Ok, so we're settled in to the new place. :) Things have found homes (mostly) and the kids and I have found our groove. Adam works a lot more now so we see him a little less, but he's really happy with his new job and they are already talking to him about some definite longevity...so that's a huge plus!
The neighborhood is mostly great! Adisson loves that there are so many kids around to play with. I'm leery of other kids so while I like that he has new friends, I hate that I don't know them enough to know whether or not they'll be talking to my kid about "mature" subject matter while they are playing silly games down the road. But he's happy... :)
My friends, Hillary and Robyn, came down from Frederick to visit me for my 30th birthday! It was so amazingly wonderful! It was a surprise visit (to me!) and I just was so happy that they did that...just because they love me. We went to dinner, we got pedicure's, we went shopping, and to a painting class...sigh....amazing. :)
There's a lot to tell, but I tend to over type when I'm catching up...so I'm skipping that part and just getting started back up again. Starting today. Welcome back, Nicole....why thank you, Nicole!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Bzzzzzing right along!
I'm a BzzAgent and one of my campaign's right now is Smarterer. :) It's so addictive! It's a quiz game where you're racing against the clock to get the most points. Plus, I'm SO competitive so I can't stop answering the questions! I know more about being a BzzAgent than I ever have before so super fun and informative!! :) But, that's pretty typical of BzzAgent!!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Welcome to NC!
We've made it. We moved to North Carolina! It's been a chaotic, busy, hectic week, but we're here!
The boys love the house and as soon as we get their room unpacked, they'll love it, too! :) I'll post pics and more info as soon as I have a minute to sit and type for an hour! :)
The boys love the house and as soon as we get their room unpacked, they'll love it, too! :) I'll post pics and more info as soon as I have a minute to sit and type for an hour! :)
Friday, January 27, 2012
It's getting close...
Getting a little anxious. The next 7 days are going to be so chaotic. And there's no way we can finish the table before we move so it has to wait. But that's ok. I'm just overwhelmed and under-energized. :)
Sigh.
Sigh.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
I can be a handyman....errr, handywoman!
Ok, so I left you hanging with my last post. :) It's been a crazy few days since then!
On Sunday I went up the road to buy some chairs I found on craigslist. I thought they were white with blue cushions, but they turned out to be cream colored chairs with tan gingham cushions. I loved the cream color of the chairs but the cushions had to go. Too bland and boring. But I was excited because I scored them for a great deal. One of the backs was broken but I was certain Adam could fix that! (He was not as sure because it was broken and splintered...but as expected, my man came through in a big way!!)
Our next step in the plan was to build a new table. Our current table is a metal frame and pressed board/veneer covered top. We were going to take the top off of the table and get a big piece of wood to replace it. Then stain and seal and voila...new table! But then I got the chairs home. And they are HUGE. I mean HHUUGGEE next to our table. Crap.
So I was back to looking for a table. And I emailed everyone and their brother on craigslist that had ANYTHING that might work. Nothing. Not a single emailed response. Heart breaking. :(
I've been OBSESSED with tables for days. :( I hate that feeling.
But today I got to get out of the house with my lovely Hillary. Likely for the last time (I try not to think about it because it makes me super sad!). We had lunch at The Wine Kitchen (ohmy. Amazing.) and then hit up a few antique shops downtown. Let me just say...the first one we went to...one of the grossest things I've ever seen. Like really. And like previous searching had already informed me, antiques are ugly and overpriced.
We ran to a few more places and then over to the new Goodwill in town. We were just there on Saturday and didn't see anything, but Hillary wanted to see the new store so we ran in. There in the furniture section was a dining room table. It looked like it might be big enough...had all four legs (so that's a plus!) and after some searching we found its missing leaf over on some chairs. We stretched it out and tried to measure it. But we had no tape measure and the great guy at Goodwill had lent his to someone earlier in the day and it had since walked away. So, because we're so resourceful, Hill pulled up an app on her iPhone to help us measure....but we couldn't figure out how to use it. :) But we did see that the iPhone screen was three inches, so we measured it that way (and got a few chuckles out of other Goodwill shoppers) and it seemed like it might be the right size!
For $20, I figured it was worth the risk. But it was a big risk. The table was gnarly. Peeled off stickers, TONS of crayon marks, pen marks, food stains, sticky glass rings...it was rough. But Adam ok'd it and I brought it home. And he didn't make me give it to Hillary when he saw it. After a trip to Lowe's (and $40 later), we started the refinishing. And let me just say...it is going to be LOVELY!!! :)
On Sunday I went up the road to buy some chairs I found on craigslist. I thought they were white with blue cushions, but they turned out to be cream colored chairs with tan gingham cushions. I loved the cream color of the chairs but the cushions had to go. Too bland and boring. But I was excited because I scored them for a great deal. One of the backs was broken but I was certain Adam could fix that! (He was not as sure because it was broken and splintered...but as expected, my man came through in a big way!!)
Our next step in the plan was to build a new table. Our current table is a metal frame and pressed board/veneer covered top. We were going to take the top off of the table and get a big piece of wood to replace it. Then stain and seal and voila...new table! But then I got the chairs home. And they are HUGE. I mean HHUUGGEE next to our table. Crap.
So I was back to looking for a table. And I emailed everyone and their brother on craigslist that had ANYTHING that might work. Nothing. Not a single emailed response. Heart breaking. :(
I've been OBSESSED with tables for days. :( I hate that feeling.
But today I got to get out of the house with my lovely Hillary. Likely for the last time (I try not to think about it because it makes me super sad!). We had lunch at The Wine Kitchen (ohmy. Amazing.) and then hit up a few antique shops downtown. Let me just say...the first one we went to...one of the grossest things I've ever seen. Like really. And like previous searching had already informed me, antiques are ugly and overpriced.
We ran to a few more places and then over to the new Goodwill in town. We were just there on Saturday and didn't see anything, but Hillary wanted to see the new store so we ran in. There in the furniture section was a dining room table. It looked like it might be big enough...had all four legs (so that's a plus!) and after some searching we found its missing leaf over on some chairs. We stretched it out and tried to measure it. But we had no tape measure and the great guy at Goodwill had lent his to someone earlier in the day and it had since walked away. So, because we're so resourceful, Hill pulled up an app on her iPhone to help us measure....but we couldn't figure out how to use it. :) But we did see that the iPhone screen was three inches, so we measured it that way (and got a few chuckles out of other Goodwill shoppers) and it seemed like it might be the right size!
For $20, I figured it was worth the risk. But it was a big risk. The table was gnarly. Peeled off stickers, TONS of crayon marks, pen marks, food stains, sticky glass rings...it was rough. But Adam ok'd it and I brought it home. And he didn't make me give it to Hillary when he saw it. After a trip to Lowe's (and $40 later), we started the refinishing. And let me just say...it is going to be LOVELY!!! :)
Saturday, January 21, 2012
"Mom? Are those balls in the dryer??"
Now on to drying.
A few weeks ago we were shopping at Toys R Us (the boys have birthday and Christmas money to spend!) and I had some TRU Rewards to spend from Christmas shopping. The boys picked out their new toys and as we were heading toward the cash registers, I saw that they had the Totally Toddler items Buy One, Get One Free so I snatched up two boxes of dryer balls. I'd been wanting to try them out.
I immediately put two of them in the dryer. As far as softness goes, I don't know if I've ever pulled my clothes out of the dryer and thought "wow, these sure are stiff clothes..." So they've done their job as far as that goes. One thing they don't do so well at is reducing static. So I looked up a few ways to combat that. I settled on a rag pinned with a few safety pins. And that's not really working either. So my next step is to use 1/2 c. of vinegar in the rinse cycle of my washing. Even with the static, we're still using the dryer balls.
The cost of the dryer balls was $10.98 each, BUT they were buy one get one free (2 balls come in each package) so now it's $10.98 for two packs. I had coupons totaling $9 off my purchase so I paid around $2 for two packs of dryer balls that should last me AT LEAST a year per each set.
Score!
A few weeks ago we were shopping at Toys R Us (the boys have birthday and Christmas money to spend!) and I had some TRU Rewards to spend from Christmas shopping. The boys picked out their new toys and as we were heading toward the cash registers, I saw that they had the Totally Toddler items Buy One, Get One Free so I snatched up two boxes of dryer balls. I'd been wanting to try them out.
I immediately put two of them in the dryer. As far as softness goes, I don't know if I've ever pulled my clothes out of the dryer and thought "wow, these sure are stiff clothes..." So they've done their job as far as that goes. One thing they don't do so well at is reducing static. So I looked up a few ways to combat that. I settled on a rag pinned with a few safety pins. And that's not really working either. So my next step is to use 1/2 c. of vinegar in the rinse cycle of my washing. Even with the static, we're still using the dryer balls.
The cost of the dryer balls was $10.98 each, BUT they were buy one get one free (2 balls come in each package) so now it's $10.98 for two packs. I had coupons totaling $9 off my purchase so I paid around $2 for two packs of dryer balls that should last me AT LEAST a year per each set.
Score!
My new way to do laundry
At least a load a day. That's how much laundry I need to do to keep up with a family of five. At least. If someone has an incident with urine (I have an occasional night time pee-er) or a toddler decides to spill his sippy cup on my bed, I have another load of bedding to do. My boys seem to go through a ton of clothes, too.
I used to make my own detergent. Before we moved to Maryland from Kentucky, I made my own detergent from Borax, washing soda, and Fels Naptha. I made larges batches of it at once. It was super cheap to make and relatively easy. But it's cleaning ability...well, it wasn't the greatest. I didn't notice it at first, but after awhile I could see that my clothes seemed kind of dingy and didn't appear as clean as with commercial detergent. It really wasn't as effective as I was hoping. I know some people, well, lots of people, make their own detergent and LOVE it! I'm just not one of those people anymore. :( Which is too bad...it was the most cost effective way to wash my clothes! (Price comparisons will be at the end)
Anyway, I buy Purex or Arm & Hammer detergent, when it's on sale and I'll occasionally have a coupon (for Arm & Hammer). I've had a nice little stockpile of detergent going on for awhile, but when we realized we'd be leaving here sooner than originally anticipated, I realized I needed to use up my stockpile before we moved. You can't have detergent packed by the movers. So I'm down to my last bottle. But....I've found something new to replace my bottles of detergent.
So, I no longer have to buy bottles of detergent. It saves space (not a ton, but space is space when there's five of us!), saves on the use of plastic bottles and commercial additives. Soap nuts are green, cost effective, easy, and kinda fun! (I'm a dork, I know!!) I hope I continue to be pleased with the results. :)
(insert a head tilt and a "huh?" here)
What on earth am I talking about, right? Soap nuts are dried shells from the soapberry. The berries are the fruit from a unique tree species. The shells contain a substance called saponin that produces a soaping effect. These "nuts" have been used for a very LONG time by people in the Himalayan region and have been recognized throughout the world for their green way of cleaning. Ok....that may be a lot of talk that doesn't say anything so I'll give you my take on soap nuts.
Soap nuts are little dried round "nuts" that when used in your laundry release saponin into the water and clean your clothes. That's it. And here's how you do it. You order your soap nuts (unless you know of a place that sells them locally, which I don't) and wait impatiently for them to arrive. :) When it's time to do laundry, you place 4-6 soap nuts (I use 5) in a drawstring muslin bag (that you'll likely get with your order). You throw the whole bag in washer and that's it. They get wet, the release the saponin, and clean your clothes.
So I know you're skeptical and thinking...uh, no way. But I'll tell you...they work!!! :) Now, if you have a tough stain, you'll need to pre-treat, just like you would with regular detergent, but the soapnuts work! They have a slight vinegar smell, but my clothes have never smelled like vinegar. They don't smell like anything...they are just clean. They say your soap nuts will last for 4-6 washes (more for cold water, less for hot water). When they turn light tan, get squishy, fall apart. Then you replace them. I will say that I'm on load 7 of the same nuts and I wash 90% of our clothes in cold water. I'm a soap nut convert.
Ok, the price comparison:
Homemade laundry detergent:
I calculated out what it took to make a batch. I don't have the calculations anymore, but I know the cost was less than 2 cents per load. Yep, that cheap. So, by far, the cheapest detergent. Unfortunately not the most effective.
I calculated out what it took to make a batch. I don't have the calculations anymore, but I know the cost was less than 2 cents per load. Yep, that cheap. So, by far, the cheapest detergent. Unfortunately not the most effective.
Commercial detergent:
My price point for store bought detergent is $2.50-$3.00 for a 32 load bottle. At $3 that averages out to 9.3 cents per load.
My price point for store bought detergent is $2.50-$3.00 for a 32 load bottle. At $3 that averages out to 9.3 cents per load.
SoapNuts:
I bought 1 pound of soapnuts for $19.95 (I've since found them a little cheaper, but it is what it is now. :) I counted how many soap nuts that was for me, the count will vary each time based on the size of each individual nut, and I had 155 nuts. I use 5 nuts per wash so that will give me 31 refills. (155/5=31) If each refill gets me 8 loads (I've already done 7 and I know they will go at least another load) that will give me 248 loads of laundry. That is 8 cents per load. If I can get each refill to last just one more load, my cost goes down to 7.1 cents per load. If I would have scored my soap nuts at a better price (but I'm happy with what I paid) then my per load cost goes down again.
So, I no longer have to buy bottles of detergent. It saves space (not a ton, but space is space when there's five of us!), saves on the use of plastic bottles and commercial additives. Soap nuts are green, cost effective, easy, and kinda fun! (I'm a dork, I know!!) I hope I continue to be pleased with the results. :)
Ok, next post on my dryer update!
Mama's gotta work (to save the money...)
Ok, so here are the other things I wanted to talk about. So as a family of five on a single income, I'm forever searching for ways to stretch our money. Any saving I can do on our expenses, to free up some money for getting to fun stuff with the boys, is what I work hard to do. Here are some of the things that I've been doing lately to save some of our hard earned moolah. :)
Mystery Shopping
I've only had the opportunity to do this once locally. I hope to get one more shop in before we move. I visited a local salon and had a shampoo, cut, trim, and my eyebrows waxed for free. :) I paid the total and tip after my service, came home and wrote up a report and submitted it. They checked it out, approved it, and sent me a check. Ok, so that didn't "earn" me money, but I got to get some pampering done and it didn't cost me anything. :)
Using ShopAtHome
So over the holidays, I did nearly all of my Christmas shopping online. It's very difficult to get out and go shopping for gifts with three kids in tow. Especially if the gifts are for them. This year, I really took advantage of using ShopAtHome for my purchases. If you aren't familiar, this is the general idea...you go to ShopAtHome, sign in, find the store you're looking for and start shopping. Then ShopAtHome pays you a percentage of cash back. The percentage is based on the company. For instance, at Toys R Us, I got 1% back, but at Snapfish, I got 12% back. It all adds up and when you get to $20, they send you a check. Over Christmas, I earned $45! It doesn't cost anything and it's super easy...so I LOVE it!!
Ooma
What on earth is Ooma? :) Ooma is Free Home Phone Service. You buy an Ooma device (looks like a black box), you hook it up to your cable/dsl internet connection, you hook the other end up to your regular home phone...now you have phone service. You pay a one time fee to buy an Ooma box (which is then yours to have forever). The box can seem costly to start with ($160 for a refurbished model directly from Ooma), however, the savings are great. After you buy the box and hook it up, you have home phone service...for FREE! Ok, the disclaimer here is that you still have to pay applicable taxes every month. But it's not fees that Ooma charges...they are the Regulatory Compliance Fee, 911 Service Fee, Federal Universal Service Charge, and State and Local taxes. And it's about $3.47 a month. Less than $4.00 a month for phone service. Now, I know lots of people are cell only families, but to me, I want to have a reliable phone for my boys to use should there be an emergency. And we've been a VoIP family for years now, so this isn't an adjustment for us. Saving $30 a month will be wonderful, though. :)
Ok, I have a few more things to blog about, but this post is already longer than all of my posts from last week combined. So, I'll wrap this one up and blog again tomorrow...about SoapNuts and dryer balls. :)
Mystery Shopping
I've only had the opportunity to do this once locally. I hope to get one more shop in before we move. I visited a local salon and had a shampoo, cut, trim, and my eyebrows waxed for free. :) I paid the total and tip after my service, came home and wrote up a report and submitted it. They checked it out, approved it, and sent me a check. Ok, so that didn't "earn" me money, but I got to get some pampering done and it didn't cost me anything. :)
Using ShopAtHome
So over the holidays, I did nearly all of my Christmas shopping online. It's very difficult to get out and go shopping for gifts with three kids in tow. Especially if the gifts are for them. This year, I really took advantage of using ShopAtHome for my purchases. If you aren't familiar, this is the general idea...you go to ShopAtHome, sign in, find the store you're looking for and start shopping. Then ShopAtHome pays you a percentage of cash back. The percentage is based on the company. For instance, at Toys R Us, I got 1% back, but at Snapfish, I got 12% back. It all adds up and when you get to $20, they send you a check. Over Christmas, I earned $45! It doesn't cost anything and it's super easy...so I LOVE it!!
Ooma
What on earth is Ooma? :) Ooma is Free Home Phone Service. You buy an Ooma device (looks like a black box), you hook it up to your cable/dsl internet connection, you hook the other end up to your regular home phone...now you have phone service. You pay a one time fee to buy an Ooma box (which is then yours to have forever). The box can seem costly to start with ($160 for a refurbished model directly from Ooma), however, the savings are great. After you buy the box and hook it up, you have home phone service...for FREE! Ok, the disclaimer here is that you still have to pay applicable taxes every month. But it's not fees that Ooma charges...they are the Regulatory Compliance Fee, 911 Service Fee, Federal Universal Service Charge, and State and Local taxes. And it's about $3.47 a month. Less than $4.00 a month for phone service. Now, I know lots of people are cell only families, but to me, I want to have a reliable phone for my boys to use should there be an emergency. And we've been a VoIP family for years now, so this isn't an adjustment for us. Saving $30 a month will be wonderful, though. :)
Ok, I have a few more things to blog about, but this post is already longer than all of my posts from last week combined. So, I'll wrap this one up and blog again tomorrow...about SoapNuts and dryer balls. :)
Friday, January 20, 2012
So busy, but I haven't forgotten you, my lonesome little blog...
Sooo, last weekend me and my homegirl Hillary drove down to Fayetteville to find me a house! :) I haven't been on a kid free road trip since before I had kids. :) We had such a great time! On Saturday, we visited five houses. Of the five, one was a "uhhh, no", two were, "Oh, HECK NO!", one was "eh" and one was "doable"....so not the best house hunting trip. So, I checked out a few houses online and asked my lovely real estate agent if he could look up a few more for us to see on Sunday. He did and we went to visit a few more houses. One was too small and the other....well, it was just right. :) And we applied and we were accepted and it's ours!!
So here is a link to the house (with lots of pictures available):
Our New House!!!
We're so excited! It has all the space we need and then some and the boys will have a HUGE room to play in!!
I have more things I want to blog about, but I've gotta eat some dinner. In the best words of Mr. Schwarzenegger, I'll be back.
So here is a link to the house (with lots of pictures available):
Our New House!!!
We're so excited! It has all the space we need and then some and the boys will have a HUGE room to play in!!
I have more things I want to blog about, but I've gotta eat some dinner. In the best words of Mr. Schwarzenegger, I'll be back.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Moving Goodies!!
Adam started the clearing process today. That's military speak for "started getting ready for the move". He got some cute goodies for the kids and they were pretty excited! It's times like these when I realize how great the Army can be. Sure, it's a small thing, but it's just another way they show they care about even the youngest people affected by a PCS (errr, that's a move for you civilians).
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