11 on Wednesday. Last Sunday I decided to let him pick our menu for the week, he was THRILLED. He is a typical preteen bottomless pit boy, although he is probably one of the pickiest eaters I've ever met. He also helped me get several new recipes written for my Food blog, he LOVES to cook. He couldn't decide if he liked the homemade chicken strips or our new pizza braid the most, he ate a ton of both trying to make up his mind. The two youngest helped me bake him a birthday cake while he was at school on Wednesday, that was a big hit too!

--2--

I keep finding new blog carnivals to participate in, this week I added Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, 1000 Word Thursday and Family Photo Friday. Pink Saturday was sooooo much fun, I still can't believe that 37 people commented on my photo. Pink is my favorite color & I'm really looking forward to participating in it again this Saturday.

--3--

I've decided to use this new background for the moment. My sweet friend Mel has offered to make me a personalized background & header. I'm hoping to have time this weekend to figure out what I like. Hopefully I'll get a new group picture with all the kids & my granddaughter on Mother's Day.

--4--

Hubby's right leg is still recovering from the vein ablation surgery he had a couple weeks ago. It is still swelling pretty badly, so we have to wrap it tightly each morning, but hopefully as it heals we won't need to continue wrapping it. Next Thursday he will be having the procedure on his left leg. The first time he refused to allow them to give him pain medication through an IV....he really doesn't like having anything stuck into him & left there. This time, he has decided that he WILL let them give him the IV. We are both hoping that it will make this surgery easier than the first. He plans to return to work next Saturday, but I'm not sure how realistic that is, I guess we will just have to see how things go. Continued prayers would be greatly appreciated!

--5--

I bought seeds today to start a garden in pots on my deck. Earlier this week I saw a blog post about making a One Pot Spring Garden. Since I have a large family I'm planning to plant more than one pot, but the idea of combining several things in a BIG pot together was very exciting to me. I also saw this cool thing to hang a tomato plant upside, I'm considering buying one, Walmart seems to have the best price. I looked for actual plants, but the ones at Walmart were in really bad shape. I may go to Home Depot tomorrow to see what their selection is like. I also bought some flower seeds to plant in the front yard. I've got a lot of plans for the deck this year, my other reason for going to Home Depot is to get some poles to put up a clothes line on my deck. Tammy over at Tammy's Recipes posted this week about putting up a clothes line on her balcony. I do have a yard, but I've decided that my deck will be the most convenient place for a clothes line. I'm hoping to save money both on food & on my electricity bill with these two projects.

--6--

I'm still working on getting my master bedroom decluttered so that I can rearrange the furniture & redecorate. I'm also working on getting all the winter clothes packed away. Since it will be May in a week, I'm really hopeful that our weather won't be going below freezing again until at least September. I am planning to leave out a couple fleece hoodies & sweatshirts along with a few pairs of long pants for each of the kids. We're actually having a bit of a heat wave, it was 83 today, fortunately no humidity. I do realize that 83 doesn't seem HOT to most people, but where I live, it rarely gets above 85. It is the humidity here in the Summer that distinguishes Spring HOT from Summer HOT. I'm hoping to avoid turning on the A/C until at least the first of June, wish me luck. If these temperatures continue we may be starting to see fire flies soon, they are one of my favorite things about living in Tennessee.

--7--

Next Wednesday is Hubby's birthday. His surgery is on Thursday, it should be an interesting week. I may not be blogging much on Thursday & Friday. I think I'm going to try to get some things written ahead of time & schedule them to post. I feel like I'm still getting the hang of participating in all the carnivals, but I'm really enjoying them. I'm always on the look out for new ones & have found a couple that I hope to add soon.

I'm really late getting this finished tonight, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to link it up, but to see more 7 Quick Takes Friday hop over to Conversion Diary.

Family Fun Friday


Last week the kids and I baked cookies, they were delicious!! This weeks Family Fun project is working in the yard with the kids. We have a LOT of trees in our yard and they are constantly losing branches. The kids enjoy competing with each other to see who can gather the biggest pile of sticks. Over the years I've collected enough kid size rakes that all the kids can rake at the same time. The middle kids are big enough now to use a regular rake & when we are all outside together it is one of their favorite things to do.
Walmart has flats of perennial flowers for about $3.50 each, so we will probably head over there to pick up a couple flats. My girls especially enjoy planting new flowers. My youngest son turned 11 on Wednesday & he is eager to learn to use the lawnmower. All these things would be considered chores if I sent the kids out to do it on their own, but when we work in the yard together it's FUN.
To see more Family Fun Friday visit Moms by Heart

Family Photo Friday

Another new blog carnival I found last week. I don't have a lot of vintage pictures on my computer, but if I get my scanner hooked up I could have lots & lots of things to share for this one.
This is a photo that my Mom received from one of her cousins. The boy on the left is my Grandfather. He is with his Father, Mother & older Sister. We are guessing this picture was taken in Mississippi where they lived, around 1934. My Grandfather would have been about 6 or 7 years old. It is surprising to me how much my Mom and my Great Grandmother look alike.


To see more Family Photo Friday visit Pictures, Pots, Pens

Blitz it Friday


I've been working on changing up my routines this week. The Blitz is one thing that has worked really well for me, I'm keeping it. In previous weeks I've learned that short frequent Blitzes are best for me. This week I'm Blitzing my master bedroom. It has become quite a mess, so I've been spending 30 concentrated minutes on it each day.
Monday....30 minutes of folding clothes & putting them away
Tuesday....30 minutes of picking up books & toys & getting it out of my room(kids stuff)
Wednesday...30 minutes sorting out of season clothes & deciding what to keep
Thursday...30 minutes sorting extra sheet sets for the whole family's beds & getting them out of my room
Friday...30 minutes gathering random junk & getting it out of my room.
This adds up to 2 1/2 hrs total. Time that I would NOT have spent on my room if I weren't changing up my Blitz routine. In addition to using the Blitz to work on my room, I also used the laundry basket method....fill the baskets with things that need to go somewhere else, designating one basket for each other area. Once the picking up portion was completed I took the baskets to the various areas of the house to put the stuff away.
I am getting very close to being able to rearrange the furniture in my master bedroom & do some redecorating!!!
To see more Blitz it Friday visit Organized Everyday.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

A thousand word Thursday

Another new carnival this week

Cheaper Than Therapy


This is Baby Daughter at about 18 months old, first time she rode the carousel at Dollywood all by herself. She obviously LOVED it!

Visit Cheaper Than Therapy to see more 1000 Word Thursday

Three Things this Thursday



1. The weather here is warming up nicely. Today it is going to be 78, tomorrow they are calling for 83. Considering that 85 is considered a heat wave here in July, you can probably understand why my kids are begging to go swimming. We'll be shopping for shorts & new swimsuits this weekend.

2. We surprised our youngest son with exactly what he asked for as a gift for his birthday. For various reasons he thought he wouldn't be getting the game he wanted for his DS. Hubby hid the gift so he wouldn't see it, let him open all the others, then asked him to look for something Hubby needed. The look of surprise on our son's face when he found that special game was totally priceless...unfortunately the camera was on the other side of the room & I didn't get a picture.

3. My house finally feels like it is getting organized. I've still got a really LONG way to go, but I can definitely see progress lately. I've been wanting to rearrange my room & decorate it a bit for a while. I'm getting really close to being able to do that.

Visit Pridelands Mommy for more 3 Things this Thursday

Things I LOVE Thursday...Rechargeable Batteries

Batteries are like everything else in my house, the kids fight over them. At Christmas I had the brilliant idea to purchase Green rechargeable batteries for my youngest son and Pink rechargeable batteries for my oldest daughter. They are 26 months apart in age and currently the worst about fighting over stuff. I saw these batteries at Toys R Us, so when I was purchasing their MP3 players to give them for Christmas I also purchased 4 AA & 4 AAA batteries for each of them. We have other rechargeable batteries in the house that are used by everyone, but this gave them batteries of their own in a sufficient quantity to run the battery draining devices they each own. I think this was one of their absolute favorite gifts. I'm really enjoying the reduction in fights over batteries. Of course they both now want their own charger, but we have enough chargers around from previous purchases that we don't NEED anymore.







To see more Things I LOVE Thursday visit Diaper Diaries.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tackle it Tuesday...Finding my Kitchen

I've been working on other areas of the house for a while. I've mostly been keeping up with the dishes, just about everything else has been let slide. For this weeks Tackle I'm cleaning the fridge. (almost out of groceries so it's the perfect time)

~removing all food from the refrigerator section
~removing all the shelves
~removing the vegetable bins & cold cut bin
~wiping down the entire inside with warm vinegar water (1 cup vinegar to 1/2 gallon water, rinse towel in sink as needed, only putting clean towel into vinegar water. Heat water back up in the microwave if it gets cold)
~washing the shelves & bins
~throwing away anything yucky
~putting back the shelves & bins
~putting everything back in an organized fashion
~emptying out the freezer
~wiping down the inside of the freezer with warm vinegar water (wring the towel out really well
~throwing away anything yucky
~putting stuff back in an organized way
~making a written inventory of what I've got to take shopping with me
~wiping down the outside of the refrigerator with warm vinegar water

I'm also cleaning the microwave and using an oven cleaning foam on the stove.

To see more Tackle it Tuesday visit 5 Minutes for Mom

Monday, April 20, 2009

Music Monday



We've been getting a lot of rain, especially in the morning lately & it made me think of this song. Hubby & I saw Gordon Lightfoot live in concert at a California Winery once. I'm thinking it must have been 12 or even 13 yrs ago, because we only had 2 kids at the time. Our car broke down on the road into the winery. We decided to see the concert as planned, then worry about the car later. As we were looking for a pay phone (remember those?), during intermission, to call my Mom we ran into Gordon Lightfoot!!! Hubby talked to him, I just stood there & stared, it's intimidating to meet somebody like him in person, especially so unexpectedly.

Making your Home a Haven




This week's challenge is to set a time to get up each day (or at least, each weekday)!


We've talked about a
morning routine, and now it's time to start making sure we start our day when we need to. I'm not suggesting that anyone has to get up extremely early or anything unreasonable, but I am suggesting that we decide when we should be getting up in order to have the best start on our day


In a way, all my days are weekdays (responsibility days). Hubby is off on Thursdays & Fridays now, but the kids still have to go to school until about May 22nd. My wake up time has been evolving over the last month or so. My goal is to get up at 6:45 to see the kids before they get on the bus.....Hubby has been getting them up & ready on days that he works. On Thursday & Friday, I get up at 6 to get them ready. On Saturday & Sunday, I get to sleep until 7:30 before starting my routines. I've been in the habit of going back to bed on Saturday's after Hubby leaves for work, but I'm trying to break that habit because I end up sleeping for too long & feeling blah the rest of the day. Plus nothing gets done.


I don't have a set bedtime & I've been resisting setting one for myself, but since my morning wake up isn't flexible, I need to work this week on coming up with a good bedtime & trying to stick to it most nights. I usually go to bed anytime between 10:30 and 1 am, I'm thinking that I need to set 11 pm as my firm bedtime & allow myself to go a little earlier if I'm especially tired.


Want to join our challenge? This week, decide what wake-up time would serve you and your family the best! Head over to Tammy's Recipes to see more Making your home a Haven.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Under Construction....Trying out some new backgrounds

Sorry about the chaos, I'm playing with FREE backgrounds and my font & color options to see if I can come up with something NEW.

Please leave a comment to let me know what you think, especially if a specific font, font color or background color makes it hard for you to view my blog.

Scenic Sunday

This is my first time participating in Scenic Sunday. This picture was taken in my Mom's front yard last week...I just love the colors.
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Sometimes we are so busy with everyday life that we forget to appreciate the beauty that God has placed before us. Scenic Sundays are about stopping and smelling the roses. And while you're smelling those roses, take a picture so that others can share in your appreciation for the beauty of His creation. So pretty please come join us for Scenic Sundays. Maybe we'll see things in a different light.
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Visit Miti to see more Scenic Sunday.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Pink Saturday



Surfing around the blogosphere this week I found a new carnival. It is Beverly's Pink Saturday hosted at How Sweet the Sound. Anybody who knows me knows that PINK is my absolute favorite color!!!
Here's a picture of my middle daughter at about 3 months old on her favorite pink satin blanket.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Family Fun Friday

This week for Family Fun Friday, the kids & I are baking. It isn't expensive & all four of the younger kids can help in some way. Chocolate chip cookies are a favorite among my kids. Hubby really likes oatmeal cookies. I use the Nestle Toll House recipe off the chocolate chip package & the Quaker Oatmeal recipe off the lid of the oatmeal.

To see more Family Fun Friday drop by Mom's By Heart.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1


I've had a very busy week! I participated in most of the blog carnivals I wanted to. I found a new Monday carnival this week, I'm thinking it will be a big help for establishing some routines & motivation to stick to them. I kept up pretty well with my Food blog. I currently have about 6 recipes partially started as drafts...some I need to make & take pictures of, maybe fiddle with the directions a bit, others I just need to finalize how I would like to use them. I've gotten into the habit of starting my weekly posts a few days early so I can tweak them a bit before they go live....I'm really liking the routine of it. My friend Kirsty has a new blog design....it is GORGEOUS!!! I'm so jealous. I would LOVE to get a custom design done for my blog, but it is totally not in my budget. I am starting to look around for another new background. I like to change it fairly regularly. I like this one, but I think there may be something even better available if I spend a little time looking. I'd love recommendations for good places to find FREE backgrounds!!

2

I had hoped to get a LOT of spring cleaning done this week. I've gotten two of the kids bedrooms pretty much cleared out & cleaned, I need to get them put back together. I'm almost totally caught up on the laundry & at one point this week I actually had every single pot, pan, glass & dish clean & put away!!! I've been running the vacuum a LOT, keeping the floor clean is one of the things that helps me to feel like I'm accomplishing something. Unfortunately my 3 yr old & 1 yr old seem to thrive on dumping things on the floor all day long.

3
Tonight we are taking dinner to my oldest daughter's former teacher. Mrs A had to take a leave of absence after the Christmas holidays because of severe blood clots in her legs. She was totally bedridden for a while after she got out of the hospital, but she is improving little by little. One of the room parents organized a group to take meals to the family. My daughter loves to go with me to deliver meals and I think it is uplifting for Mrs A to get the chance to see her former students. Mrs A is hopeful that she will be able to return to teaching in the Fall, prayers for her continued improvement would be greatly appreciated. In a similar vein, I learned this week that one of my neighbors was in a welding accident at work on Good Friday. He is currently in the burn unit at Vanderbilt Hospital. They are hopeful about his recovery, but it is going to be a long road. Our subdivision is planning several fundraisers for the family & we've put up yellow ribbons on trees in the neighborhood with his name on them. Prayers for Mark would be appreciated as well.

4

I've been thinking a lot about my initial decision to not use my kids names on my blog....I have friends who have cute nicknames for their kids & using those instead of their names seems to work really well. Unfortunately my kids don't have cute nicknames & the longer I blog the more confusing it is getting for me to talk about my kids without using their names. This is one of those things that once you start, you can't go back & undo it. All my kids names start with the same letter so referring to them by their first initial wouldn't work either. I'm finding it tedious to keep using their ages. I'm going to think about it a bit more before making the leap, but right now I am definitely leaning toward starting to use their actual names.

5

Our weather is still being unpredictable. We've had a few warm days, but we've also had some pretty cold ones. Hubby & I have been talking about planting vegetables in containers. I looked at tomato plants and want to do some research online. I like to buy the little plants rather than growing from seed. Everywhere I've looked there are tons of hybrid plants....I'm not sure I want to buy hybrids. I did see some heirloom varieties and I think that is what we will go with. I'm also considering growing bell peppers, maybe some hot peppers & green beans. I'd love to grow cucumbers too, but I don't think we have enough room for all the pots on our deck. Our ground here is red clay & our dog is not garden friendly. I could put pots on our driveway & I may end up going that way, but I'm afraid I will neglect them if I'm not looking at them constantly. I'm going to wait until May 1st to actually plant anything, hopefully the danger of frost should be gone by then. The flowers are all starting to bloom. I need to get some mulch & trim my bushes & I'm also thinking about putting some weed & feed down on the lawn. I bought a new lawn mower, ours was stolen early last Fall. Here's some of what is blooming in my yard now











6

Hubby went back to work last Saturday. He is concerned about how his leg is healing so on Thursday he went back to the Dr to have it checked. His ankle & lower leg are already looking much better, his upper thigh actually seems worse than it was before the procedure. The Dr says it is all part of the normal healing process & eventually will improve. He has made the decision to go ahead & let them give him an IV for the next procedure on April 30th. If you know my Hubby, you know what a HUGE deal it is for him to agree to allow something to be stuck into him & left there for any amount of time. It's unfortunate that general anesthesia is not available for this procedure, I think that would be so much easier for both Hubby & the poor Dr.


7
Next week our youngest son is turning 11. I'm not sure yet what we are doing for his birthday, but I hope to come up with something fun. I'm starting to make plans for a possible family get away in May....we could really use a few days of fun.


Thursday, April 16, 2009

Blitz it Friday


Last week I learned that I get more done in a short blitz than I do in an hour long blitz....I guess I just don't have the stamina for a solid hour of productivity.


My plan for this week was to dedicate 3 half hour blocks to blitz in areas that needed the most attention around my house.


Blitz #1...30 minutes folding towels & putting them away


Blitz #2...deep cleaning the kids bathroom (YUCK)


Blitz #3...30 minutes folding & putting away the 2 youngest kids clothes


These all worked out well, now I'm planning to have a Blitz over the weekend to clean out my fridge & my pantry. I'm hoping to do both in one 30 minute Blitz....Wish me LUCK!!


Three Things This Thursday



1. We had a GREAT Easter. I found a dress for my oldest daughter that she really liked & I was happy because I got to dress all 3 girls in PINK this year.

2. I have found a new carnival...it's Pink Saturday!! I'm really jazzed about participating in it this week.

3. Our youngest son is turning 11 next week. Where have the years gone? It seems like yesterday he was just a baby, now he is on the verge of entering Middle School. I'm hoping to get my scanner working so I can post some baby pictures of him next week.

Visit Pridelands Mommy for more Three Things this Thursday.

Things I LOVE Thursday...Disposable kids plates & cups

Last year, I bought some "disposable" plastic plates and sippy cups to use while we were on vacation. When I opened the package I was surprised at how sturdy they were. The sippy cups weren't spill proof, but they worked just fine for what I needed...a cup with a lid that is easy for my toddlers to drink from without getting it all over themselves. The little bowls are the perfect size for a toddler snack & the bigger bowls work for older kids snacks or the toddlers breakfast. The cups, bowls and cutlery are by First Years. The plates are a different brand, Munchkin, they too are advertised as disposable, but are heavy weight & durable. After we got back, I also bought the disposable cutlery. We are still using the sets that I bought over a year ago. I wash them in the dishwasher on the top rack & they have held up as well or better than kids plastic ware that is not advertised as disposable.
Visit Diaper Diaries to see more Things I LOVE Thursday.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Works for me Wednesday...Collecting favorite kids shows

I've told you before that I am OLD. When my oldest sons were little, VHS was still fairly new. We collected all our favorite Disney movies on VHS & we enjoyed many hours of family time watching them together. Some of them I had seen in the theatre when I was a kid, others I had never seen before. I LOVED owning those movies to watch them whenever I wanted. When our third son was a baby we discovered Blues Clues and Teletubbies. We had cable & he LOVED to watch both shows. Every year we would buy him a few favorite episodes on video. Over the years we have collected most of the old Blues Clues videos (with Steve). When we added a daughter to our family we started adding GIRL movies. I like to stick to tried & true classics. Our collection now includes quite a few DVDs as well. We have episodes of Eureka's Castle, Bear in the Big Blue House & other shows that we enjoyed, but are no longer available for our youngest kids on TV. Over the last couple years we have been focusing more on episodes of our favorite kid shows. We have hours & hours of Teletubbies, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Miss Spider, Dora, Backyardigans and many others. I especially like the Nick Jr DVDs that have episodes of 5 or 6 different shows.....I'm not sure they are still making those, but we LOVE the ones we have.
We got rid of cable last Fall, one of the main reasons our kids haven't missed it is because they still have many choices for things to watch whenever they are allowed TV time.

Owning our favorite shows & movies on video or DVD definitely Works for Me! Visit We Are That Family to see more Works for Me Wednesday.