Tips and Tricks and Other Stuff
10) Give the kids a bucket, soap and water and let them go to town washing bikes for the afternoon. Good clean fun is what I love to see my kids doing!
9) No matter how much you like these rolls, BUY them don’t try and MAKE them. Unless of course you are a bread making expert. Then by all means go right ahead and while you’re at it bring me a few. These took three hours not one hour like it said on the box. They were difficult and then not near as good as when I buy them at Desert Book. I even watched the YouTube video on how to roll them (which was helpful) but still….not worth it.
8) I think I have mentioned this before but am going to say it again. I always have one side of my sink filled with hot soapy water. I throw dishes in there as I am cleaning up around the house (because I am constantly finding cups and little bowls everywhere) to soak. Then when I get a minute all I have to do is load them in the dishwasher. I also do this because unloading the dishwasher is my most dreaded chore and I have given Cassidy that duty after school. So instead of having stinky dishes with dried on food sitting around most of the day they sit in nice hot water just like I would like to do. (wink). 
7) I also soak my cookie sheets and let the hot water do the work for me. No scrubbing here. I learned this early on – let the cleaner do the work for you. Spray the table, counters, tub, mirrors and wait a few minuets. The cleaner does the work and all you have to do is wipe it clean. No effort! Just don’t spray and walk away and forget. Then you have stuck on food and dried cleaner and you have to start all over. I have done this a few times. Can you tell?
6) Let the six year old clean as much as she likes – and she likes to clean. Last night she volunteered to clean out and organize all the VHS and DVD’s in our cupboard. See that large pink CD case? We threw out all the DVD plastic cases and put all the DVD’s the kids can watch in that. We still have some DVD’s in their cases because I need to get another holder. This way it’s easy to grab and take to the next room, on a trip, over to Grandma’s whatever. I learned this from Mindy – she’s so smart!
5) These are my #1, #2, and #3 cleaning friends. Windex I use on everything thanks to Clover Lane. The other two are amazing in the bathroom and kitchen. I even used the greased lightning on my bro-in-law’s pants yesterday that had plumbing grease all over it. The pants came out of the wash good as new! The scrub free will get all the hard water off your shower door and make it look brand new. You just need a few squirts and a brilo pad.
4) This is my new favorite tip. I am a green onion junkie. I use them on anything and everything. Omelets, tacos, chili, Hawaiian Haystacks, salads, etc. I am trying to grow them in my garden but I haven’t had much luck….yet. I read that once you use your green onion tops, just stick the bottom white part of the onion in a cup of water and they will re-grow. I had to try it and TA-DAH!!!! This is after a week! A brand new bunch of free green onions. I wonder how many times this would work?
3) I got this cute Family Home Evening idea from this blog. She’s one of my new favorites. Our family had so much fun ‘heart attacking” the kitchen. The girls had already made a ton-o-hearts while I was taking my Sunday nap so I thought what’s a few more? I love the idea of writing what we love about each member of our family on a heart. Makes the person feel extra special!
2) In church last Sunday one of the speakers talked about how important it is to not get in a slump. One of the ways to get out/ keep out of said slump is to get up and get dressed every morning. Sounds like a simple thing to do but she swears by it. She even has given it as homework to her patients that suffer from depression. They are surprised by how easy it is yet how much good it can do. I have noticed a big difference in my days since I have been doing it. I get a lot more done and have been feeling much more productive which in return makes me feel happy. (picture from gap)
1) When people tell you that no one will notice your adult braces –
P.S. DON’T LITSEN TO THEM!
Everyone notices. Everyone, adults, children, strangers, dogs, you name it they notice. Luckily I only have to have them on for two months. Just some minor adjustments. I got them because we took Cassidy in for braces for her birthday. That’s all she wanted. While we were there the Dr. stuck Tom and I in the chair and slapped braces on us too. So our new saying is:
“The family that has braces together, stays together!”
Have a happy Tuesday!
1) I tried on pants today at Target. They have a two mirror thing going on in the dressing room. One in the front of me and one in the back. I realized that the holidays have not been good to my backside. I also realized that if Target uses skinny mirrors I'm in deeper trouble than I thought!I got a BIKE for Christmas!
A BIKE!!!
I haven’t ridden a bike in 23 years!
23 years!!!
I know I am repeating but this is HUGE!!!
I am feeling so good – my arthritis is doing fabulous, my thyroid is all leveled out and I have ton’s of energy! I haven’t felt this good since getting arthritis 23 years ago and thyroid cancer 1 year ago. I so wish my Mom and Dad could see me ride my new bike! They would be so proud of me. Heck – I’m so proud of myself!!!!!!
I told Tom that I haven’t been this excited for Christmas morning in years – years I say!!! I even had a hard time going to sleep. I didn’t know if I could ride the bike and I didn’t know what color the bike was but I knew if I had the chance I would make it work. And guess what??? I rode that thing all day and I feel great! It was so fun to ride around the neighborhood with my girls and have them look at me with big smiles on their faces. It filled my heart!♥
And………I didn’t care if people thought my bike was dorky (I chose this kind of bike so it wouldn’t put any pressure on my joints)
but…….it’s been a HUGE hit in the ‘hood! Everyone wants one – including all the kids!!! Look at me being a trend setter on my new bike (wink)! Who knew?
Anyway- come on over and I’ll let you take a test ride. I bet after riding it you will want one too!
I love it! Thanks sweetie for making my wish come true♥
*more Christmas pictures coming soon*
2) This bike - even if it is a little Grandma-ish would be perfect for me and my arthritic body. That way I can take the girls around town for some girly biking fun. I don't know about the color blue - maybe yellow or red or hot pink!
3) I am in D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-E- need of some new jeans. I have one pair that I like - ONE PAIR! So embarrassing!
4) Have I told you the story of when I had three couples over for dinner and realized that I didn't have enough silverware? Uh hello!!!! Nothing matched and I can't seem to remember EVER getting a brand new set - EVER. I think what I have in my drawer is my Mothers wedding set, a second set that we bought at the grocery store when I was 10 and a few other random pieces. Even with all those I still don't have enough to feed eight people. Jeez!
5) A new bathtub that will cover every inch of my body in water. Dreamy. 
6) I saw these at Anthropology - Thanks Emily for giving me the idea to go there. I want A LOT of things there but stood in front of these measuring/cups/bowls for 20 min. trying to convince myself into buying them. They are $38 but each little cup can measure 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 cup. I want them - therefore I need them!
7) Love this little sweater from Down East Basics - love it! And I love her make-up too!
8) This would look so pretty over my dining table. Or over my new tub either way................
10) A wrap dress looks good on......anyone with any body type. (I'm serious! Have you ever worn one?)This one is on my list (Down East Basics). I saw one at Gap that was cute but couldn't find a picture of it.Back in 1980 my family set off for our first family reunion ever! I was 8 years old. I had not seen my cousins since I was 2 and I only had ever seen my first two cousins Kyle and Amy since the others weren’t born yet. We were very excited for the trip and I remember while driving there I was looking out the back window at the desert scenery passing along behind us all brown and empty. Not like the lush green ocean views I had grown up with. All of a sudden I saw clothes flying all around as we sped on by. It was our clothes! We had our suitcases strapped to the top of our car and one of them opened and out flew all our clothes. We pulled over and the kids had to wait in the car as my Mom and Dad walked along the side of the road picking up clothes. Good thing we were in the middle of nowhere and there weren’t many cars going by. I remember how embarrassed I was seeing my Dad’s underwear on a bush!
That was one of my most memorable family memories. I made a new best friend with my cousin Amy who was a year younger than me. i learned how to ride a bike by my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill (I was 8 people). I played with all these fun friends and realized that we were my family! I fell in love with Amy and Lisa’s trundle bed and thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen. To this day I love trundle beds! I remember walking in the creek, climbing up in the boys loft, taking a shower in my Aunts shower that had a floor length window to the outside secret garden so it felt like you were showering in the tropics. I remember Joey being about 1 and eating so much lasagna that his tummy was HUGE and round! We all remember that and when that trip is brought up the lasagna story is always retold! I loved every minute of that trip!
I have been going through the boxes of pictures I have in my closet. Pre-digital pictures. I want to get them all in albums so we can sit and look at them. That is one of my favorite childhood memories. We would go in the game closet and get the picture albums out and look through them all. I had every picture memorized! I want to be able to do that with my own children. So instead of waiting to scrapbook them or photo book them they are going into leather albums I bought at Sam’s Club – 2 for $13.99. Can’t beat it. It’s the memories I want more than the creativity.
As I have been going through and organizing pictures I found this doozy and have been traumatized all weekend. (I scanned it in so the quality is bad – it’s 19 years old)
My brothers came over and I showed each one of them asking why Mom would do that to me? You should have heard the comments!!! They weren’t nice to their only sister I tell ya.
I’m 8 remember?!?! And what’s up with my haircut?? Jeez! I remember my nickname was Christopher Robin and now I know why! My word!!!! Notice my new best friend cousin who has a darling little dress on and a ribbon in her hair. Then there's me – n*ked as a jay-bird! If my Mom were here she would have some explaining to do!!! My Aunt Kathy is here and she tried to make me feel better but it didn’t work.
So I ask you:
Do you have pictures of you when you were young that can be blackmailed?
Do you have a favorite family reunion memory (and did it involve clothing)?
Did you have a bad haircut when you were little?
Hope you have a great Monday♥
(and please don’t judge me by my past (wink)
The also LOVED trying to all fit on this big bear statue. Even little Heidi got in the picture Ü!
On the way out of town we stopped in Telluride Co. I totally fell in love with this charming town. Everything about it was unique and cute and friendly. My favorite thing was all the flags that lined the main street. I felt the towns patriotism. Everyone had a dog or a stroller. LOVED IT!!! We went up the mountain a bit and saw Bridal Veil Falls. It was beautiful.
We ate a yummy breakfast at Maggie's out on the sidewalk while watching all the people walking up and down the street.
A little quick page I did that I had in my file. Not sure where I got it. I've had it a while and it was before I kept track for credit purposes. Sorry who ever did this cute page! I love how it turned out. Abby taking her dolly for a ride on her bike in the warm sunshine. ♥
