Friday Faves…

I had a few minutes to sit down today and type-I miss it! I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites with you.

1.Vanilla and Cinnamon Chex. Seriously. YUM!

2. Peppermint Body Scrub. Heavenly.

 

 

3.  This quote- I need to remember this, I am trying slowly to change our eating habits around here and sometimes it can be overwhelming to think about all the JUNK we eat- it’s in EVERYTHING! This is helping me remember that even small changes can make a big difference! :)

And this book is darling. I think I might need it! Braxton LOVED it, we read it twice within an hour and now he talks about Junk Food Dude and Green Smoothie Guy when making any food choices! Love it!

 

4. Life changing! Seriously. I have a glass cook top on my stove and this is hands down the best cleaner for it. It makes my stove look brand new! I get it at Don Asletts Cleaning Center.

5. I’m a documentary freak. It’s the only TV I’ve watched in about 6 months but I loved both of these. Both are on Netflix.

STUCK.   Death By China.

6. Kind of loving this too. Humans of NY. People are fascinating don’t you think?

7. Oh and this Pumpkin Steamer?! You have got to try it! It’s pretty great! Tastes just like pumpkin pie. MMM!

Milk, Creamer to taste, top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. I’m thinking Santa might like this for a treat instead of his regular old cup of milk this year! ;)

Organization Part II

Winner of my little  blog give away is SueAnn who said

“I also love the Bath and Body works summer vanillas the berry and the coconut...mmmmm! I think I'll go make me some hot chocolate right now!”

(I  wish I knew how to post the random number generator picture, I tried but just can’t figure it out- Any tips?)  I hope you love my random obsessions just as much as I do. :)

So a friend of mine, reminded me that I hadn’t finished my Organizational post series! See… no one is ever as organized as they would like! :)

 

We actually had sunshine & 60 degree weather here yesterday! It was such a nice break from all the cold & gloom!!! I got so much done yesterday! I actually started on my Spring Cleaning List & knocked out a bunch! Good Luck with yours!  Here is another part of our Relief Society Workshop that we had back in January.

Simple Steps to Organize Your Life

Assess the situation- Walk outside your front door, close it and take a deep breath. Now pretend you are someone else, and this is your first visit here. Open the door and begin walking through the house, seeing it through different eyes. Go ahead, snoop! Look through closets & cupboards. What do you think? Be honest now!

Purge- pick a room. Then choose a drawer or closet. Remove everything, and sort into piles.

1. Throw away

2. Put away

3. Give away

4. Sell

5. Keep

To keep or toss? Ask yourself, “Does it enhance my life or the life of others?”

If you answer no, then toss it.

Put back only the things that you love!!!

If it takes 60 seconds or more to decide, toss it.

Organize- Now that you have freed up space, it’s time to organize! Use common sense, put things where you will need them. Be creative, use boxes, crates, buckets, and baskets to organize. Find a home for every homeless thing, and then you never have to waste time trying to find it.

Maintain- easier to keep up, than catch up. Periodically purge throughout the year. Make the decision NOT to bring something into the house, and you won’t have to make the decision about what to do with it later.

Helpful Organizing Websites & Blogs:

www. Flylady.net

http://declutteryourhomes.blogspot.com/

http://orgjunkie.com/

http://creativeorganizing.typepad.com/

http://diyorganization.com/

http://organisingtips.blogspot.com

www.organizedhome.com

Just do the best you can, but be sure it is your very best! – Pres. Hinckley

GIVE AWAY!!!!

The first week of every month is well to say the least a bit stressful for me, it just seems like so many activities fall in the first week. When it’s all said & done, I really wouldn’t have it any other way. We had Recipe Group- YUMMY FOOD!!! Check out all the Cookin’ Mama’s Recipes HERE. It really is so fun, we have 10 girls in our group and we rotate hosting each month. Who ever hosts is in charge of the main dish, and usually the drink. They assign all the dishes out and have it at their home.  Here’s a look at the party!

 

I finally had an excuse to make the cute Snow Man Kisses! My dad actually made these up in photo shop for me! ♥  On the back it says

Snowman Kisses

He’s cute, cuddly & full of good wishes. He wants to give you these snowman kisses! xoxoxo

I also had the cute girls in my group e-mail me their favorite cookie recipes- and made these books up for each of us. Super Simple. Can’t wait to try all the cookie recipes out! Thanks girls!!!

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The very next night we had our Relief Society Workshop- (a group for women ages 18 up at church) We had mini classes on Organizing and Simplifying our Lives plus Being Frugal & Fabulous. It was perfect. The teachers that taught were AWESOME! Do you want the 411? (that means information in cool teenager language) I sound stupid saying that. heaven knows I’m not “cool”.

ANYWAY-

I learned SO MUCH and was totally inspired by the sisters in my ward. Why am I even surprised? I am always inspired by them!!!

There was SO much information, I think I’ll just post  a tiny bit of it tonight. Watch for Part II in the series in a couple of days.

The first thing you need to do is

Identify YOUR Clutter Personality.

Which one are You??

The stasher- this individual is surface clean, but open their closets or cupboards and watch everything fall on your head!

The packrat- this is the ultimate hoarder! They hold on to everything for like fifty years. “I might need that someday.” Or “so and so gave that to me.” (then they display it when that person comes to visit)

The messy- these people make messes wherever they go. You can find them just by following their clutter path.

The procrastinator- quite often a perfectionist, this individual is afraid of not doing it right, so they don’t do it at all. Or they are waiting for the right time, or the perfect organizing tools, and… well you get the picture. It never happens.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

So last but NOT least, I bet you are wondering what the GIVE AWAY is right?! Well Amanda, from

Shabby Shack Creations

offered my cute readers a chance to win one of FIVE customized hair accessories! That’s right FIVE lucky readers will win!! That’s a pretty good chance. She sent a couple of clips over to me already, and I’m telling you they are CUTE, not only that but they are a steal! I’ve seen girls selling these all over the place, but no where near the price Amanda is selling them at! Here are just a few of my favorites- but there are SO many to choose from!!!

So there are a couple of ways you can win.

one entry if you become a follower on the Shabby Shack Blog, one entry if you like Shabby Shack on facebook, one entry if you blog, facebook or tell a friend about the giveaway.

Just leave me a comment for each entry.

I will also be picking one winner from the list of followers on my blog.

The giveaway starts today and will close next Friday.

Happy Dance…

Okay, I think I’m getting caught up here! I also wanted to tell you about {because I can’t keep something this good to myself}, something that makes me very happy. It may be kind of WHAT. EV. to you, but if you have hard water… like we do… very hard water! Sometimes it can wreak havoc on your dishes. Just try this… no more hard water stains on your dishes! YEAH!!!

Do I sound like an info-mercial?! I seriously love this stuff though.

These little cuties:

I just bought them on Etsy right HERE & I can’t wait to pin them on a purse or jacket, or wear them in our hair! They make me happy!

Picked up two summer reads, already started this one, very educational!

Hope this one is good!

Next on my list:

On the cruise I was introduced to many new and delicious food. One thing that I really loved on the menu, was Strawberry Bisque, {it’s a cold soup}

For the recipe go here.

Super summery & refreshing!

Other things to get done this week:

Put this together so maybe, just maybe we can enjoy it for the next two days, before it is supposed to rain again! ha! :)

We are hopefully going to get our sprinkler system in the yard this week, and then planting grass after that! It’s pretty exciting to see all the progress. I think the kids might miss the piles & piles of dirt around here, but I will not! ;)

Hope you each find something this week

that makes YOU happy too!

The SUN is Shining...

Well, I have to say that my new word of the year "Serenity", is already having a great effect on me! It's wonderful, and hopefully I can keep it going for the rest of the year. Did you know that almost 97% of New Years Resolutions will not be kept?!

I challenge all of us to be in the 3%!

I loved reading all of your words & new year's resolutions! It really inspired me! Today there are rays of sunshine flowing through my windows. It is making me SO happy & quite ambitious I might add! I have been getting a little spring cleaning done. I know. Where we live, we are FAR from Spring! I'm doing things that don't get done very often, like clean my washer from top to bottom and run a HOME MADE MIX through it to get the inside sparkly clean too. I've also started cleaning some light fixtures & gone through my filing system and cleaned it out too! Feels so good! I just ordered this book. I can't wait for it to get here!

The winner of the 2nd scarf is #18 (I used Random.org) Ashley & Josh who said: It looks like you all had a great holiday season! Your little ones are so cute. I love the scarf! My word for this year is "FORGIVE"...not just others but myself as well...I really need to work on letting things go...so this year I will forgive others for their wrongs towards me...and I will forgive myself as well. Happy New Year! Great word Ashley!!! E-mail me with your address so I can get your scarf to you. Okay let's see I need to quickly re-cap our New Year's. We had SO much fun! We had a big sleep over at my parents house & enjoyed our 2nd annual Wii bowling tournament. Krystal won,

Zach wasn't too happy to give up his title from last year, but we were excited a girl won this year!! We also played Bunco and won some pretty sweet prizes from Ikea!! Thanks MOM & DAD! (Brooklyn LOVED the pink Bunco dice!)

My Grandma Alice also taught us how to make Carmel in a can. (Fat free & sugar free!) You can find the recipe RIGHT HERE.

Speaking of Recipes, we had a VERY Yummy Recipe Exchange this month! Check out our recipes HERE. Really, could have been one of our best yet!

Brooklyn & I made these Glittery Window Snowflakes, to hang in her bedroom. They were in the last issue of Family Fun.

For instructions on how to make your own go HERE.

She is now a Sunbeam and attended Primary for the very first time at church. I cried, she didn't. I just don't know why they have to grow up!

Stay tuned for some of my favorite hand made gifts that I got for Christmas!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day!!