Family Fun at the Columbus Commons

Need something new to do with the kids this summer?  Check out the Columbus Commons!

by Amy Trauntvein

Summer is here and the kids are out of school.  The pool is fun and so is the park, but can’t think of anything NEW to do with the kids this summer that won’t cost a fortune?  Check out the Columbus Commons!  I have to admit, I didn’t even know this place existed before last weekend, but I’m totally happy that I know all about it now, for some fun in the sun with my kiddos!  Our family received an invitation to come check out the Columbus Commons and discover everything they have to offer  this summer and beyond.  As you can see, my youngest loved the Carousel.

And the Reading Room…

And the Art Box…

My older kids and hubby liked the Ping Pong table and Corn Hole games…

 

And they ALL had a great time with the huge building blocks at the Imagination Playground!

And the best thing about all these activities?  Most of them are FREE! (Carousel Rides are $1)  The Columbus Commons is open every day (hours vary) with all these family friendly, fun things for you and your kids of any age.  Check out the details of their Free Open Play Activities. 

If you’re interested in even more fun stuff at the Columbus Commons, here  is their full (printable) 2013 Family Friendly Programming Schedule which includes activities such as Commons for Kids every Friday from 10-2, Movies at the Commons in June and July, Mayor Coleman’s Neighborhood Pride Block Party in August, and Family Fun Day also in August to name just a few. And don’t forget, many of these are FREE!  Free fun for the whole family?  You can beat that!

The Columbus Commons is located in downtown Columbus right across the street from the convenient and affordable (only $2!) Columbus Commons Parking Garage located at 55 E Rich Street or 191 S Third Street.

I hope you’ll check out what the Columbus Commons has to offer for your family and maybe I’ll see you there!  I know I will be heading to the Commons with my kids many times this summer and beyond!

Love To All! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day -Remembering Those Who Gave Their Lives

Often we think only of Memorial day as a three day weekend and a time for cookouts and parties. But we have many people to thank for the freedom to have those cookouts and parties.  Many, many people gave their lives in order for us to have our freedom.

We were driving to meet some family for dinner tonight. As we drove through Westerville, Ohio we saw this awesome flag display.

I didn’t have my good camera with me, and I had to have some  pics. I took these pictures with my phone.

Dave stopped by one of the tables that were set up and asked about them.

There were 2,500 flags set up. You could purchase one of the flags for $30 and dedicate the flag to someone that has passed and was very special in your life. It doesn’t have to be a veteran (although I think most of them were), they also suggested a policeman or fireman.  They would print out a card with that person’s name and your message on a blue card and attach it to the flag pole.  Then tomorrow evening you can come back and pick up your flag.

If we had been able to get back to that area of town tomorrow, I’m sure we would have gotten one for my husband’s father.

They also had a 911 tribute.  The luminaries were attached to a generator and I bet it looked really awesome at night.

When I saw the sign and realized what this was about, I had to fight back tears. I don’t know anyone personally that was killed, but anytime I think about it and the terror that those involved went through…. the pain, the fear, the death for so many… it is almost overwhelming to me.

With my boys (Joe on the left, Drew on the right) in the Army now, Memorial Day means even more. Knowing they are serving our country… I couldn’t be prouder. Their cousin Matt is in the center. He is a veteran also. He was in Iraq serving as a medic. He saw and has dealt with so much. He still wears a black metal bracelet that has Matthew Holley’s name and date of death on his arm … for the last six years.  My nephew Matt posted about it on Facebook and Matthew Holley’s father responded his gratitude back on Facebook.  I then looked at John Holley’s FB page (I’m not friends with him, so could only see a couple pictures) but realized that they have a book coming out soon about their son and his story. If I can find out more information about the book, I’ll let you know.

Please think of someone who served or is serving and thank them (if possible) tomorrow. See a vet, shake their hand and say thank you. My son will be traveling home tomorrow. I was so impressed and proud of so many people who would see him in his uniform when were at the airport and thank him. My boys have had their meals paid for when they were out. People do appreciate those serving. It is a very cool thing.

Don’t forget!

This post was originally posted Memorial Day 2011

Odwalla and Champions for Kids Fighting Hunger in the Summer

Odwalla + Champions For Kids Simple Service Project

by Amy Trauntvein

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®, Odwalla, and Champions for Kids.  However, all opinions are my own. #cbias #SocialFabric #Odwalla4Kids

These wholesome snack bars taste great and are an easy way to fill kids’ hungry bellies while giving them the nutrition they need.

Along with the Odwalla bars, we donated  several other food & non-food items that we had in surplus at our home.

With the couponing I do, I also have plenty of non-food items that I purchase for donations and since our local food pantry also accepts these things, we gathered them up as well.  If someone doesn’t have to buy shampoo, soap or other toiletries, then they can have more money to purchase food for their families.

Here are our donations packed up and ready to be given to those in need.

 

When I arrived at our Community Food Pantry, I noticed how empty their shelves were.

After talking with Ruth, the coordinator, and Angela, her assistant, they said that the need keeps rising and also with summer coming, the need will be even greater with kids not getting school breakfasts and lunches.  This small pantry helped over 129 families in April and are tracking to help even more this month.  They receive no funding or government assistance, they only rely on the goodness and generosity of the community.

Angela and Ruth of the Johnstown Community Food Pantry

Ways YOU Can Help! -by Champions For Kids Simple Service Project

GATHER your friends, family and co-workers to fight hunger in the summer by hosting a food drive in your community.  Nutritious snacks like Odwalla Kids Bars and Juice Boxes would be great to give!  Consider giving out prizes to the person who donates the most food at you office or community organization!

LEARN about the needs of children in your community by asking a food pantry volunteer, school nurse, or social worker to talk with your group about their experiences.

GIVE the food items that you collect to a food bank in your community so that children and families will have enough to eat this summer.

SHARE your story with us at www.championsforkids.org/share so that we can celebrate your participation!  How many people were involved, and how many items did you collect?  Please let us know that you are ONE of Millions who helped reach our goal to mobilize 20 Million people by 2020 to become Champions For Kids!

Be sure to check out Odwalla on Facebook, Twitter and Odwalla.com!

Love To All! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Pin It

Spicy Southwest 5 Cheese Dip with Kraft #FreshTake

If You Like A Spicy Kick, You’ve Got To Try This Dip!

By Amy Trauntvein

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Kraft Foods #FreshTake #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions, ideas, and photos are my own.

My family loves Mexican food and spicy South-of-the-border flavors so when Kraft Foods asked me to create a new recipe using one of their Fresh Take flavors, I knew which one I wanted to try and what recipe I would make.  Spicy Southwest 5 Cheese Dip using Kraft Fresh Take Southwest 3 Cheese.

I took the kids to Walmart to find the Kraft Fresh Take and a few other ingredients.  It was easily found among the cheeses in the Deli Section and had a variety of flavors to choose from.  Also, if you go to the Meat Department, there will be and IRC (immediately redeemable coupon) stuck on packages of chicken.  The coupon takes off $1 for one package of chicken when purchased with Fresh Take.  The coupons will run until 7/31/13.

I love Kraft Fresh Take and have been using it to make some pretty tasty dinners lately.  It’s easy to use and the cheeses and spices are a perfect compliment with chicken no matter what flavor packet you buy.  Since I’ve enjoyed the Fresh Takes flavors, I knew adding it to a dip recipe would turn it from “It was alright” to “Wow, how did you make this? I need your recipe!”  Just look at the yumminess on the package, and it already contains 3 of the 5 cheeses for my dip recipe!  How easy it that?

Now back home for the creation of the spicy, cheesy, ooey gooey goodness!

Recipe for Spicy Southwest 5 Cheese Dip

• 1 Package Kraft Fresh Take Southwest 3 Cheese Flavor
• 1 8 oz Package Kraft Cream Cheese
• 1/3 cup Kraft Mayo
• 1 cup shredded Kraft Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 Jalapeno chopped finely with seeds removed.

If you like things really spicy, use 2 peppers.  Go ahead, I dare ya!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut Jalapeno in half and scrape out seeds. Chop finely.

Warm cream cheese in in microwave until soft.  Add mayo, monterey jack cheese and jalapeno.  Open package of Fresh Take and mix the cheeses and breadcrumbs together.  Reserve 1/2 cup of Fresh Take for Topping, and add the rest of the Fresh Take to the other ingredients.  Mix well.  If mixture seems a bit dry, add more mayo by tablespoons until mixture looks nice and creamy.  I just mixed it all in the actual baking dish (to save me from dirtying another bowl).  Once mixed well, smooth out the top.

Toss into oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Pull out and stir.  Now add the reserved 1/2 cup of Fresh take to the top and toss back into oven for another 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Serve with chips or crackers of your choosing.  I liked mine with Pita Chips for their “heftiness”.  This cheesy, hot and gooey dip is a perfect compliment to any Mexican, Tex Mex or Southwestern meal, or a perfect appetizer to your next party.  Your guests will beg you on bended knees for the recipe!  I mean, how can anyone go wrong  with 5 cheeses???  Yep, it’s a winner!  And Thanks to Kraft Fresh Take for taking it to the next level of yumminess!

Watch for the Kraft Possibilities Tour truck which will be making stops across the country to the end of July.  To see if they are making a spot in your town, you can check their website Fresh Take Possibilities Tour.

Love To All! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

 

Pin It

Racor Wall Bike Stand Review

The Racor Bike Stand Is As Easy as 1-2-3!

By Amy Trauntvein

Organization in my garage is not a strong suit of mine.  It’s a place where everything gets put that either doesn’t belong in the house, or doesn’t fit!  I AM able to park my van in it so that’s a plus for me, but frankly the rest could use a little help.  Especially with bigger items, such as bikes.  That’s where Racor Home Storage Products come in.  Racor sent me one of their Wall Bike Stands ($59.99) to review.

Sweet!  Being a family of 6, we have a few bikes and they take up a good amount of floor space in my garage that I definitely could use more of!

So last Saturday I employed my husband to put it together and get a couple of these bikes up and out of the way, AND I timed him to see just how long it would take him to get the job done!  He started at 4:17pm

1. Open the box and put the parts together…

2. Set in place and screw it to the wall…

 

3. Adjust hangers and hang up bikes. Done!  Ending time 4:34pm – 17 minutes!  That’s how fast and easy it is to set up the Racor Wall Bike Stand and gain some much needed space in your garage.  I might add, he wasn’t trying to hurry either.

I was quite impressed with the Racor Wall Bike Stand.  Not only did it go up easily and quickly but it’s strong too!

The Racor Wall Bike Stand

• Holds 2 bikes
• Direct mounted to a wall stud
• Independent adjustment arms for level bike storage
• Red cradles are vinyl-coated to protects the bikes
• Steel construction epoxy finish and skid-free rubber guards to protect the floor.
• Weight limit of 100 pounds

Thank you Racor Storage Solutions!  I love the Bike stand and the extra room in my garage! Check out their website, they carry many more storage ideas and solutions that could be perfect for your organizational needs.

*Although I was compensated with the product for review, all opinions are honest and my own.

Love To All!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Colorful Street Nails with Sally Hansen

Getting The Popular “Street Look” With Your Nails Is Easy With Sally Hansen!

by Amy Trauntvein

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and COTY. All opinions are my own. #cbias #SocialFabric.  All opinions are my own.

It’s spring and with the wonderful warm weather, it’s time to break out the bright colors of our wardrobes, and that includes our nail color!  Right now I’m seeing a big trend in “Street Look” nails.  Lots of bright colors and funky designs.  So much fun to create and the possibilities are endless!  I was given the opportunity by Sally Hansen to create one of these trending looks for the season and I couldn’t wait to get started! But first we needed to find some inspiration…

We loved the this black and white design with a pop of color on the bottom left. (Source-Pinterest)

We also love this Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real nail Polish Strips with the black and white geometric designs.

I grabbed my teenage daughter and we headed over to Walgreens with my new Balance Reward Card.  Look how fun this display is! Love all the bright colors for spring and fabulous ideas right on the display! #IHeartMyNailArt

 

Walgreens has some great sales going on right now for Sally Hansen products.  Xtreme, Salon Effects, Diamond and Insta-Dri polishes are $1 off, Magnetic and Crackle Polishes are $5.99 and Complete Salon Manicure Polish on sale 2/$10.  All prices good through 5/25.

First we put a base coat of each color on and let dry.  I let my daughter pick out the colors she wanted for her nails.  Here are some more awesome color choices Pop Art and Off The Chain.

Next, we applied the Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips making sure we applied them 1/4 the way up the nail bed so the base color showed.  Just follow the easy directions on the package for application.

We then painted thin strips of the same base coat colors on top of the nail polish strips.  We used a thin paint brush and cleaned it in between colors. Two different colors per nail.

And finally we sealed the nail art with Sally Hansen No Chip Top Coat to extend the life of the manicure and prevent chipping.

The final Product!  She LOVES her new “Street Nails” and so do all of her friends!

Don’t let the fun stop here, head on over to the Sally Hansen Pinterest Party going on right now!  One winner will receive a year supply of Sally Hansen Products!

Be sure to check out Sally Hansen on Facebook too for more sweet nail art ideas and products!

Love To All! ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening, yoga, walking and saving money! I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Pin It

Organizing and Planning Ahead For A Trip

Be Sure To Organize Ahead Of Time For Your Travel

Organizing prior to a trip isn’t hard, it just takes time management.

Planning for a trip, of course depends on what kind of trip you are going on.  Is it a family vacation, are you flying or driving? How many people are going?  Is it a business trip and you’re leaving the family at home?

For this post, I’m going to plan for a business trip with one adult going from the family.  For our family, this has been me doing all the traveling. Dave doesn’t travel for work, but for the last several years, I have been traveling multiple times throughout the year.

I’m planning this week for my trip next week to Bentonville, Arkansas for our first Collective Bias conference, SoFabCon. I’ll be gone for a week from home.

Plan at least two – three weeks prior to your trip

Plan what you are going to wear. Go through your wardrobe to make sure you have the clothing, shoes and accessories you’ll need for the trip. More than likely, you’ll have all you need, but there might be occasions that you do need to shop for something new prior to the event.

If you have to order sometime online, you should probably plan out further than 3 weeks to be sure you receive it on time, and it fits.
You want to give yourself enough time to return or have something altered if needed.

Be sure to check your accessories to be sure you have any jewelry, cosmetics, crazy socks etc that you might need.

Plan Week Ahead

1) Plan out meals for your family, or at least make sure needed grocery items are stocked in the house.
2) Get all the family laundry completed before you go.
Personally, I do this because if my hubby needs to do laundry, I come home to baskets full of clothes that I can’t tell if they are dirty or clean (nothing folded when it comes out of the dryer). He will use my sorting bins to put clean clothes in, I find my sorting bins upstairs in bedrooms.. oh my – an organizers laundry nightmare!
3) Prepare a packing list.
It is so easy to forget things when you are packing.  Make sure you add things on there like business cards, extension cord (if you take your laptop etc with you), phone chargers, camera download cords etc. In this day and age of electronics, there are a lot of accessories needed to use them.
4) Prepare a Family “To Do” List
Especially if you are going to have teens at home without you. When do they have to be at practices, events? Does anyone take daily medicine that needs to be remembered? Will they remember to feed, water and walk the dog or clean out a litter box. What day is trash day?
5) Make a copy of your itinerary.
Make sure your spouse knows how to get hold of you, what flights you’re on and where you’re staying.
6) Be sure to print out any tickets or passes you might need. It’s great to have everything on your phone, but if you can’t get service, you could be in a bind if you count on having important documents stored electronically.

Couple Days Prior To Your Trip

1) Start packing for your trip. You won’t want to pack any clothes that will wrinkle until the last minute, but have them ready to go. You can pack underclothes, jewelry and other items that you don’t have to worry about the “wrinkle factor”.
2) Prepare any food items you’re family might need while you’re gone

Planning ahead will make you’re preparation go much smoother, and generally you have what you need while you’re gone. It also will help to decrease stress for you and the family while you’re gone.

 

 

Ice Cream Festival

Utica’s Sertoma Ice Cream Festival

Each Memorial Day Weekend for the last 39 years the Ye Old Mill in Utica Ohio has been the home of Old Fashion Velvet Ice Cream Festival

It is a yearly tradition for our family, along with many zillions of other people!  I mean really, who can resist Velvet ice cream?  We always enjoy the old time cars (muscle cars), playing games, getting good food and of course eating ice cream.

These pics are from one of our visits in 2010.  I had posted on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog, but wanted to share with all of you too! I can’t wait until we go this May.

My video gives you the feel of it all.

The water mill works and is just pretty cool.

The Mill is on one side of the street and you can sit by the water, eat your ice cream and check out the extensive car show.

You’ll find carnival games and foods galore!

Then you can cross the street to find more food….. and a large craft show

But the best part is the Ice Cream!

Alex opted for the shake this year.

But not Zach. Notice the ice cream on the nose. lol…. oh so good!

Elise’s favorite is the mint chocolate chip.

Mine happens to be the Moose Tracks… oh yum!

Dave and I enjoying the day with the kids.

I just thought this was a cool pic of Zach.

More information

Utica Old Fashion Ice Cream 
Facebook pageSchedule of Events

Dates

May 25-27, 2013

Location

Velvet Ice Cream The Ye Old Mill
11324 Mount Vernon Road, Utica, OH, 43080

 

This was first posted May 2012.

Pin It

Loved Mariano’s in Chicago

Wish We Had A Mariano’s In Columbus!

I had the opportunity to have a tour of the grand opening of the Harwood Heights Mariano’s Fresh Market last week. I walked out of that store really wishing that I would be able to shop there regularly.  Of course, that isn’t an option for me since I don’t live in Chicago, but I’d love Mariano’s to come this way!

The feel of the store was nice. It was very crowded since it was the grand opening and you could feel the energy and excitement that everyone had. What makes the store different?  There were many differences from stores I’m familiar with.

They have a $6 meal that you can purchase to take home, or eat in the store. You can pick the main course and a couple sides for a $6 or $10 meal. These foods looked like awesome home cooked meals. We were going to ate lunch while we were there and everything I saw, I was thinking… oh, I want to get THAT for lunch! Look at those pot pies! They were huge! I’ll tell you what, you wouldn’t be able to pick out these meals at a restaurant for $6!

The bakery was incredible. Have you heard of Fruit Loop or bacon donuts? Look at some of the goodies.

They have their cake decorators work where you can watch them. I really loved that.

They have creativity rights to create fun! These little 5″ cakes were darling. Loved the cupcake cake!

I SO wanted to try one of these cream puffs, but I did refrain.

They had a grill set up in between the seafood and meat departments. You could ask them to take a salmon or steak and grill it for you right then!

They have an extensive wine department. You can also create your own six pack of beer. I thought that was really unique. This particular stores has an extensive couple of international aisles.

We were able to meet Mr. Mariano, the CEO of Mariano’s. He loves visiting the stores and stopping to talk to families shopping. He wasn’t too sure what “bloggers” were, but we helped to fill him in. It was nice to see him in the store, and was really friendly.

There is an huge floral department and the flowers were absolutely beautiful.

Sushi anyone? They had a sushi bar. I’ll admit that I didn’t try it myself. But they were making it fresh as it was ordered.

It sure was pretty though, and three of the bloggers did have sushi for their lunch and loved it.

Melissa @ConsumerQueen and I had a fresh salad and fresh fruit.

Vivian King was our tour guide, and we’ve been working with her through Collective Bias. It was great to meet her in person. She had the ribs that were so awesome! There is a BBQ department that prepares them fresh in the store. We were able to try samples of them earlier. She said that she normally always gets the sushi at the grand openings, but she was straying from her normal today.

This is what I really wanted to try for lunch, but from the samples that they had throughout the store, I was actually a little too full to get one for lunch. They had individual pizzas that they would make to order for you. I wanted a mushroom, onion one… my fav! Maybe next visit to Chicago!

Look at this monster sandwich! It looked, omg good!

I have never thought about “eating” a meal at a grocery store before. But that is very much the norm at Mariano’s.  You can come in for a glass of wine, pick out your meal and eat in the cafe. I will certainly be stopping back by to try some more of their meals on my next visit to Chicago.

I am an employee of Collective Bias and Mariano’s is our client.  I went on the tour to see the store, and took a lot (almost 300) photos while there. I decided to create a post because I was so impressed with the store, I was not asked to write a post, nor expected to. I just wanted to share with you all!

 

 

 

 

Pin It

Dealing With The Loss Of A Pet

Losing A Pet Is Never Easy

I lost my beloved pet, Sadie a week ago today. She was almost 11 years old, but still had the spunk and personality of much younger dog. She was my soul mate dog. I connected strongly with Sadie when she was just a pup. She was a rescue that a vet in Westerville took in. The liter all had parvo virus and 1 of the 7 died. My neighbor Carol and her son came home telling us about this pup they had just adopted, Lexie.  I was newly single at the time and had been thinking about getting a larger dog rather than a security system.

I drove over to see the liter, without kids. I figured I’d be strong and knowing this was pretty much a spur of the moment decision, thought I’d be able to say no to the pups.  Sadie was the runt of the litter, the only fully black pup. The others looked like shepherds. We found out she has German Shepherd, black lab and husky in her.

Needless to say, I picked her. I’m so glad I did and almost wished I had picked out two pups. She was the sweetest dog I’ve ever known. Her sister Lexie also has that same sweet personality.  I had a ShihZue at the time and never really considered have three dogs.  Lyla, my ShihZue died about 3 months after we brought Sadie home. Although, I was a little sad, I had actually formed more of a bond in that short time with Sadie than I ever had in the 8 years I had Lyla.

Sadie was a really smart dog.  She “got” me. She knew when I was upset, sad etc.  She would use her nose to move your hand so you’d pet her.  She loved playing with the hose or the sprinkler and would try to “catch” the water.  The snow was her other favorite. The kids would throw snowballs for her to catch. She walked out with me to get the mail everyday. She loved going to the farm, going on walks and oh my gosh,  if you said the word “biscuit”, you’d better be ready to give her one.

We have another dog now, Gizmo (Gizzy) that Sadie loves. We’ve had Gizzy for about 7 years now. I kind of worried about how Gizzy would do without Sadie, but actually, I think she’s doing great. She is enjoying the extra attention she is getting from all of us. I don’t think it would be the same if Gizzy had gone first. Sadie would have really missed her.

As good of a dog as Sadie was, she had fears.  Loud noises like fireworks and storms were really scary for her.  To the extreme that popping bubble wrap, or even popping chewing gum scared her. She hated fire, smoke and certain beeps.  Until she was about two years old I used a shock collar with an underground fence because we only had a front yard for the dogs at my old house. So the tone that it made and any other tone near that (and believe me.. a lot of things make that tone… digital watches, stop watches, tv commercials etc etc etc… ) would send her running to the basement. You couldn’t convince her she wasn’t going to get shocked from a collar she hadn’t worn in years. One of my cameras, she always hated because I didn’t think to turn off the tone when I first got it. Even though she only heard it make the tone once, that was enough. Every time I got that camera out, she ran the other way. She wasn’t happy in this picture because she was scared of the camera, but it was right before she had to have surgery to remove her anal gland last year, and I wanted a picture of us together.  In the last several months though, she was ok with me taking pictures. I was so glad because I did get several before she died.

Sadie developed a thyroid tumor about 2 1/2 years ago now. We never knew for sure if it was cancer or not. One vet said he didn’t think it was because she would have been sick and would have died before now. Another vet told us it would have been, but was just a localized cancer that was slow growing.  We never had it biopsied. There was no reason.  I was not going to put Sadie through the surgery needed to remove the tumor, even if it was cancer.  I researched it and it would not have given her that much more time to live, and the quality of that life might not have been that good.  You would not have known she was sick, other than the fact that she became mute, and in the last several months panted all the time. The tumor was pushing on her trachea & esophagus and slowly causing her to suffocate. The vet had told us she would start having panic attacks (lack of oxygen) and when she did, it would be time to bring her in.

She had the first one (and only one) of those attacks on Monday. It was terrible. She was coming up on my lap rather I wanted her to or not. It lasted from around noon until 3pm. Her panting was much worse, drooling and had condensation on top of her nose. Looked like sweat. She was scared to death. Even that evening when she was doing better, she still couldn’t sleep. She was really restless.  I knew I could not watch her go through that again.

This picture was not of her panic attack, it was just her wanting my attention. “Mom… put the computer away and pet me!”

My kids loved her as much as I did.  She was always so happy when my older boys came home to visit. John and Sadie were close too.

One of my big fears was that I was not going to be home when it came time to put her down.  I had several trips coming up and I knew that I wanted to be with her. Dave and I had just been in TN for the weekend. My other son Tim was home to take care of Sadie, but I was still worried about her why I was gone. We got home on Sunday. Her panic attack was Monday and I took her Tuesday morning to say goodbye.

As hard as it was, I was not going to let my girl suffer. She was excited to go in the car. I let her sit in the front passenger seat and she loved that. Usually she’s in the back of the SUV.  She was excited to see the people at the vet.  The vet reassured me it was time. She said that respiratory distress was horrible to see dogs go through. That as hard as she was working to breath that morning (which wasn’t as bad as it had been the day before) that it wrong to let her go through anymore suffering. That helped me to be sure I was making the right decision.

She said she was going to give her a sedative first because she was so alert.  I could not have been happier with the vet’s office.  They brought in a nice soft blanket and laid it on the ground in the room. They didn’t make her get up on that “scary” table.  I was able to sit down right beside her. They talked to her so sweetly and gave her a quick injection to help relax her. She didn’t mind that part at all.  The vet told me it would just take a couple minutes for her to relax. That she would calm down, and go into a “Hey Mom, I feel good” phase.  She was right. Within about 30-45 seconds she sat down. Another minute she laid down. I was talking to her and petting her the whole time. Within another minute after this picture she laid her head down. Her panting had stopped, although she was still breathing. The vet came back in with her assistant and asked if I was ready and did I want to stay with her. I figured they were going to take her into the other room at this point. Nope, they came right in and sat down on the floor with us. She had a syringe with the med in it and asked again if I was ok. I was… and wasn’t. But I told her to go ahead.  Sadie didn’t mind that she took her front leg and was putting a needle in it. I was again talking to her, petting her and of course.. crying like a baby.  It didn’t take but a minute.  The vet and assistant left and told me to take my time with her. I spent a few more minutes with her, just trying to take in as much of her as I could, knowing I would never again be able to pet her soft silky fur, see her face when I came down the stairs in the morning, have her nudge my hand to pet her or greet me when I came in the door.

They asked me when I came in if I wanted to take her with me or have her cremated. I had already decided to have her cremated. I hadn’t thought about wanting to keep her ashes though. They asked me if I wanted them, they’d have them put in a tin with her name on it. I decided I didn’t want that. I knew that we’d have to figure out where to bury her, and I didn’t want to go through the emotion of it.  They also asked if I wanted a paw-print sent to me. I said yes, I’d like that.

I just got that yesterday in the mail.  They put her paw-print on a card and had a little tuff of her fur in a bow along with a sympathy card from the vet’s office. How sweet was that?

I’ve lost my girl. The house is so strange without her. We all miss her. My husband is bound and determined we’re going to get another dog though.  Right now, I’m not ready. But I’m sure I’ll soften in a few months.

Goodbye my sweet Sadie. You were the best dog I could have ever asked for.

 

 

The Perfect Dress….

You CAN Find The Perfect Dress At eShakti.com!

By Amy Trauntvein

Picture it… You need/want to find a new dress.  Maybe for an upcoming occasion (wedding, graduation, party etc.) or you just want to update your wardrobe and a new dress would be wonderful.  So you head over to your favorite department store and after looking through racks and racks of dresses and skirts, you find a few that you liked, but need to try on.  In the dressing room, you try on the first dress in which the hemline is way too short.  Nope. Back on the hanger it goes.  After you zip up the second one, you turn around to see how great it looks just to notice the neckline is waaaay to low.  Yep, not gonna happen.  Now comes the third dress.  You like it ok, but wish the sleeves were a bit shorter and/or the hemline again doesn’t look right for your height.  Three dresses that just don’t work, because even though you like the style/fabric/color, there’s something wrong with them all.  Sound all too familiar?  Me too!  But I have the perfect solution…. eShakti.com

At eShakti every dress on their website is customizable!  You have the option to lower or heighten the hemline, you can add or take away sleeves, you can change the sleeves, you can change the collar and so much more!  You even give them your measurements (including your height) so the dress will fit you perfectly!  And even better, it costs only $7.50 more per garment to customize your dress in every way.  You can make any number of custom changes and the total charge will remain only $7.50!  Try and have a dressmaker to that for you!

This is the same dress, just customized in different ways.  I love the options!

It literally took me forever to decide which dress I wanted to try.  So many choices, styles and colors to choose from.  I had chosen a dozen, but had to narrow it down to one.  Man, it was hard!  Finally I chose the cream colored Pin Dot Dress.  It was so me!  I loved the double hemline and sash…  I left it sleeveless so I could add a little pop of black on the top to bring out the tiny black dots in the fabric.  I gave them my height so the dress would hit me mid-calf perfectly!  It was perfect!  Am I using that word a lot?

 

I adore the pockets which can be added to most of their dresses.

And on this dress, the back is elasticized (is that a word?) for even more comfort!  Love it!

eShakti specializes in “Vintage inspired women’s clothing 1950′s and 60′s fashion, updated in retro modern style clothing.”  The styles are classic, high end, yet modern.

I can’t resist…. I just HAVE to show you a few more of their dresses.  Aren’t they adorable???

They literally have hundreds of dresses to choose from, including bridesmaid dresses.  They also make tops and skirts too!  Check them out on their website at eShakti.com and also on Facebook, you won’t be disappointed!  Don’t forget to stop in and take a peek at their Customer Gallery. Everyday women in all shapes and sizes who love their clothes. “Real fashion for Real People”.  Happy Shopping everyone!

Love To All!  ~Amy

*Although I was compensated with the product for this review, all opinions are honest and my own.

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Pin It

The SXSW Experience

Heading to SXSW last month was quit the experience. I joined the Collective Bias crew in Austin, TX for the SXSW Interactive week.

Enter the  ”Jambulance”, which is an old ambulance that was souped up with music, cooling machine and seats inside.  There was a charging station on the outside and used it as the hub for our “Cantina De Social”.  From Friday, March 8th until Monday March 11th, we had the Jambulance set up in a parking lot  with picnic tables and food trucks, from which we were able to offer food from. Being able to invite people over to have a meal, have something to drink and eat some awesome ice cream sandwiches, was an easy way to find out what their companies did, and let them know more what Colletive Bias is and what we do.

The CB crew giving us a “Awkward Stretch” in front of the Jambulance.

The culture at CB is like no other. How many CEO’s do you know that have fun doing an “awkward stretch” and encouraging it do you know?

Inside the Jambulance. Seats, music, pillows, more music.

The culture of SXSW is outlandish. There are SO many people, that you see all kinds of interesting get ups, trying to get your attention. The pedi-cab drivers were no exception.

These guys were promoting a new cab company that was coming to town. Where individuals drove their own cars for pick ups. They were offering piggy-back rides. Melissa took them up on it. One offered for me to get on… I told him that I’d never do that to him. {I’m sure he was relieved!}

We got to try and dunk one of our Vice Presidents, Brad Lawless

Our CEO Co/Founder, John Andrews

And our Chief Social Marketing Officer, Ted Rubin. All in the name of Charity! What great sports these guys are. Keep in mind it was only in the lower 60′s on these days… it was cold!

On Monday, March 11th, we ended our time at SXSW with a party at the Bungalow. It gave us a chance to invite clients, potential clients, associates,  and bloggers  to join us for a great evening with food and fun.

I play photographer most of the night. I did miss having bloggers there. We were hoping to see more, but there were very few. Courtney, Melissa and I had a great time.

Christine Young showed up after she saw a picture of us on Facebook and realized we were in Austin. She and her husband were there on a visit, not for SXSW, but they came by to say hi.

We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. I think everyone had a wonderful time, enjoying the company, food and friends.

Yes, I had fun taking pictures of the cupcakes.

And yummy food. I stopped Brad Lawless before he could take a bite of this, so I could get a picture! Mine, was too boring looking to take a picture of.

Courtney with one of the CB pillows. You can’t see the whole pillow here, but they are little talk bubbles, so it looks like the CB logo.

We had another “awkward stretch” moment at the party.  Notice the photo-bombers outside the window.

SXSW is a different kind of conference to go to from the perspective of a blogger. This was the interactive portion of SXSW. You probably won’t find more techies together in one place, then you will this week. I was thankful for the experience of being there with CB, as I went as an employee.

Pin It

Agree to Disagree

With this being Easter Weekend, I wanted to speak my mind a bit. Can’t we just agree to disagree?

Social Media (world issues) having been kind of blowing up right now. I can think of three biggies that have prompted me to write this post.

What I don’t like to see in social media is for people to be bashing other people for what they believe. Do you really think you’ll change their mind by arguing with their Facebook post? I don’t think so.

I do my best to stay out of the “drama” of politics and religion on social.  It isn’t worth it to me. Do I have strong believes in both areas, sure I do… as many others do. I’m Christian and conservative and I am not into the “everything has to be organic” food issue. I SHOULD be able to put up my feelings about issues, marriage, guns, what foods I want to eat – but I don’t want the drama. And I know there will be drama.

I get it, I know people feel they are convicted in what they believe in. Great! Post it on your page. What I don’t like is when people go to other people’s pages, who believe differently and tell them they are wrong. I don’t go to your pages and try to tell you that I don’t like what you posted or that I believe differently?

I don’t like when people bash a Brand or bloggers who support that brand, because it’s different than what they think is right.
I don’t like when people tell me I shouldn’t have a gun, or I shouldn’t have “liked’ an article I liked.
I don’t like that I don’t feel I can express my opinion on marriage on FB without repercussions.

We are always going to have different views. I’m not going to try and tell you that your view is wrong. I don’t think anyone should. I know it happens on both side.  Seriously, why can’t we just post what we want, not yell at others for what they believe, not attack Brands that are working to promote their product, or bloggers who think that product is fine … and just Agree to Disagree.

 

Staples Office Supplies To Help You Shed, Shred and Get Ahead in 2013

We Can Use Help With Office Supplies Right? Staples Can Help

I received this fun gift pack, along with a Relay Flash Drive to review for Staples. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can walk into an office supply store and just roam the aisles. I love them. Honestly, I’d prefer going through an organization, or office store, over shopping in a clothing store. I know, I know.. I’t an oddity.

Shed
I’ve have discussed many times how papers can take over your life, and your home. You have to keep some paperwork for taxes and business purposes, but the majority of it, you can shed by shredding and recycling it.

Shred
Protecting yourself is important in today’s world. Be sure to shred any paperwork that has your name or any kind of private information on it, before throwing it away.

Get Ahead
Staying organized is important for any of us. It helps us to stay ahead of the game and know where things are, what they are, and how to use them.

I just have to stay, that I’ve always wanted an “easy” button! I was excited to see that tucked into my box. I’ll be using it on conference calls, that’s for sure! What fun I’m going to have. There were batteries already in it, so it worked right out of the package.

Staples New BETTER® Binder with removable FileRings™

Couple things I liked right off the bat with this BETTER® Binder: 

• The front clear pocket pouch on the front of the binder that you can slide your own cover page into.
• Side binder 1″ clear pouch that you can label the side of your binder.
• It has rubberized hinged sides that enables you to open the binder completely flat on the table and they will help it to hold up longer.
• It is easy to open the binder clips, but pushing down on the tab on the end.

I did have a hard time figuring out how to take the inside binder out. You see the picture on the cover that you can pull out the binder file and hang it as a hanging file. What the binder does not tell you how to do, is how to do it. I played around with it for a few minutes before I finally realized you pull out with the ends of the binder section and that is how you remove it.  Why wouldn’t they either show that in a picture, or have it written somewhere?

You can see that it just lifts off the little nubs.  What is nice is that you can take that whole binder thread and then hang it as a hanging file somewhere. I did look and you can get replaceable binder removable refills.  That is nice. You can then reuse the notebook and just add in a new refill binder to start a new notebook.

Staples One-Touch™ Aero Stapler

Staplers? I have one in several places in my home. Office – check. My mini office in the family room – check. Basement wrapping station – check. Kids each have one in their rooms at their desks – check.  Why? You always seem to need them, don’t you?

This is nice because it has the rubberized top lever that makes it a little easier to use. I was expecting it to act almost like one of those ones that you barely have to touch though, with the name One Touch. You still have to push, and you have to push pretty good, just like any other stapler, to make it work.
I did test it a bit and kept folding the piece of paper to see how many sheets it would go through. It says it can staple up to 10 pages. I would have to say, I think it’s more than that.

It wasn’t any harder to push going through this many layers than it was going through the first couple. I did check to make sure on the opposite side it had tucked the edges down. You know how often, if you go through too many pages, the underside will have the points sticking out. This didn’t do that.
My suggestions – make it in funner colors! I might walk past this in a store, unless it was lime green, orange, or hot pink. Just sayin’ Staples. Yes.. color matters to some of us.

M by Staples™ Arc Customizable Notebook System

I was given the 8.5 inch x 5.5 inch size Arc Customizable Notebook to review.
There are many options you can use to add to this notebook. Calendar pages, graph paper, To Do, or project planners, along with several other options.
I like that it’s easy to move pages around and you can customize it how you’d like.  I see online there are other color and design options, along with the full size 9×11 size. That’s good.

My thoughts:

I again could not easily see how to remove the pages. I kept thinking the plastic round rings would somehow come out, come apart or something. It doesn’t show a picture or give any explanation on how to do it. I handed it to my husband who messed with it a few minutes, looking at the rings also. He then simply pulled the pages up. Duh

It this convenient, yes.  Would I purchase this kind of system myself to customize it? No, I wouldn’t.  Why? Because, if I am going to take the time to build a customizable notebook, I would want to know that my pages are going to stay secure. I’ve had other systems that have pages like this and after removing things around a few times, the paper does tend to lose some of the edges that keep it hanging on securely.  I would purchase a binder before I purchased this, for the purpose of a calendar system or project planner.

If it was for a To Do list, that I could pull out and remove the pages I had already used and discard, then I would consider this solution. That’s just my personal opinion. There are many that would love this kind of system.

Relay USB Flash Drive

I’ve used this Relay 8 GB flash drive to pull some pictures off of one computer to put on another computer. It’s kind of cool looking. It worked without any problems. It’s always nice to have a few of these around, plus it’s kind of cool looking.

Thanks Staples. I always love checking out office supplies. Now I have some new toys to play with!

I was supplied with the products from Staples that are shown in these pictures, for no cost.  I was not compensated in any other way for this post. The pictures, and opinions are my own.

 

Pin It

A More “Grownup” Bedroom

A Bedroom Redo For My Daughter

by: Amy Trauntvein

You can redecorate a bedroom on the cheap also!

The time had come, all too quickly, for my oldest child to leave the nest (sob!).  He embarked onto college and now is in California serving a mission for 2 years and will be heading back to college once he’s back, so that meant changing up bedrooms, much to my 2 middle children’s utter excitement!  My second child inherited the “bachelor pad” downstairs so that left his bedroom empty.  It didn’t take long for my 13 year old to lay her claim on a new (bigger) bedroom along with her complaint that her current room was “way too young” and “way too pink”!  Yes it was pink, 2 colors of pink in fact along with bit of purple too.  Yes, we agreed it WAS time for a change, and time for her new room to reflect a more grown up style.

First, she needed a new bed.  The one she had was fine, but it is a twin bed and with all the sleepovers she has, I wanted to find her a full size so they could stop sleeping on the floor or even worse, squishing themselves both onto the twin bed!  Man, I could have gotten some great pictures!

As luck would have it, about a week after deciding to get her a new bed, a good friend and neighbor was having a yard sale and selling a whole bedroom set!  Full-size bed, nightstand and dresser!  Lucky me!  The set was a very sturdy, solid wood but a honey brown color.  No problem!  I just ran to my nearest home improvement store and bought sand paper, primer, and white paint.  It took me about 4 days to refinish it all in the garage.  We also repainted an old desk she had ,white with black drawer fronts, and the chair shiny black.

Once the furniture was ready, I needed to tackle the bedroom walls  and repaint.  Boring beige, not a fun color for a teen girl!

I had noticed that the white baseboards were no longer white.  After living in the house for over 7 years, they had really yellowed so after taking off all the electrical covers to prepare for painting, we taped off the carpet and tackled the baseboards.  Yellowed trim does NOT look good with any color!

When painting trim, if the walls are getting new paint too, you don’t have to be exact on the top.  The wall paint will cover your overage as long as you don’t leave any ”clumps” of paint.

Emily loves bright colors and had decided on turquoise with black accents.  As luck would have it once again, my sister had 2 gallons of brand new turquoise paint that she wasn’t going to use.  We popped open the lid, and it was exactly what she wanted, thanks Rachael!   I was a bit worried at first, since it is so bright, but once it was all up, I loved it too and it totally matches my daughter’s personality. Here’s the room mid-painting.  My hubby had taught me how to paint edges without taping which saves a TON of time and even looks better since you don’t have to deal with paint seeping under the tape.  If I paint again sometime I’ll show you how.

Painting finished, furniture getting put back together and figuring out where to put everything.  It only took me a day to do the trim and walls.  Sorry about the lighting, it was late.  :)

The final product!  She absolutely loves her new “grown up” room!

The scrolled mirror and picture frames were all white before, I just bought some glossy spray paint and made them all black instead of buying new.

The storage cubby came from my second child’s room which he no longer needed so we gave it a clean coat of paint and bought the two black fabric drawers to match.  The top outer shelves hold her favorite books and the middle top shelf houses keepsakes from around the world (her own trips and presents from grandparents trips).  And look!  Open shelves to grow with!

Every girl needs a spot for jewelry…

And no “grown up” girl should be without a vanity table….

Emily LOVES nail polish and has quite the collection.  She used to hold it all in an ugly box in her closet that honestly was overflowing.  Why not display all the beautiful colors?  Bowl from Michael’s craft store, $7.99- 40% off coupon. Cheap and easy!  My kind of idea.

Onto the closet… When we bought the house, all the closets came with the standard wire shelving which we quickly tore out.  Sorry, to me I dislike the wire shelving.  So we re-purposed it in our garage for storage and hung solid shelving with a double shelf and rod on one side and a single rod on the other for dresses and other longer items.  The top rod holds her school uniform tops, sweaters, skirts and jackets and the bottom hold her everyday tops.  The metal basket on the top shelf holds new items I’ve bought on clearance for the upcoming season, (flip flops, shorts, swimsuits etc.) and the metal basket on the bottom shelf hold her belts.

We also have realized how much unused space is in the ends of bedroom closets so my hubby also built four shelves to hold “stuff” as I call it.  Top shelf  (not seen) holds items for Marching Band that she isn’t using until the fall. The second shelf hold keepsakes that she still wants, but doesn’t necessarily want displayed.  The third shelf hold her school uniform pants and shorts (easy access in the morning).  And the fourth shelf holds all of her “layering” tops (cami’s, plain short-sleeves) also for easy access.  They just got all jumbled up and wrinkled in drawers when she was looking for just the one she wanted. Bottom floor are her flip flops and sandals and come warm weather, we will put her boots there and bring out the sandals for easy access too.

Other side of the closet…  Her dresses. Top shelf holds more keepsakes including a quilt she made with her Grandma and Great-Grandma this past summer.  She gets it down and uses it, but it stays in the closet so no one else can.  ;)  And look!  More open space on the bottom rod….Yay!  We did A LOT of purging before she could move in to her new space.  She only kept things she loved and used.

I gave her a crate that we already had to hold her bags/purses in one neat spot inside the closet.

When we got her bed set up, I wondered how I was going to do a bed skirt since it has side boards and going without one completely wasn’t an option because the naked box spring would show.  Not good.  We found a perfect solution.  I just bought a single fitted sheet in black (the contrast color of her bedroom and sheets) and covered the box spring in that.  Nice and neat!  And since I can see under her bed now, no shoving stuff under there and telling me that her room is clean.  Yep.

As for the black embellishments on the walls, they are vinyl wall stickers.  I bought mine out west on clearance last summer at their big warehouse clearance sale, but I’ve seen the exact ones I have here at major retailers in the home decor section. Target, Kohls, Meijer.  My favorite is the chandelier.  I was so excited when I found that one!

I hope you had fun joining me on my daughter’s room redo and I hope maybe this has gotten your wheels turning if you’re thinking about a room change!  Since I know I will get questions on where I purchased things, I have included a shopper’s guide…

The Home Depot   ~ Paints–White (no color added), Semi Gloss by Glidden  ~Sweet Rhapsody, Egg Shell by Behr  ~Black, Glossy by Glidden  ~ Drawer Pulls

Target                      ~Comforter Set  ~Sheet Set ~Black Fitted Sheet ~Accent Pillows ~Curtain Rod ~Sheer Black Curtains ~9 Square cubby shelf ~Black Fabric Drawers

~Metal Baskets (bought a few years ago)

Michael’s                ~Glass Bowl

IKEA                        ~Sphere lamp

Kohl’s                       ~Dress Form Jewelry Holder

Various Major Retailers  ~Vinyl Decor

Love to all!  ~Amy

 

 

 

 

 

I have been married for 23 years to my awesome hubby, Todd and we have 4 equally awesome kids who keep me young! Our favorite thing to do together is travel. I enjoy gardening and puttering around my yard. I am very active in my church and am currently serving the children, and I love volunteering at my kids’ schools doing whatever I can to help the teachers and staff.

Pin It

Never A Pen When You Need It!

But We Have A Bazillion Pens In The House!

Why is That? Pencils and pens accumulate, we put them away, but then don’t use the ones put away – we buy more.  Right? We also get them from all over. Trade shows, expos, conferences or company reps give them away freely. Of course there are always those who use them at work and walk home with them in their pockets. (Tell me it isn’t so!)

So what is the solution? Clean them out, organize and disperse them in locations where they will be used and needed.

You first want to gather up the pens, you might be cleaning out a desk drawer, or kitchen junk drawer – but try to gather up as many around the house as you can fine.

You want to test all the pens to see what ones work and which ones don’t. There’s nothing more irritating than grabbing something to write with and having it be out of ink, dried up or with broken lead.

Only keep the ones that write nicely. If you wouldn’t want to write a letter to someone with it, then you need to get rid of it. Why keep it if when you grab to use it, you don’t like it? You’ll just put it back and go look for another one? I’m right aren’t I?

Make 3 piles

1) Keep – Keep what you need. You don’t have to keep ALL of them, if you have oodles.
2) Donate – Pens, markers that work well, but you don’t like them or you have over flow. You can donate them to underprivileged school districts, or underprivileged countries.
3) Trash / Recycle – For the ones that don’t work, you can trash/recycle them. I had a reader, Vicki; comment on my other post on organizing your pens, say that you can donate your pens to  http://www.penguyart.com/ (even ones that are broken or don’t work). This guy makes artwork with used pens.

 Disperse Them. 

You don’t have to have fancy pencil/pen holders. You can use baskets, check book boxes, plastic containers from food items, etc.

Put them in places you will utilize them.

Purse
Desk Drawer
On top of the desk
Kitchen counter
Near your home phone
By your couch or chair
By your bed
In your car
In your workshop

You can also bag some up to give to someone, donate, or keep in your car, or keep for your kids for school.

I did another post, Pens & Pencil Clean Out a couple years ago. You can find some more info concerning this, there.

Pin It

Make Your Own Chalkboard Jar Labels

Chalkboard Jar Labels Using Chalkboard Contact Paper

I have seen some of the cutest chalkboard labels on the large jars in kitchens from other creative blogs. It inspired me to go out and find the large jars for my kitchen counters.

Most of the chalkboard labels that I have seen made was by using the chalkboard paint.  Although that is a great method and more than likely over all less expensive, I did see someone who used chalkboard contact paper and I decided I wanted to try that.

I searched local stores and called all around but did not find any stores that carried the blackboard or chalkboard contact paper.  I ended up finding it online and purchased it there.  I then went through the same thing with the chalkboard markers.  I also ended up purchasing them online.

Here are the link for the chalkboard contact paper Chalkboard Contact Paper, 18″ x 6′ and here are the markers I used Liquid Chalk – Works like a Marker Dries like Chalk – Set of 8 Earthy Colors .  Since these were hard for me to find, I thought I’d make it easier for you.  But just so you know I did go ahead and set them up as affiliate links with amazon – I keep no secrets from you guys.   I also went ahead and posted the widgets on my sidebar for you if you want to come back to them later or send a friend to find them.

I bought my jars at Walmart for the 1 gallon jar which I paid $6.97 for and the 1/2 gallon jar which was $4.87.  But the 3 gallon cookie jar which I’m going to also show you I got at The Container Store and I paid $19.99 for that!  I know… crazy difference, but I wanted the larger size and Walmart didn’t have it. (I have since seen the 2 gallon jar at Walmart and it was I think only $9.99 – ugh)

I also got out my x-acto cutting mat and knife so it made a nice clean cut.

I decided on the shape for my labels. That came down to which stencil I had! lol
So I went to work.  I made sure not to waste any of my chalkboard contact paper, so I cut as close to the edge as I could.

Then used my x-acto knife to cut along the edge.

Once I had cut out the pattern I decided on which marker I was going to use. I picked the yellow because it showed up nice and bright. These markers are pretty cool. You shake them up and then you have to hold them down for a little bit (longer than I expected, I thought at first they weren’t working – but like a minute or two before the tip fills with ink)

I also decided to put the little dots on the edges of my labels. DaNita from Delightful Order always does that on her printed labels and I think they look so cute.  (of course I messed up a couple, so practice spacing!)

Then I just peeled off the back and placed them on the jars. I started from the center and pressed down and wiped out with my finger to make sure all the air was out and it was pressed firmly down.

I did this for all of the jars. Here are the three smaller jars.

For the cookie jar I wanted the label to be a little larger since it was twice as big, but I didn’t have a larger stencil with the same design.

It was nice that there was a grid on the back of the contact paper, as I just free handed outside the line where I did the stencil to make it larger.

You may think that it seems strange that I did not do the traditional Flour & Sugar canisters.

The flour and sugar are not things that I use everyday in this house.  I actually don’t use the flour very often at all… (can you say box mix?).

But…. my husband makes his bowl of oatmeal every morning and puts brown sugar and raisins in it. So it only makes sense to put this in the jars.

I considered getting a smaller jar for the raisins too… but I thought it might end up looking too crowded in this space on my counter.  The refrigerator is directly on the left and the stove is just on the other side of the coffee maker.  So his raisins are in the cupboard above.

On the other side of the counter is the 2 gallon cookie jar.

Can you believe there are four different bags of cookies in there?  Well…. there are actually two of the four that only had part of them left. But there is still more room in this for more!!

My only concern for these darling jars is that there is no rubber seal.  So I am hoping the cookies don’t get stale this summer. Sometimes looks out weigh the practicality right?

My husband did find that the brown sugar did become harder, quicker. He used a cellophane wrap over the top before the lid was put on.

This project was originally compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias 4/6/2011. But I’m reposting this post Feb 2013 and was not compensated again for it.

Pin It

Simple Inexpensive Closet Solutions To Maximize Your Space

Use All Of Your Closet Space!

By adding extra closet shelves in your closet, you can maximize your closet space.  We have a fairly small walk in closet and we have maximized the space for minimal money.

Of course I’d love to have a custom closet, but it isn’t something we can afford to sink money into. So we have utilized our space by adding extra shelves. You can see where the normal clothes hanger is. On this wall we just added a short shelf to use some of that upper space.  I can put things such as my suitcases up there. Things I want to keep out of the basement, but I don’t use that often. It’s just a wire shelf and cost us under $15 I’m sure. Be sure to measure to see what size will work for you though.

On the wall when you first walk in, I added some extra shelves as well. I can keep travel supplies, extra bathroom supplies, beach towels (when out of season) and I also have my wedding keepsake box up there.

You can see that one other solution I’ve used is to add an extra hanger bar. I have my pants and purses hung on that. You can get a wooden extender bar like I have for $19 on Amazon. It works great and gives me extra space for my clothes.

You don’t have to have a expensive custom closet to accomplish the task. Would we like to have one? I’m sure most of us would.. I know I sure would! But it isn’t a priority for us right now. But I do want to get the most space out of my relatively small walk-in that I can. By doing simple things like adding extra shelves and extender rods you can really maximize the space.

 

Chalkboard Labels Using Chalkboard Contact Paper

Chalkboard Labels For Your Pantry Baskets

I got my labels completed for my pantry baskets…. I told you I was going to do them!

There are so many uses for this chalkboard contact paper.  I have several other things in mind!

But I want to show you how I made these simple labels for my baskets in my pantry.

I took some of my old business cards (they are such a good size for so many things) and used those for the basis of the chalkboard labels for the baskets.

I cut the chalkboard contact paper so that it would go over the sides just a bit and would fold back and cover the entire card.

When I fold it over I make sure to make a crisp edge and I smooth it out so there aren’t any air bubbles or creases in it.

Then I trim the short edge of the card. I do pinch the edge so that the contact paper adheres to itself to seal the edge.

I used the hole punch and punched a hole in the center top so I can hang it.

Simple enough

I used the same color chalkboard marker and basic design so that they matched the jar labels I made and showed you yesterday.

I looked for twine to tie the labels on, but evidently we didn’t have any. I found some fishing line and decided that would actually work really well.

It won’t show much and it will take care of the problem I worried about … getting through the thin basket weave.

And it looks like this:

I was pleased how they turned out… what do you think?

One of the other little things I did was to use these little buckets that I hung from my wire over the door can holder.

Remember I mentioned that I didn’t like the baggie that was holding the chip clips in my pantry? That I was sure there was something cuter?  I decided this was cuter!

I had a 2nd bucket that I used and wasn’t sure what to put in it….. but had an onion sitting on the pantry shelf and thought… ok.. done!

So of course I made labels for these pails too.  I used the business card as the stencil and cut out a piece of the chalkboard contact paper.  I wrote the name on it with the markers and stuck it on the side of the bucket.

I think they turned out cute too… don’t you?

Adding little touches like this, makes your pantry look a little cuter, but it also makes it functional by letting the family know where to put things away.

And of course that makes me happy!!
You can find the Chalkboard Contact Paper, 18″ x 6′ and the markers I used Liquid Chalk – Works like a Marker Dries like Chalk – Set of 8 Earthy Colors at the two links I have here. They are affiliate links, but that’s not why I’m giving them to you. I had a hard time finding both products and thought I’d make it a little easier for you all.

 This post was revamped and reposted from 4/7/2011

 

Pin It

Valentine’s Day Crafts

DIY Valentine’s Day Craft Projects

Valentine’s Day is coming fast!  I wanted to find a couple DIY projects that you might enjoy.

I did some searching on the internet and found a couple things from Martha Stewart.com and also Disney Family Fun.

 Romantic Candle Garden

I must really like the idea of the candle’s in coffee beans because I showed you one the other day I liked from pinterest too.  But how simple would this be to do?  Grab a few of those pillar candles that you probably have in a drawer somewhere, find a neat bowl or basket, pour in some coffee beans, place your candles and wah-la.. you’re finished!

Candy Hearts and Flower Arrangement

I think this would be super easy. It might take a trip to a craft store, but just for the jar and flowers.  You could use either real or artificial flowers in this, but personally I would suggest artificial if you want to feel ok about eating the candy hearts.

How cute would this be sitting on your daughter’s bedside in the morning?

 

Heart finger puppets Disney

These next couple ideas came from the Disney site.  This would make a cute craft for the kids and would also make fun home made Valentine’s Cards. They could write their messages on the back of them.

Your a blast

I’ve seen a couple people who have made this project, on pinterest. They have said they use Rolo candy in the center tube to stabilize. This would also be a fun craft for the kids to make for others, or something easy to make for them.

Valentine’s Day Coupon Checks

I loved things like this when I was young.  You can print these coupons for the kids to fill out for Valentine’s day gifts.  Another idea if they planned to give them to parents, siblings and Grandparents would be, if you have your old checks from a closed checking account sitting around – let them use those. If they are going to close family members you wouldn’t have to be so concerned with getting personal information off before using.

What kind of crafts does your family do?

Next Page »