Frudal Friday

I've got a goodie for you today!

Make up remover! I used to buy either a bottled make up remover, or those make up removing wipes. NOW, I have a frugal way to take off my make up ...

BABY OIL AND COTTON BALLS!

Yep, who knew that simple baby products could do such a great job at such a great price.

I bought a large bottle of baby oil at Walmart for less than $2, and a bag of cotton balls for about a dollar.

I use it at night before bed to remove eye make up and it works great! The bonus is that the baby oil really softens the skin around my eyes. I bought the baby oil a few weeks ago and I have hardly put a dent in it so I know it will last me a very long time.

What are your frugal beauty solutions??

Jack - 0 - Lantern Castle

Last night the girls and I went to the neatest place to see a whole bunch of pumpkins. It's called the Jack-O-Lantern castle. It's actually just a home that looks like a castle, that a man built many, many years ago. But about 11 years ago he started decorating the outside with lots of pumpkins - placing them all over the steps and rocks of the outside of his 'castle' home. It grew and grew until he now has about 300 pumpkins on display! He is 86 years old now, but gets a kick out of hosting this every year! He does not carve all the pumpkins though - he said his son does many of them and they also get help from many other people in town. Each evening in the days leading up to Halloween, he lights them all up at night and people come from all around to see them. And it's FREE! {bonus!}

The pictures do NOT do it justice. I had to use my flash and of course that takes away from how cool it looks to see them lit up against the darkness of night. Plus I seem to have some funky dots on my lens - note to self - clean lens!

This will definitely be added to our yearly 'must do' fall activities!

And here are a few of our favorites ... I am so glad we have not carved our pumpkins yet because we got some great ideas! I think we are going to do ours today and not we have some ideas of what we'd like to do ...

Do you carve pumpkins? Do you roast your seeds? Where do you find inspiration for your carvings?

A-MAZE-ing

This past Columbus Day {aka Canadian Thanksgiving} we headed out with some friends to visit a local corn maze. I gotta tell ya ... fall is where it's at! There are so many fun things to do, adventures to go on, photos to take, yummy things to eat ... it's the best! And one of those is visiting the corn maze. If you've never been you really have to find one near you. It's so much fun and it just amazes me {no pun intended!} how they make the paths through the corn! So cool!

Anyway, here are some fun pics of our adventure ...
Just getting started ...

Joy with 2 of her best friends ...

Hope - full of smiles as usual!

I love these, I totally want one on my house someday!

Joy - ever joyful!

Me and my girls. Wearing my Canada shirt in honor of my 'home and native land' on Canadian Thanksgiving!

The maze had 16 stamping stations - if you found them all you got a free ice cream at the end. It took us OVER 3 HOURS to find all 16. We had very persistent kids with us who would not give up! haha ... I was one tired Mama!

On the way home we stopped at a local farm so the girls could pick out pumpkins ... they had the cutest fall displays at this farm!

I love the colors of indian corn ...

Cute ideas, huh?!

They made a tunnel out of cornstalks - how cool is that??

The girls enjoyed running through the tunnel ...

Here they are coming out of the tunnel ...

ooooohhhhh, spooooky!

They had this neat old scale which you could use to weigh your pumpkin - which I had to do because of course my girls chose the largest ones on the lot and of course I didn't have that much cash on me so I had to limit them! But don't worry, they still got big ones! They were heavy and hard to carry!

White pumpkins - very classy looking!

It was a fabulous day and we will definitely look forward to doing it again next year!

What Clean Means to Me

A couple of weeks ago we had a nasty mystery odor in our kitchen. I mean, it STUNK. BAD. We finally figured out that it was a {new} carton of eggs in the fridge that were somehow contaminated and were making the entire kitchen smell rotten. We threw out the eggs and this led to an all out deep cleaning of my entire kitchen. It took me an entire afternoon on a Saturday. But it was well worth the time and I am so glad I got it done. It made me decide that I need to take the time to deep clean each room, one by one, even if I only do one room per month. Doing it on a rotation will mean I will probably get each room deep cleaned about 2 times per year.



Here is the inside of the fridge as I was cleaning it - I'm soooo thankful to have a fridge in which every shelf and drawer can come completely out so I can clean the inside and also scrub down the shelves and drawers in the sink.

I laid them out to dry while I cleaned the rest ...
Putting the shelves back into a sparkling clean fridge!

Here are some pics of my kitchen in the midst of 'deep cleaning'. Deep cleaning to me meant pulling everything out of every cabinet, getting rid of things I no longer use, tossing old or outdated foods, spices, etc, wiping down the insides of cabinets, re-organizing the ones that were messy or moving things to other cabinets that made things more functional for me.

I even cleaned out the microwave {which is something I hate to do and rarely do} and UNDER the stove ... have you looked under your stove lately?

Mine was NASTY underneath!

I wish I had taken after photos, because it looked sooo nice when I was all done. And what a great sense of accomplishment. The only thing I did not complete that day was wiping down the mini-blinds and washing the windows. Those tasks will be saved for another day.

Yesterday I did a similar 'deep clean' of my youngest daughter's room. You need to know in advance that I DO require my kids to clean their own rooms, but sometimes it's just time for Mom to step in and REALLY clean.

Her bedroom is teeny, tiny. Maybe 8 ft x 10 ft? Some people have walk in closets bigger than Joy's room!! And because it's so small, and because she's a girl, and because little girls love to have lots of stuff, and love to collect things --- it's always messy and overcrowded!

And so, while she was at Grandma's house yesterday afternoon, I spent about 4 hours deep cleaning her room. I got rid of lots of trash, vacuumed, sorted, organized, removed some items that were just taking up too much space, dusted and just got it all back in shape again.

Here is the end result ...

Now, will it last? Probably not for too long. :) But at least it's good to get in each room and deep clean them every so often.

*********************************************************************

Today I woke up and had a big smile on my face. Would you like to know why?

Well, typically my house can get pretty messy. It's a small house and there always seems to be things dumped in places where they don't belong. Oh sure, we have our moments when it's clean - like on cleaning day. But by the next day it's already messy again. I know - such is the life with kids and dogs! But I get so discouraged when it seems that all my efforts are in vain. I clear the counter tops and enjoy how nice they look, only to have them cluttered up the next day!

But over the past week I've been making a greater effort to work on keeping my home clean. Not just on cleaning days, but every day. So many times I'm guilty of using something, and instead of returning it to it's proper place, I dump it somewhere - and there it sits for DAYS! Like I'll use a hammer to hang up a picture, then instead of returning the hammer to the garage, I'll leave it sitting on the kitchen counter for a week!!

I'm come to realize that I'm just lazy a lot of the time! I have a busy life with keeping a home, being a wife, homeschooling and raising daughters, running to all their activities, being involved at church, spending time with family and friends ... but just because I'm busy or tired or lazy doesn't mean I can walk past that hammer every day for a week instead of simply putting it back where it belongs as soon as I'm done with it. Isn't it funny that much of the mess and disorder in my home is actually from ME!? It's not just the dogs, kids or hubby - I'm just as guilty, if not more!

So why did I wake up smiling you ask ... because I climbed out of bed and my room was CLEAN, as in no piles of items on the floor, no pile of dirty laundry, no piles of clean clothes on the dressers. Clean. And I walked into the kitchen and it was ---- you guessed it - CLEAN. And I sat with my coffee in the living room and it was - CLEAN! No baskets full of clothes waiting to be folded, no cups and plates on the end tables, no newspapers strewn on the floor.

In my home there are a few areas that are always a trap for me - here is my practical advice for keeping up with them ...

**living room** As I mentioned above, laundry usually sits in PILES in my living room. Baskets full of folded, or unfolded laundry always sit on my couches. My new resolve is this - when I bring a load of clean laundry upstairs, it gets folded immediately and everything put away immediately - this is a GREAT chore to get your kids involved with!

**kitchen** I'm super guilty of piling dirty dishes in the sink - which drives my hubby crazy! I'm also guilty of using the kitchen for a meal, or to bake - then leaving it messy till the next meal or even the next day! My new resolve - put dishes directly into the dishwasher instead of in the sink. If it's full of clean stuff, empty it {another great chore for kids}. Clean up the whole kitchen after a meal, it only takes a few minutes to wipe down the counters, throw trash away and do a quick sweep. My girls LOVE to sweep - something else you can get your kids to do. Walk away with a clean kitchen!

**bathroom** Sink and countertop are always nasty. My new resolve - wipe them down daily. Another chore to get the kids to do - soooo easy, give them a clorox wipe or a wet washcloth and it's done in minutes.

**laundry** As I said, just keeping up with it. Wash, dry, fold, put away. DONE. I also find that I keep up with it better when I remember to change the loads. We have to let our dogs out the back door several times per day - and the back door is right next to my washer and dryer. So each time I let them out, starting with the first thing in the morning when I wake up, I throw a load in the wash and a load in the dryer ... and just keep it going!

**school room** We have so many books, supplies and crafty items. It can become so messy. Now, we clean up at the end of each school day. Which means when we come back to do school the next day, it's already nice and clean and ready for us!

Most of these things don't have to be daunting tasks - get your kids involved! Even very small kids can fold and put away hand towels or wipe down the sink!

Now I'm going to ask some advice ... there are still some areas that I struggle with. Our 'master' {which really is just a normal sized bedroom} is always the dumping grounds. When I clean the house, I take everything and dump it in my room! I need help! What are some ways to keep our room neat and clean and not have it be the dumping grounds? I want it to be our sanctuary, not our dump!

Also, papers, magazines, mail and such. We don't have an office or a desk area so I always seem to have paper and clutter like that laying everywhere! What are your best tips for this stuff? I feel like I need these things to be somewhat near the kitchen just because it seems to be the center of the home and where I go to find important information. So how can I tame the paper clutter?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these areas!

I also want to say that I KNOW, believe me I know that it's hard to keep up with a house and a family. I'm not trying to lay any guilt trips on anyone. I just know that for myself, it's been a few simple changes that have helped me and I really do love my home so much more when it's cleaned up. I also find that I have more time for the important things in life when I have things in order. I also don't go through my days feeling completely overwhelmed and stressed. Clean really does have a calming effect! Just doing small things as you go through your day can help a LOT! As you take some towels to the bathroom, you pass a hairbrush on the countertop - instead of walking by, take the brush with you and put it away. Little things make a big difference!

I can't wait to hear what some of your clean ideas and strategies are!

Keeping things in perspective

I read a lot of blogs ... A LOT. Some of the blogs I read are very popular, they have hundreds of followers ... some even have thousands. Sometimes I can get caught up in thinking that these women are 'famous' bloggers, that they are carving out a place in this world because of their popularity. They attend all the blogger conferences, they have all the products made by other popular bloggers, they know each other on a personal level.

Are you following me? Do you know some of the ones I'm speaking of? Many of their buttons are over there on the right hand side of my home page. ----->>>>

But the reason I like to follow their blogs isn't because of their popularity. It isn't because they are creative home decorators, fabulous photographers or amazing 'super-moms'. I read their blogs because these are amazing women who know and love the Lord. Women who don't care whether they have a thousand followers but care more about living and sharing their faith.

One such blogger is Angie Smith from the blog Bring the Rain. She recently attended the Relevant bloggers conference and was sharing her thoughts on her most recent post. I think you should all go read it, it's fabulous and she is just the most real, honest, wonderful person. She is the classic example of a 'famous' blogger who cares nothing of her own popularity. She is married to one of the singers in the Christian band Selah and she is an author too. But she's so down to earth and seems like the most gracious person ever. Her post really encouraged me to keep things in perspective. Many days I allow myself to feel guilty because I haven't blogged enough or kept up with all of this enough. But when I'm busy not-blogging, it means that I'm busy doing my 'real' work - raising my girls, teaching them, being with them, keeping my home, etc. I need to remember this and let go of the guilt and worry. It doesn't matter if I have 2 followers or 200. What matters is what I'm doing for the Lord.


Here is a quote from Angie that really struck a chord with me ... when you're done, hop over and read her full post ... and be blessed!
"We have each been given a gift to be used to further the Kingdom of God. Your worth isn't on the spine of a book or the statistics of your blog. You aren't going to be judged by how many followers you had (As Ann so wonderfully said, "Jesus only had 12 followers..." :) ) or the way you curl your hair. And in this crazy world of blogging, sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is to close the computer. I needed to hear all those words."

It's been far too long ...

And my head is swimming ... it's Monday morning, we took last week off from school to go on vacation. Now it's Monday and I have a million things begging for my attention - most importantly to get back to teaching the girls. I also have lots of posts to catch up on here on my blog. But right now I want to catch up on something more important, taking the time to GIVE THANKS. It's been way too long since I've added to my 1,000 gifts list. Oh, I've made lists, in my head, on paper ... but they never seem to make it to the blog.

It will be random and quick as I've got to get to my day ... but Lord I am ever so thankful for ...

150 gorgeous mountains for hiking

151 the brilliant colors of all the leaves

152 hot apple cider

153 fellowship with friends

154 Bible study group

155 swimming with my girls, jumping in the deep end, doing handstands and somersaults in the water

156 mountain tops that make you see just how very small you are and just how very big God is

157 date night with hubby

158 snuggles from a warm puppy

159 heat

160 fall and everything about it

161 freedom to homeschool

162 freedom to take time off

163 chiropractors

164 soup

165 wonderful parents who are also our closest friends

166 celebrating a friend's birthday with a fun, fall barn dance

167 music and laughter and dancing

168 camping out in COLD October

169 a heated blanket that makes camping out bearable

170 friends who love me, who encourage me, who pray

171 an encouraging hubby who cheers me on as I run

172 training for a race and seeing glimpses of improvement every day

173 knowing that I CAN do all things through Christ who gives me strength

174 learning to live without fear

175 making costumes with my girls



Have a wonderful week my friends!

American Girl Dolls

This Christmas we are planning to cut back a lot on what we get our kids. They have sooooo much stuff and honestly they just don't play with toys as much as they used to. They still have some favorite things and we will keep those for now but we hope to buy them one meaningful gift that is something they would really love and use.

In comes my ideas and questions ...
My girls both have generic Am. Girl dolls, you know, the ones you can buy at Target for a fraction of the price of the 'real' ones?

So I was considering getting them real ones for Christmas and wondered if any of you have children that have them and whether you feel it's worth it or not? The main reason I wonder about it is the cheaper versions have horrible hair - I mean the hair has been a rats nest almost since the day we brought them home. It looks to me like the real dolls have better hair that isn't always in perpetual knots - please correct me if I'm wrong!

Anyhow, my next thought is this ... I could sew a bunch of clothes for the dolls which would be an inexpensive gift for my girls. I have plenty of spare fabric laying around and have some time before Christmas to get working on it. Do any of you know of places to get doll clothes patterns? I'd rather not spend a lot of money on the patterns if possible.

Finally ... if your daughter has a doll, what are the other 'must have' items to go with it? We do have beds for them already but nothing else. Would it make sense to have some sort of little closet or dresser for the doll's clothes?

I'm also thinking that it would be fun in the winter time to make a trip to the American Girl store in NY city for my daughter's 8th birthday ...

Anyway, I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions!

Just Sayin' ...

I recently discovered Popcorn Indiana ...

I bought a bag of their kettle corn ... we devoured it. I bought another bag, we devoured that one too.

It's HIGHLY addictive and delicious ... consider yourself forewarned!

Frugal Friday

Two things on my mind today ...

first - my frugal advice for the day is ... don't buy a new plastic shower curtain every month - WASH yours! Yep, just take it down and throw it in the wash with a load of towels! When it's clean, just hang it back up {still wet} and it will dry while it's hanging. I used to buy a new one every month and this is a huge savings for me!

second - my ??? of the day ... what do you use to prevent slipping in your tub? I use those foamy type bath mats but they get soooo grungy and gross and even though I try to clean mine once per week they just get nasty. I end up throwing it out after about a month or two and buying a new one.

Do any of you have those sticker things that you put permanently on the bottom of the tub? Is this a cleaner option? I need a new solution and would love to hear what you use ...

Thanks!!!

We live in ....

CONNECTICUT!! Woohoo, weren't you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to hear the big news?! hahaha {don't feel bad if you weren't!}

I will have a post detailing many things I love about CT soon, but for now one of my favorite things about CT is that it's a small state and there are so many wonderful things to see nearby. You can go on tons of day trips and still not see everything there is to see in this great little state!

So I have a few places to share with you - some little gems in this great state. We have been taking a lot of field trips lately - for several reasons - one being that it will soon be winter and our field trips may be limited once the cold weather hits and two because we simply LOVE the fall season!

On a recent field trip we visited this beautiful Castle which sits very high on a hill overlooking the Connecticut River - the castle is called Gillette's Castle ... {this pic was taken from a ferry boat we were on and I used my zoom to capture the castle ... }
But if I zoomed out and took the pic in a regular mode you can see how high it is on the hill ...

Here is some interesting information about Gillette's Castle {copied from Wikipedia of course!}

Gillette Castle State Park is located in East Haddam, Connecticut in the United States. Sitting high above the Connecticut River, the castle was originally a private residence commissioned and designed by William Gillette, an American actor who is most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on stage. After Gillette died, with no wife or children, his will precluded the possession of his castle by any "blithering sap-head who has no conception of where he is or with what surrounded". In 1943, Connecticut's government took the property, re-baptizing it Gillette's Castle and Gillette Castle State Park.

Located at 67 River Road, East Haddam, Connecticut, the park consists of the castle and its grounds and receives 100,000 annual visitors. It reopened in 2002 after four years of restoration, costing 11 million dollars. It now includes a museum, hiking trails, and a picnic area, and holds many theatrical celebrations.

There are a number of oddities in the castle personally designed by Gillette, such as unusual doorknobs and locks, and a system of hidden mirrors for surveillance of the public rooms from the master bedroom.

The grounds used to have a railroad track with a working steam engine that visitors could ride on, also designed by Gillette. Some of the track was purchased by Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut and is in use to transport guests around the lake. The remaining track was pulled up and converted into walking trails. From the castle's garden one can see the Connecticut River.

Here is the walkway leading to the castle - the stone work is everywhere and is simply stunning ...

I loved the vines growing between all the stone work ...

Looking back down at the river, that little boat was the ferry we took across the river!

Can you spot the two cats in this picture?

I LOVE the sunroom which faces the river ...

Very unique windows of all different sizes ...

Check out this upper balcony - cool, isn't it?!

You can go inside the castle and take a tour but on this particular day we didn't bring enough cash with us. I know, silly excuse but we hadn't really planned on stopping here that day - we were heading home from another area of the state and decided to stop here last minute. But we did peek in the windows and it looked really cool. We will definitely go back to tour the castle some day.

They have some really neat walking trails too - you can walk through the woods and even go through long, dark tunnels. There is a pond and lots of picnic areas. It's a really beautiful place! It's FREE to use the grounds and you only have to pay a fee if you want to tour the castle.

This was a really neat field trip and we would highly recommend it to anyone who visits Connecticut!