Cape Cod here we come........

We are FINALLY taking a family vacation...our 1st real vacation since our honeymoon 8 years ago!! We have never gone anywhere but to AZ to visit family since we moved to NY in 2002! We have never taken a family vacation period!!! So, we are over the moon excited about taking a week to ourselves with no real plans or agendas other than enjoying our family and relaxing!!!

Savannah has been telling me for quite some time now that she wants to go to the beach for summer vacation. So, that combined with my desire I have always had to go to the Cape thinking I never would living on the opposite coast...voila...a summer vacation planned for August 7-14! It is costing us a pretty penny but we managed to rent a little cottage (VERY affordable compared to most that I researched!) that is only about 3/10 of a mile from the beach so we can walk to the water everyday and not have to load everyone in the car to go somewhere! This is a picture of the cottage, tiny but it has 3 beds, 1 bathroom, a kitchen complete w/ lobster pot & a grill in the backyard..what more could we need?!?!?

http://agent2.barefoot.com/ilinks/v4/beach/PictureSheetWLink.aspx?addressID=10319

Here is a link to show the town we are staying in, heard a lot of great things from people who have been going to the Cape all their lives about Sandwich so we are excited and picked our dates based on a "Peter Rabbit Day" @ a local museum, complete w/ petting zoo and lots of fun activities for the girls! An amazing boardwalk that I cannot wait to check out plus lots more!

http://www.sandwichmass.org/

Hooray for a long overdue family vacation and now just the wait till August :)

Weekend Finds!

Well....it was a MOST successful weekend for garage sales/curb shopping! WAAHOO!!!!! I was worried that I would come home disappointed, not empty-handed of course because that would just be crazy! :), but with so much excitement and anticipation of the huge neighborhood sale, kicking off our official treasure hunting season we have been waiting all Fall/Winter for I opened myself up to heartbreak! BUT I am happy to announce I did good & didn't spend much moola either which is always nice and helps ease the ranting from hubby about "all this junk" I bring back!

I of course found some toys and clothes for the girls...but my most exciting items are right here in living color for you to appreciate....the frames were $2 each but all the rest of these items I didn't pay 1cent for!!! nadda, nothing, zippo which makes them even more fantastic to me! A little background on the first piece....my big sis Paula emailed me on Friday night this AMAZING playhouse which I know cannot find the link for..grrrrr....will have to have her resend it! Anyhoo....there was a great chandelier (non-functional) she spray painted pink and hung..then voila Saturday afternoon this is sitting curbside post garage sale! So now Dave can add that to his list of projects to be completed sometime before the girls are off to college and can still fit in an outdoor playhouse! ;)

The little chair is GREAT, all I did was give it a quick scrub with a magic eraser & it looks fantastic..already in Savannah's room!

The suitcases, I don't know what I am going to do with them & these were a REALLY hard sale to Dave since he was driving when I spotted them on the side of the road..he didn't stop (AAAHH,I know it almost killed me!!) so I told him if they were there on the way home they were meant to be mine LOL! I have seen some cool stuff on etsy.com that can be done with old hard suitcases & I am already envisioning the little blue one as a cute play makeup case for the girls!

The frames, I have been searching for large vintage frames to make bulletin boards & chalkboards out of and even @ Goodwill & Salvation Army didn't find any this large & for that smokin of a price! $2 each & when I mentioned my plan to the lady having the garage sale she wished she would have thought of that...too late & I ran off down the road :)

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!