Camp Storia's Summer Serving Tray

Okay, I just have to show off my 4th of July themed craft project. I signed up to do Camp Storia's OLD GLORY SESSION which inspired me to try a few of the craft projects shown throughout the two week online session. The photo's and instructions for the crafts were fantastic (thank goodness as I am not very talented or knowledgeable in this). I love the 4th of July holiday and I looked forward to the new craft posting daily.

Here is my summer serving tray. Yes, I even learned what decoupage glue is and how to use it. To decorate my red painted tray, I primarily used vintage postcard pictures along with a couple of black and white copied photos. I haven't had a chance to try out my serving tray yet, but I am thinking maybe of vase of flowers and flags with glasses of lemonade would be nice.

America, My Home Sweet Home

The 4th of July is for America. And while our family primarily celebrates it with picnics, family gatherings, flags and fireworks I try to be mindful of how thankful we are for this great country and the freedom we have. I feel so blessed to live in the United States of America and I love to celebrate Independence Day. Most of all, I love the red, white, and blue of our flag and seeing it softly waving on so many people's porches and flagpoles. This day has impressed upon me the amount of sacrifice that my ancestors made to get me in this place. I also think about all the veterans in my life that came before me, some I know well and some that I will never know. I also pray for the safety of the men and women who are currently fighting for our freedom. Tomorrow, when I am enjoying the day with my family I want to remember that there are soliders (dads, moms, brothers, sisters, grandparents) out there fighting to give me this day. A day they are not spending with their family, a day they are not watching fireworks with their children, but a day when instead, they are fighting for my freedom.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July holiday and that friends and family can come together and the happiness of the day is lasting. Display those stars and stripes proudly through the holiday weekend! Be safe!

True Lemon

I just found out about a product that I think I am really going to love, True Lemon. These little lemon, lime, and orange flavored packets are made with 100% all-natural ingredients. They are a great alternative to sweetened drinks and flavored waters. They can also be added to beverages for an added flavor. I love a glass of water with lemon, but a lemon isn't always handy. I can pack these packets along with my workout water bottle to add a little extra flavoring.

Want free samples? I read about this deal on the Money Saving Mom blog. Anyone who blogs about True Lemon free samples and links to their free sample page can get 15 free packets of True Lemon, Lime or Orange for doing so. Just email them with the link to your blog post and give them your name and address. Oh, and you get to choose which flavors you want too!

The free sample page to link to is:
http://truelemon.com/gratitude-sample.html

And the email address to contact them is: customercare AT truelemon DOT com.

I can't wait to receive them in the mail! :)

Something Besides Bills in the Mail

A few weeks ago I started signing up for a variety of freebies for items that I know I would use. Yesterday I received 4 different sample items including, Tide detergent, Dove shampoo and conditioner, Airborne Power Pixies, and Aveeno face lotion. It was so nice to receive something in the mail besides bills. Several of them also came with coupons for a future purchase.



Here are some great sites that I have found that give daily links to free offers. So far the experience has been great. I haven't received any spam to my email inbox as I always make sure to remove the checked box that allows them to send updates on their products.

Freebies 4 Mom
http://www.freebies4mom.com/

Money Saving Mom
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

Mommy Gets PAID
http://www.mommygetspaid.com/

Spring Cleaning Continued...

Today I decided to tackle Jaidyn and Addy's bedroom. What a Mess! Just picking up the room is a daily chore. The two of them continue to do a good job of dragging out the dress-up clothes, books, and stuffed animals on a daily basis.

I started by cleaning out their closet and pulling everything out and laying it on the bed. Jaidyn kept coming in the room asking me why I was making her room a big mess. I kept telling her I was organizing. LOL! I went through all of their clothes and pulled all of the truly winter outfits out. Anything that was velour, fleece, or had a snowflake theme was taken out. I also sorted through their shoes taking out the ones that weren't seasonal or were too small.

I also went through their bookcase and pulled books that they never cared for or have outgrown. I also thinned out the stuffed animals. I put all of the ones that I haven't seen them play with in the last couple of months in a bag. I figure they have until May to ask about an animal or miss it. If not, they will be put in the garage sale.

All of the bedding including quilts and shams were washed. I pushed the bed back up against the wall. We had originally moved the bed away from the wall because their was a draft on the very cold nights.

To reward myself for completing the task, (this motivates me to entirely clean a room) I want to purchase a wall plaque with two hooks so that I can hang their bath towels up. Their bedroom door knobs are being the makeshift place to hang towels.

Here are a couple of before pictures.





Here is the final result, although I still need to dust mop their floors and vaccum the rug. Hmmm, maybe I can talk Wes into doing that. :)





If you need some Spring Cleaning motivation, head on over to The Homespun Heart blog. Lot's of people have posted their spring cleaning accomplishments for the month of March.

Spring Cleaning in the Bathroom

Over the past few weeks I have been slowly decluttering our home in attempt to get a head start on collecting items for our garage sale this spring. It seems like I have all the time in the world to get all the items no longer needed cleared out of our home, but before I know it the week of the garage sale is upon me and I never get the chance to really deep clean all the rooms in our home like I had hoped. After our garage sale I find many more items that I wish I would have put in the sale. This year our garage sale is a fundraiser for our adoption and all of the proceeds will be going into our adoption account. I am extra motivated to go through each room and part with all of the toys, clothing, movies, and home items that we no longer need.

To help motivate myself and stay on task, I have joined in the spring cleaning challenge over at Motherload: The MomAdvice.com Blog. Each week one room of the house is chosen and tasks are divided into one hour cleaning jobs for each day of the week. Checklists are given for each day of the week concentrating on the room of-the-week.

This week, the focus room is the bathroom. On Sunday evening, I printed off the task sheets. Wes woke up Monday morning for work and was so excited to see the checklist sheets sitting by the computer. He admitted later in the day that he was hoping to come home to a sparkling bathroom.

Luckily Monday was a rainy day, so I had no problems motivating myself to get started. I started by pulling out everything out of the drawers and cabinets. I threw away everything that was expired or that I hadn't used since we moved in to the house almost 3 years ago. I didn't think our cabinets were too horribly cluttered but I still managed to fill a 13 gallon trash bag full.



I completed all of the 1 hour tasks within two days. Once I get started on a job, it is hard for me to stop. Tuesday was another rainy day and Wes was off work so he helped entertain the girls so I could finish. Ta-Da! Here are pictures of the sparkling clean bathroom. To treat myself for completing the task, I bought the organizers for the bathroom cabinets and new bath mats.







If you need any spring cleaning motivation, head on over and check out Amy's blog.

Tis The Season

Tis the Season!! It is defintely starting to look like Christmas in our house. Yes, I know it is really early, but I like to fully enjoy the holidays and it is so nice to have the decorations already up before December. Last night Wes, the girls and I put up the Christmas tree. Jaidyn loved every minute of it. She enjoyed me telling her about each of her ornaments and then hanging them on the tree. She put most of them on the lower center front of the tree, so when she wasn't looking I had to spread them out and rearrange some. Addy had her own way of helping. While Jaidyn put ornaments on the tree, Addy would follow her and take them off. That definitely didn't go over well with Jaidyn. :)

I have finished putting up about half of the decorations today and hope to finish the rest either late tonight or tomorrow.