Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Dad...I miss you all the time and wish you could be a part of my life and most of all my daughters lives. It has been 12 years since you have been gone, cannot believe that much time has passed. I love you and you are in my thoughts today & everyday!

Random Posting! :)

Ok, so as there are snowflakes outside my window this morning...yes I said it, snow - the bad 4 letter word starting with S since its almost May!?!?!? Anyhoo....here are some random pictures and thoughts! I do love spring time, the beginning of being outside more than inside :) My daffodils are pretty much done @ this point and the tulips (my most FAV!) are coming along nicely, forsythia is still in full bloom and the hyacinth are hanging in there too!

Spring also means the kick-off of garage sale season, this Saturday is the HUMONGOUS Academy Hill & Eagle Heights neighborhood sales! Cannot wait for those, not only because you are bound to find something amazing with hundreds of homes participating but its really the beginning of the treasure hunting that my friend/neighbor and I will do all summer long! Craigslist can only tide me over for so long ;)

Savannah has her first soccer practice tonight, if it doesn't end up getting snowed out! YUCK, cannot believe I even have to say that!

Emerson is as crazy as ever, still doing Toddler Tango every Wednesday morning and she loves it, whats not to love a room full of rambunctious 1-4 year olds running, dancing & singing!!

We are still working on our million home projects! Feels like the list is never shorter but grows longer all the time! Dave is almost done sheetrocking the playroom addition and that means he can move onto finish hanging the sheetrock in the garage so we can finally get our door opener installed (oh that will be a glorious day -que the birds singing and heavens opening up! lol) we have lots of little projects outdoors to finish up as well, not to mention getting our garden tilled and ready for planting! It is a pile of unsplit firewood right now..so like all the projects we have on our "To Do" list we have to take care of something else first before we can even begin the project!! We also have a huge pile of this amazing white picket fence Dave scored from an old co-worker for FREE that will go around the garden to keep all the kiddos and dogs out, better add that to his "honey do" list before I forget or he tries to get out of it!!

OH - and I cannot forget to mention my AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, DREAM antique sink for my laundry room that will someday come to be!!! That is, after the playroom sheetrock is done, garage is completed & yadda yadda yadda ;) she is lovely and sitting in our shed all covered up right now but soon she will be one of the main features in my laundry/mud room! RED, BLACK & WHITE is my color plan! thank you again craig, whoever you are, for your truly amazing list ;)

GREAT Mothers Day gift freebies!!

As you all know I am addicted to bargains & freebies....well here are 3 that would make amazing Mothers Day gifts and it will be here before you know it!!!

www.canvaspeople.com - turn an 8x10 picture into a canvas for free, only paying shipping or upgrade to a larger size & take the $55 deduction ! I ordered mine today, made a 11x11 of my girls (Happy Mothers Day to myself!!) total was $26.94 instead of $81.94!!

www.snapfish.com - a FREE 5x7 flipbook, 10 photo 5x7 flipbook (code: ALLYOUMOM) I made a 45 photo flipbook and got it for free, cost me $2.15 for tax & shipping!!! Make sure you select 5x7 & not 4x6 or the code will not work!

www.cvs.com - go to their photo section & you can make a 4x6 photo magnet for FREE (code:FREE4MOM) !! Choose your method of shipping as in store pickup and may ZERO!!! :)

1 of my least favorite tasks...Laundry!

So...for about a week now I have been using my own homemade laundry detergent....and the verdict is in.......FANTASTIC with a capital F!!!!! Seriously.....so super easy to make and CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP which you know I strive to be! :) You use WAY less and I am really convinced it works better than store bought detergent! Here is my "recipe" I found from a daily e-newsletter I get (everydaycheapskate.com) The items were surprisingly easy to find and I have almost a full box of borax and washing soda left since you only use 2cups of each per batch. The only thing you have to purchase for each batch is the bar of soap which runs under $2!

1 5.5oz bar Fels Naptha soap
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax

***you can find all of these in the laundry aisle @ the grocery store or Walmart, Target,etc.)

Use a cheese grater to finely grate the bar of soap (@ the smart advice of a friend of mine, you should leave this grated soap out on the counter for a couple days to really dry out, then either run it thru a food processor to make it really fine or I just mashed up the shredded pieces thru a colander and it worked great!) Find a container w/ a tight fitting lid and mix in your borax & washing soda.

You will use anywhere from 1-2TBS for a HE front loader or up to 1/4 cup for a standard top loader. If you have really soft water which we do thanks for our softener you will use less, I use about 4TBS per load and it seems to work well!

Happy Washing :)

I miss my family.....

There are some days where its really hard to live on the other side of the United States than the rest of my family......Hardest part is I am missing moments with my nieces and nephews, precious moments that I only get to see in pictures and emails and FB updates ;) Thank God for FB though because I chat with 3 of my older nieces regularly now and am loving that!!!

I had a nice long chat with my oldest sister today on the phone, its been ages since I have talked to her and I really miss both my sisters...these are the times where we should be together, hanging out & enjoying each other...doing things with our kids & just as sisters too..since we spent the 1st half of our lives together hating each other, getting in fights & torturing each other...ok so the fighting & hating was mostly me and my middle sister & the torturing came from those 2 onto me since I was the baby.....lol BUT I really do think I am missing out! Its not like we would be living in some family compound and seeing each other daily...but knowing that 1 phone call and I would have someone to run to Target with or go to a chic movie with or a babysitter I could totally trust!

I do love where we live and I cannot give up this lifestyle for my girls for anything....but there are moments I just wish it wasn't quite so far...I know everyone likes to point the finger and remind me that I am the one who moved away but it doesn't mean that its any easier on me than it is on them!

Sorry for the downer post but just feeling homesick....I think we need a visit to AZ soon!

Oh yes....I did it!

The BIG BRIGHT WHITE before!

The Chalkboard after!

Chalkboard painted the refrigerator........there it sat, in the middle of my kitchen full of black appliances.......the big BRIGHT WHITE refrigerator (ok so not really bright white when you get up close since I discovered when taking it apart for painting it under ALL those magnets & pictures it was scurvy dirty!!) for the last almost 6 years it has driven me CRAAAAZY! We designed and built our kitchen when I was pregnant with Savannah..we literally had it all ripped out, stove in the middle of the room, utility sink barely hooked up and a refrigerator in the living room when I said "honey I am pregnant!?!? so HURRY on the remodeling!" I am sure I wasn't that polite but oh well!

So, I couldn't justify spending $1000 on a new fridge when we had one that worked fine and so we kept it, I knew I wanted all black appliances with the cream cabinets so the wall ovens and dishwasher and cook top we bought all new black and stainless...finally I had enough...I had bought chalkboard paint for the playroom door awhile back and on the can I noticed it said "refrigerator" under uses...then I looked online for people who had done it to see what it involved and how it would turn out...then I told Dave my plan, he was scared but this old fridge is just going to end up in the garage someday anyway so who cares..

Here it is after "seasoning" it

So, it was really easy, just time consuming since you have to remove all the hardware, sand it down, prime 2 coats and paint 3 coats with lengthy time in between coats, wait 2 days to fully harden & then "season it" (rub chalk all over then erase)...BUT its done and great! I write the menu for dinner on it and Savannah has fun "chalking" on it too! I still want my new black french door fridge someday but now at least its not screaming WHITE at me every time I see it! :)

Here it is complete w/ magnets again!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to everyone!!! Wonderful weather all weekend which is FANTASTIC since its usually snowing or raining every year....we went to the Egg Hunt @ Cazenovia Lake yesterday morning and it was mass chaos with TONS of kids...the nice weather made everyone come out for the event! Emmie did not care to find eggs but wanted to go in the lake instead! Savannah had a good time and we saw lots of friends there! We colored eggs in the afternoon and had lots of outside playtime! This morning the Easter Bunny came and delivered quite a haul..then this afternoon another egg hunt courtesy of Aunt Connie & Hunter! What a wonderful weekend and the girls are loving all the outdoor time!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and took a little time to remember the true reason for Easter!