Laundry Makeover

Hello friends! So summer has come and gone in the blink of an eye! We had a jam packed summer vacation between hubby being gone for work (and having a pretty major injury on his trip which led to him having surgery in Germany and now lots of occupational therapy), summer camps for my kiddos, and little trips here and there! My youngest turned 5 last week and started Kindergarten this week, needless to say, this mama has been a bit emotional lately!! He's growing up so fast and I just can't keep up! So we are getting into a new "normal" with his school schedule and I'm hoping to find more time for my hobbies again (blogging and sewing)! I'm also planning to get back to the gym since I now have some time between him getting on the bus in the mornings and my work day starting. Maybe a future blog topic...for now, let's just hope I can stick to my fitness plan for longer than a week or two!

In other news, I've been planning for awhile now to open an Etsy shop and while I had planned to get lots sewn over the summer, that just didn't happen! Again, hopefully I can get back into a groove and make time for my hobbies and get that going here in the next month (in time for shoppers to purchase some Christmas gifts from me). Leave me some comments with items you'd like to see in the shop! Right now my plan is to start off with some of my friends and family's favorite bibs and burp cloths, as well as some baby blankets, kids hooded towels, and possibly a few other random items.

Now, on to the laundry room makeover! This post has been a year in the making, so it's about time I get it posted!

Jalapeno Ranch Salsa (Chuy's Copycat Recipe)

Welcome back! As per usual with me, life has gotten a little busy and this blog was the first thing to go on the back burner. I've got lots of plans for new posts, so let's hope I can get my stuff together and get them written and posted! I've got some lofty goals for 2017 including fitness, finally opening my Etsy shop, and of course, this blog! Stay tuned, I promise I'll be trying hard to stay on track and give y'all some fun DIY projects, recipes, product reviews, and who knows what else!

Date Night Jar

Hey y'all!! How is it already March?? I feel like this year is flying by and it just started like last week! Let me start today with a life update...husband is officially getting out of the Army this spring after 6 years of service! While we (mostly) enjoyed our time as a military family, we are more than ready to go back to the slightly more stable civilian life and hopefully move closer to family in Texas. While nothing is 100% set in stone yet, husband got accepted into a Veterans program with a technology company. After completion of the program (and passing a couple of very hard tests), he will hopefully be offered a full time job in...wait for it...the Dallas area! While it's not Houston, it's in Texas, and if that's as close as we can get right now, that's good enough for us!  We've already begun working on the little things the house needs to sell and I've started cleaning out rooms and closets to get rid of stuff we just don't need or use anymore--you don't realize how much stuff you accumulate until it's time to pack and move it all. Luckily, the Army will send packers and movers, so we won't have to do much physical work, but the thought of someone packing and moving all of your worldly possessions is way more mentally exhausting! So stick around as I share with you the pains and joys of selling our home, finding a new home, moving, and getting re-adjusted to life outside the military! 2017 is about to get crazy, folks!

Vodka Cherry Limeade Slush

Texas in the summertime. There's not much to say about it, except that it's hot. Hot AF. You are either in a pool or in the a/c. No one spends much time outside to avoid melting or just spontaneously combusting from the heat. Today it was 116 degrees here in Dallas. Yea. You read that right, 1- 1- 6. It was miserable to say the least. We spent some time at the pool, but don't dare walk from the chair to the water without flip flops or you will be left with very little skin left on your feet! 

 Doesn't that just look DIVINE??

Spring Wreath Tutorial!

Hello Friends!! Long time no see! :) We've had some MAJOR life changes since my last posts, so I'm here and ready to catch you up! 

My husband got out of the Army in April 2017, studied his little heart out and passed a series of exams to get some IT certifications and progress through a veterans program with Cisco Systems. He accepted a position at their office in the Dallas area and in July 2017 we sold our home in North Carolina and moved halfway across the country! We settled in a suburb north of Dallas and absolutely LOVE it here!!

Kiddo has been busy with Cub Scouts, taekwondo, and baseball as well as playing with new friends and spending every free moment at the pool (in the spring/summer months). 

Work and being a taxi driver (to shuttle kiddo from activity to activity) has kept me busy, along with unpacking the house and getting us settled in. We are currently just renting, so we don't have a lot of DIY house projects right now, but if all goes as planned, we will be buying a home in another year or two (which will surely bring SO many new projects for me to share with you!). I'm slowly getting back to working on my Etsy shop now that life is settling down again, so be on the lookout for an opening announcement and sale in the coming months!

It's not even June yet, but it already feels like summer here in Dallas (temps are in the 90's, ugh), and I've got a tutorial for you today on how to make a fun wreath for your door! I made mine light and bright for spring and summer, but you can easily change the colors to make it suitable for any season! Let's get to it!

Beach Vacation Must Haves!

The beach is my ultimate happy place. The breeze, the crashing waves, the warm sand, what's not to love?? Whether it's adult time in a chair drinking something cold and reading a book, or family time covered in sand making castles, I cannot turn down time at the beach. We are about 2 hours away from the nearest beach and we love to take day trips in the summer and if work schedules and finances allowed it, we'd take a week long beach vacation every year! We have been having some pretty warm weather around here and with Memorial Day fast approaching, I thought I'd share some of the things on my "must pack" list for a beach vacation! Some of these are major must haves if you are taking kiddos and others are great for anyone going to the beach! So if this is your first beach trip as a family, or your 50th, hopefully I can help you pack some extras that will make your vacation more enjoyable!

DIY Lazy Susan Organizer!

Hey guys!! Today I've got a super quick and easy pantry organization project for you! Previously my spices were sitting in little bins, which kept them contained and together in the pantry, but it was super hard to find the one I was looking for (I needed to clean out the old expired spices as well-there were a lot!).

 I love the idea of using a lazy susan/spinnner to keep the spices so they are easy to find, but have you priced those things lately?? Walmart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and the Container Store have them for $8 or more! Sorry friends, but I'm not paying that much money for something sitting in my pantry. So I found this little DIY lazy susan hack that only cost $3 each! Boom! I made 4 of these for just over the price of one in the store! I actually like these more than the store bought ones anyway because they have sides, so the spices won't fall over easily. These can be used for just about anything from spices to lotion and other bathroom items, to anything you want easy and organized access to!

All you need is 2 round cake pans and  bag of marbles. You can get all of these things for $1 each at the Dollar Tree, making each one only $3! Walmart has 9" cake pans for $.88, however I had a really hard time finding a store that had them in stock (I went to 4 different stores with no luck!), so I used the 8" pans I found at the Dollar Tree and they were a great size for spices. I eventually found some at a Walmart and made 2 more of these for our bathroom cabinets! 

Step 1: Put marbles in one of the cake pans.

Step 2: Put the second cake pan on top.

Step 3: Put in your spices.

Step 4: Smile, you are done! :) And spin it around 100 times because, well, its fun!

Here's my BEFORE. :( A MESS!!

And the AFTER!! SOO much better!!

Let me know if you make these or have any other genius organization hacks!!

-A

March 2016 Favorites!

Happy Tuesday!! I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend (and a bearable Monday)! Ours was relatively low key, but we had some fun! Hubby took kiddo to soccer on Saturday while I stayed home attempting to finish touching up the baseboards and paint in our bathroom, but that just didn't happen. I'm going to have to tape off the trim in order to touch up the wall paint in order for it all to look nice. 

Dining Table Centerpiece DIY

Hello Friends!! Happy Easter!! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend (I had an extra day off work, so that was extra wonderful)! We kept things VERY low key this year, and it was awesome! The entire weekend we stayed on relax mode and honestly didn't do much of anything...sometimes you just need a few days to unwind! Friday we just ran some errands and lounged around the house. Hubby and I finally got a day date in at the driving range on Saturday, and while we had a blast, I am sore in places I didn't even know had muscles to be sore! It's been YEARS since I've even held a golf club--needless to say, watching us must have been pretty comical!  In years past, we have gone to Ohio to be with my family for Easter, but that didn't work out this year due to hubby's work schedule so we just spent the day mostly at home. Kiddo did his Easter egg hunt in the house because the weather just had to be yucky. Egg hunts are much more fun outside!! After that, we just hung around and watched movies for most of the day and I think that was just what we needed. 3 days off with nothing to do. My house is a disaster and the laundry is piling up, but I'm so glad we had a chill weekend!

Kitchen Table MAKEOVER!

WOW! I've been 100% absent from this blog for over 6 months...all I can say for myself is that life happens! Between our busy summer, hubby being overly busy with work and training, and having a super active 4 year old (oh and my full time job), I just got busy and maybe a little lazy. In any case, I'm ready to get back to writing and sharing our projects and creations with you!

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

This summer has been hot.. Really. Stinking. Hot. When it's over 100 degrees outside, I don't want to turn on my oven and make the house warmer - not to mention there are many days when I just don't feel like cooking. Days like those call for these super easy crock pot Chicken tacos. I got this recipe from my sweet mama friend in Texas (and have seen variations of it on Pinterest) and we just love it! Not only does it make chicken for tacos, the leftovers are great on a salad, baked into taquitos or enchiladas, toppings to nachos,or made into chicken quesadillas! Seriously they are so versatile and it's one of the few recipes I really enjoy as leftovers. Again, I can't stress how easy this chicken is, and that makes it one of our go to meals!

First, we do not use the crock pot in my house unless we have these handy plastic liners. These make clean up just as easy as the meal. My husband used to dread crock pot meals because sometimes the crock would be so hard to clean afterwards, but these just lift right out and in to the trash. I will admit to them occasionally leaking or tearing, but majority of the time we don't have any issues. If you don't have these, get some. You will thank me later!

It's so easy, just 3 simple steps!

Step 1. Put ingredients in the crock pot. 
Step 2. Turn it on high for 4 hours. 
Step 3. Shred chicken and eat!

Easy as pie... Hmm, pie sounds really good...

Ingredients
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can Rotel or Salsa (you choose the level of spiciness)

Put the chicken (single layer) in the crock pot (if you are using the liners, be sure to put that in first). 

Pour taco Seasoning over chicken, then pour Rotel or salsa on top of that.

Put the lid on the crock pot and turn on high for 4 hours (or low for 6) . Resist the tempting aroma and keep the lid closed to keep in the moisture.

When the chicken is done, shred it with a fork (it will be so juicy, it will just fall apart) . 

Grab your favorite taco shells and toppings and enjoy! This will serve about 4 adults with some leftovers. 

As I said, the leftovers are amazing used in chicken quesadillas, a salad (taco or regular) or rolled in corn tortillas and baked to make taquitos! Oh and don't forget to have a Margarita while you 'cook' :)

Let me know in the comments below if you make this and if you enjoyed it!

-A

LUSH Product Reviews!

I have been MAJORLY slacking on this blog, but I'm hoping to get caught back up soon! Life has been crazy with all 3 kiddos here while I'm working, but I'm planning to get some writing done and photos taken soon to flood you all with some more DIY projects and beauty reviews!

As previously mentioned in my beauty haul blog, I used a good chunk of my birthday money for a LUSH haul! A few of the You Tube vloggers I follow have talked about LUSH and I just HAD to try their stuff out! Not only did the products look amazing, the products are all handmade, fresh, and organic! They are good for your skin and the environment! I am a bath person, so I mostly focused on Bath products in this haul, but after loving mostly everything I bought, I will be heading back to branch out and try some other products they offer! ( I purchased these items with my own money, these are my own thoughts and am not being compensated in any way for this review.)

Beauty Birthday Haul!

So I had a birthday a few weeks ago, the big 3-0! I got some birthday cards with cash and decided to splurge on some fun beauty and skin care items for myself! Here's a breakdown of most of the stuff I got--stay tuned for reviews in the coming weeks!

How to road trip (alone) with an active preschooler!

I just got home from a 9 hour (each way)  road trip alone with my 3 1/2 year old. With husband in the Army and away a lot,  this wasn't our first solo trip, and won't be our last! We've made the trip to Ohio to visit my family several times since little man was born (and from NC to TX as a family) and each time has had its own set of challenges, but we stay calm and get through it! 

*While I know that many people dislike the idea of using electronic with kids, we are ok with it in my house, in moderation. If you do not allow your kids to use electronics, skip those and try to other ideas I've suggested!

Graduation Gift!

**This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated in you click on or purchase the items in the links. All opinions in this post are 100% my own!

One of my little brothers is about to graduate from high school and being the overly-prepared crafty person I am, I couldn't just give him a check and send him on his way. He will be going away to school, being away from home and in a dorm room for the first time, so I wanted to give him some things he could take with him and use in the fall. Some of these items are things that I didn't think to buy and pack when I went away to school, so I thought I'd help him be more prepared than I was and save him my Step Mom some time shopping!

Easy and Fun End of Year Teacher Gifts

**This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated from purchase of the items in the links. All opinions in this post are 100% my own!

As my son's school year has been winding down, I've been searching for a neat end of year teacher gift for his teachers. They are such sweet ladies who put up with my son 3 days a week and somehow still have a smile on their face when I come to pick him up (seriously, my kid has a LOT of energy and is a handful)! So I wanted to give them something they could use that was more personal than a gift card, but still keep the cost reasonable since I'd be buying/making 2 gifts. Let me stop now and say that I do not think there is anything wrong with a gift card, because that allows the person to choose what they want (and you'd be certain they enjoyed the gift of their choosing), but my crafty side won and I felt like putting something together!

How to Save Money Using Coupons!

So I'm sure you all have seen or at least heard of the show Extreme Couponing (I don't think they have new episodes airing anymore, but I see re-runs on my guide often). If you've been living under a rock and haven't seen it, it's a reality show where people use coupons and store sales to save tons of money on groceries, some about 99% of their total bill! While some of these people walk into a store, buy 300 packs of tic-tacs and walk out having only paid $.50, others seem to buy more practical items like commonly used cooking items or cleaning products. Not to knock buying 300 packs of tic-tacs, but someone must have really bad breath...just sayin'! The concept of the show is very interesting to me, however it is somewhat frustrating to those of us who actually coupon by the rules because what is depicted on most of these episodes would not happen in most stores by most people. All stores that I know of have a limit of how many 'like' coupons they accept, some how many you can use total in one day, and some how many coupons the store will double per day or transaction. Those limits are usually WAY less than 300. That being said, the concept that is always explained on the show is legit and can save a person a lot of money. The basic concept of couponing is simple; Using a coupon will save you some money. Getting an item on sale will do the same. However when you combine those store sales with a coupon (especially one that the store will double), results in a much larger savings! Then, once you get an item you use frequently at it lowest price, you don't just buy 1, you buy as many as you 1) have a coupon for and 2) that your family will use before it expires, or before there is another great sale on the item. 


The grocery store that I go to will double manufacturer coupons any day you go in, as long as the face value of the coupon is $.99 or less (so a $.75 coupon from the newspaper will actually deduct $1.50 from your total). However, this store also has coupon events where they will triple a coupons face value, or double coupons with a face value of $2 or under. The latter was the case just a few weeks ago and I wanted to share with you some of the best deals I got! Again, pay attention to the concept (and not just the items) so you can apply it to your next grocery trip and start saving!!

Cat Food

A bag of Purina Cat Food at my grocery store normally costs $5.89. However, this week, they had it on sale, buy one get one free (each item rings at half price), making each bag only $2.95! That in itself is a great deal! But wait, there's more! There is currently a coupon out for $1.05 off of the bag of cat food, making it only $1.90! Hold on, the best is yet to come! This week, my store is running a 'super doubles' promotion, where every coupon $2 or under will be doubled once scanned! So, my $1.05 off coupon becomes a $2.10 off coupon and I only pay $.85 per bag of cat food!!  That is a savings of $5.04 PER BAG (or 86%)!!! Unbeatable!! So do I only buy 1 bag? No way!! I stock up and buy as many as I can at that price (while sticking to the store and coupon rules by doing so in multiple trips and transactions). With this sale I purchased about 20 bags, 3 per transaction (I've made a lot of trips to the store!). Yes, 20 bags of cat food may sound like a lot all at once, but when you have 4 pretty fat cats to feed, it goes quickly!! Here is an easier to read breakdown of the sale.

$5.89 Regular price
     $2.95 Sales Price ( Buy one get one free)
    -$1.05 Coupon
      $1.90
   - $1.05 Doubled coupon
       $.85 TOTAL Price (plus tax) 

Dish Soap
Another deal I got this week was on Seventh Generation Dish Soap. This soap is normally $3.39 per 25 fl oz bottle, pretty expensive for soap if you ask me! But the store had it on sale for $2.50 per bottle and I had a coupon for $1.00 off per bottle, which doubled, making each bottle only $.50! This again, was a stock up price for me, so I purchased 6 bottles-which is still less than the regular price of 1 bottle! I saved $2.89 per bottle or an 85% savings! What's great about cleaning products is that they usually don't expire and I know we will use them sooner or later (usually sooner), so I stock up when I find a product I like at such a cheap price. The coupon used here was a printed coupon from www.coupons.com and the site only allows each computer or smartphone to print a coupon twice, so between my 2 laptops and iPhone, I was able to print 6. Had I been able to legally print more, I certainly would have purchased more of these!

$3.39 Regular price
   $2.50 Sale Price
  -$1.00 Coupon
    $1.50
  - $1.00 Doubled Coupon
      $.50 TOTAL price (plus tax)

Bread
The last deal I will share with you was on Arnold bread. This is something we use often between lunches for my husband and son and occasional grilled panini sandwiches, I definitely took advantage of this deal and got 4 loaves! (Bread freezes wonderfully in case you didn't know-as does shredded cheese!) I had a coupon for $1.00 each loaf of bread and with the sale price and doubled coupon, these 4 loaves of bread were totally free!! This coupon was also a printable and I could have printed and used 6, however we don't eat it super quickly and I only have so much room in my freezer (if anyone wants to buy me a deep freeze, I might just be your new best friend!)  I was super psyched!! Who doesn't love free bread!!

$3.99 Regular Price
     $1.99 Sale Price (BOGO)
   -$1.00 Coupon
      $.99
    -$.99 Doubled Coupon*
     $0 TOTAL Price (I only had to pay tax on this item)

*My store does not give overage for doubled coupons, so if the doubled amount is more than the total price remaining, they give you the item free, but do not give overage-in this case it would have been a $.01 money maker, but the store will not allow this.

These are just a few of the deals I got during the super doubles coupon event a couple weeks ago, there were more, but these were my best deals of the week. I also get great deals when there aren't special coupon events by using the same coupon and sale matching technique. Let me know in the comments below if you'd like to see more posts on couponing, I have learned a lot over the past few years and have saved a lot of money and I'd love to pass that info along to whoever wants to read it! 

-A

Spaghetti and Meatball Bread

If you've been to my house for dinner, it's pretty likely that you've had this dish. It's so easy to make and delicious, I love making it for guests! I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest (of course), and I have to say, it is one of my all time favorites! I mean, who doesn't LOVE pasta and garlic bread?? The first time I make a new recipe, I usually follow it exactly. We try it and while eating, my husband and I will discuss ideas to make it suit our tastes better. So with this one, I have a few modifications-try it the original way, try it my way, or put your own spin on it! Any way you make it, I can pretty much guarantee you will LOVE it!

Moving Tips

First, I have to apologize for my absence on the blog, I've been sick. Allergies, a cold, the plague, I'm not sure what I have, but it's sure been hanging around for much longer than I had hoped. Little Mr of the house has the same issues going on, so I'm thinking it's just lovely spring time allergies...lucky us!

Military families tend to move a lot, except us. There's an old saying to the effect of  'once in the 82nd, always in the 82nd' and it seems my husband has fallen victim seeing as we've been here for 3 1/2 years with no glimmer of orders elsewhere (not that I'm complaining, we love our house and I despise moving!). However, I moved a lot as a kid and have several times as an adult, so I've added a few tricks to my arsenal. A friend of mine is preparing to move, so her need for advice has prompted me to write this blog and share my ideas with everyone! Some of these apply only if you are moving yourself, some if you have movers coming to pack and/or move you, and some are just general tips.

5 Spring Cleaning Tips/Tricks

We had some gorgeous weather last weekend and it inspired me to get moving on this blog with some of my favorite cleaning tips and tricks! With spring-like weather comes spring cleaning, organizing and refreshing your home (at least that how it works in my house)! My favorite thing to do on a nice day is to just open the windows and let the fresh air in, nothing is better than feeling the breeze through the house!