CTA Update

Questions about the CTA Summer Kids Camp:

(in regards to Friday's post HERE)

1.  The girls did the camp for two days (Tuesday and Wednesday)

2.  It was from 11am-4pm

This is too long for the kids and the CTA Staff.  I think next time it should be 3-4 days @ 2 hours each day.  This would be better for everyone all around.  Since we had a wide age span - 2yrs - 10yrs it was hard to keep the little's happy while the biggies played and vise-versa.

3.  They charged $2 per child per hour.  

This included snacks, rewards/prizes and project supplies.

4.  They had each child bring a swim suit and a sack lunch.  

We didn't go swimming (too much liabilty) but they did have fun outside with water games and the trampoline.

5.  If your girls are working on a goal for Girl Scouts, Church/Young Women, 

school, whatever this is the perfect thing for them to do.  

You as a Mom are there to watch over, yet they are in charge and get comfortable with tending children and being responsible.  

6.  It's a wonderful oportunity to spend some time teaching your girls about being a Mom and running a house without them even knowing what you are up too!  This I have to say was a wonderful experience for my girls and for me as a Mom.  I loved it!

Questions and Answers

Since I don't have my photo's uploaded from my lovely phone (did I mention that I forgot to take a real camera on vacation?) I thought I would do a Q&A post.  Tomorrow's post will be an exciting Top 10 because I made my list in the car on the way home from Missouri.  I had 30 hours to come up with the list so FYI...it's going to be more than just 10 things (wink)

Question:  Where is the house in the picture and are you moving?
Answer: I'm sad to say it but no...we aren't moving.  Isn't that house amazing?  It's in Missouri in my SIL's little town and it's for sale.  It used to be a B&B but it's empty and waiting for someone to love it.  It's killing me that no one is living in that blue beauty. Click here for the listing.  I wish I could show you the other house I found while I was there.  It was owned by a master gardener (can you tell already that I ♥ it) and it's on an acre and has the most amazing trees, flowers (think big pink hydrangeas, roses, hostas, a stream, and water fountains throughout).  The house is three stories with turrets and , and, and...I won't go on. But man oh man would it be amazing to have a house like that.  One problem....it snows there.  I don't like snow.   So I guess we aren't moving.  (sorry but I couldn't find the listing for my dream house/garden.  If I do come across it I'll post it)

Question: Where did you get your piano?
Answer: Craig's List.  There were two piano's I was looking at.  This one had a terrible picture online and you couldn't tell if it was in good condition or not.  I called the other listing and was going to go see that one but as luck would have it they didn't call back until 3 weeks later!  I guess they didn't want to sell their piano very badly.  Anyway, I was desperate so I went to go look at the one with the bad picture and it was exactly.what.I.was.wanting!  Note to self.......don't overlook the bad photo's...they could just be a gem in disguise.  (and this one is the perfect gem for me♥)

Question: How is your homemade soap working?  Do you love it?
Answer:  Yes!  I love it!  Not only is it very inexpensive to make but it cleans really, really well.  My MIL gave me a jug of Gain Laundry soap because she didn't like the smell and so I started using it so it wouldn't take up space in my tiny laundry room.  Guess what?  I couldn't handle the smell either!  I think I am so used to the clean, no chemical/additive smell of the homemade soap that I'm going to pass the jug right on to someone else!  One thing though.....I have found that you need to add in some kind of whitener to the whites load.  Commercial laundry soap adds a bluing to brighten whites and this soap doesn't have any.  There are several options - Oxi-clean, Biz, Mrs. Stewarts Bluing.  I am a huge fan of Oxi-clean so I just use that. (I've used it for years even before I started making my own laundry soap.)  Other than that it's great, cheap, easy to make and smells clean and fresh.  I also noticed that Wal-Mart has started carrying all three ingredients and when I went through the checkout the cashier asked for the recipe and said a lot of people are buying this stuff to make laundry soap.  I thought that was pretty funny!
P.S. I helped my SIL make laundry soap while I was in Missouri.  She hadn't made it because it looked too hard.  After 15 min. we had 4 gallons of laundry soap, a very clean smelling kitchen and one happy SIL!

Top Ten Tuesday

Questions:
How do I.......

1.) get Darling Daughter #1 to NOT to dress like a boy - t-shirt and jean shorts - everyday.

2.) have Little Miss 1st grader NOT wear the same shorts every single day.

3.) get more hours in my day but still get my beauty sleep.

4.) get my house remodeled for FREE like my friend Mindy.

5.) make myself go to the gym everyday.

6.) stop craving sweets.

7.) be more organized.

8.) blog more.

9.) stay cool in this heat that is killing me this week.

10.) keep my hair from falling out all over the bathroom floor (and down my arm, in my shirt, on my pillowcase etc.....)

Any suggestions?

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Netflix

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Just try it out.