Walk On- A Great Video on Goal Setting

A friend of mine sent me the link to this video. It is about 12 minutes long but details the life of a man who's parents were told he would never walk- and how he proved them wrong... watch it and see!

Walk On - ESPN Video

My New Favorite Christian Artist

I love the new song by Mat Kearney, Closer to Love. Watch the video or hear the song for free at Mat Kearney's website. Then read the Closer to Love lyrics. And before June 2, get the music download for free from Borders!

A Great Chicken Salad

This Southwest Chicken salad was so yummy! The chicken, bacon, onions, mayo, and bbq sauce made a great warm dressing sitting on lettuce, with grape tomatoes, the avocado, and blue corn chips, it was delicious. A good flavor combination and an even simpler preparation. And with the grocery list tool on this website, you actually use one click to add the ingredients for your shopping list.

My mom is on the phone and she said hi!

Easter Pictures

Having two children close in age I am compelled to coordinate their outfits for major holidays. I don't know what it is, but I like them to match.

That has gotten more difficult with one child in the big boys and one child in the little girls. They just don't make many affordable, cute options for coordinating outfits.

This year, I hired my friend to make the dress and the shirt for my children. Quite cute if you ask me. And it was very affordable. I used quilting fabric that had lots of coordinating patterns. My friend added so many nice details to the dress that it came out far better than the pattern.

I am so pleased!

Of course, you really can get the full idea since they were not so cooperative with the picture taking process!

Awareness Video Test

I was at a math workshop and the presenter had tons of great video clips to use within classroom settings. This awareness test was great. We did the original version and I just watched the newer version. When we watched the original video, I still did not see what I was suppose to see. So I came home and it was obvious- although I can see how I missed it! Watch both and see what you think.

Honey and Allergies

A friend was telling me how a swarm of honey bees built a hive under a building at her place of business. At that moment of our conversation, a bee keeper was getting the bees out- she said it was an amazing sound going in the building with the buzz of the bees.

She told the bee keeper that she wanted some of the honey so that she could help her allergies. Around here, the orange blossoms smell wonderful but they reek havoc on some of us (my family included). She had read how the local honey helps allergies. Because it is filled with the pollen that causes the histamine reaction, you are self medicating your immune system to tolerate the pollens. Since the closer to your home the honey is cultivated is the best honey to have, she has the perfect stash! It is just like getting an allergy shot but in a tasty dose.

Publix Online Shopping List and Meal Deals

A parent of my little girl's friend told me a great tip for those Publix shoppers. Not only does their website have a great tip for meal deals for $15 updated weekly, it also has a list of the BOGO (buy one get one) items of the week! How neat is that! I could not believe the wealth of information on the site.

The best thing was the online shopping list. You can create you own list ready to go to the store using featured products, weekly ads, and the Aprons Simple Meals. All you do is show the shopping list for that Aprons Meal and click next to the item and it is on your list, ready to go to the store.

And I hate going to the store without a list! A definite time saver- the recipes, the ads, the BOGOs, and the shopping list. Too much excitement for one site!

BTW- I made this Angel Lush cake this week for an Easter party- and believe it or not- my mom made it today (without ever talking to me) for our family Easter dinner! It is a definite winner!

An Easter Egg Hunt

My children had a wonderful time with our Sunday school class at our Easter egg hunt. This is the second year we have been able to all get together to have a little fun and some food too! We go out to a wonderful location, pretty much in the woods, with lots of great places to hide eggs. My son, however, could care less about how many eggs he found- he was just glad he got some candy!

Ecostore Meijer Store Visits

For those of you with a Meijer's store, here is the schedule for Malcolm Rands wfor the ask Ecoman tour. Malcolm will be available to answer any questions on Eco friendly products. The first 25 moms or dads that ask Malcolm A question will receive an organic Ecostore T-Shirt. There will be entertainment for the kids while mom and dad ask Malcolm ( Ecoman) questions.

Ecostore USA Schedule of visits

4/13 Chicago - McHenry (5-7 PM)

4/18 Detroit - Wixom (5-7 PM)

4/20 Fort Wayne - Illinois Road (5-7 PM)

4/21 Indianapolis - Carmel (5-7 PM)

4/22 Cincinnati - Harrison Road (4-6 PM)

4/23 Grand Rapids - Cascade (2-4 PM)

Wish I had one near by. Check out my reviews for Ecostore ecofriendly products.

All Natural Lemon Rinse Aid for

The nice people at EcoStore USA offered me some free products to try and review. Let me tell you--- they were all great!

By far, I think this was my favorite product I tried. The Lemon Rinse Aid leaves my dishes sparkling! The dishes (using a standard ecofriendly dishwasher soap from the grocery store) are so nice and shiny when the cycle is done! My dishes have really never looked better. This is a must have product- and to think-- "no nasty chemicals" needed!


Check out my other reviews for front loader laundry powder and all natural dog ear wash.

Also--- Ecostore USA is offering free shipping on orders over $25 in the month of April for Earth Day... buy some soon! And check out all the other products they offer.

Another important event... Malcolm Rands the founder of Ecostore New Zealand is here in the United States with us to promote Earth Month and stop at the different MEIJER stores that we have launched at. He will be answering all the "green" questions and passing out organic Ecostore T Shirts to the first 25 moms who come to MEIJER. You can get the complete schedule on their blog on www.ecostoreusa.com

Chemical Free Ear Wash for Dogs- All Natural!

The nice people at EcoStore USA offered me some free products to try and review. Let me tell you--- they were all great!

I selected the All Natural Ear Wash for dogs because I have a bull dog mix that has a problem with yeast in her ears. She often gets an allergy type reaction and itches them incessantly! The doctor continues to prescribe an ear medicine that she shakes all over the house. I have been wanting something that will not burn her ears but something that works.

And this works great. First of all, the lavender scent is wonderful! It is easy to apply with cotton balls (I do both ears at once) and my dogs does not whine or cry when I am rubbing her ears (she loves that). It has a great soft and soothing feel to it. I am definitely sold on it!

Obviously I do not take enough pictures of Grace because I cannot find one to share!

Check out my other reviews for front loader laundry powder and lemon rinse aid.

Also--- Ecostore USA is offering free shipping on orders over $25 in the month of April for Earth Day... buy some soon! And check out all the other products they offer.

Another important event... Malcolm Rands the founder of Ecostore New Zealand is here in the United States with us to promote Earth Month and stop at the different MEIJER stores that we have launched at. He will be answering all the "green"questions and passing out organic Ecostore T Shirts to the first 25 moms who come to MEIJER. You can get the complete schedule on their blog on www.ecostoreusa.com

Front Loader EcoFriendly Laundry Powder

The nice people at EcoStore USA offered me some free products to try and review. Let me tell you--- they were all great!

One of the products was the Front Loader Laundry Powder. It is super concentrated so you only use half a scoop for the whole load. It dissolved well and washed excellently. The scent was pleasing and best of all... it did not bother my daughter's sensitive skin! It is has been a challenge to find a chemical free laundry powder for my front loader, so it was a nice surprise that it worked!

Make sure you check out the other two reviews for rinse aid and all natural dog ear wash.

Also--- Ecostore USA is offering free shipping on orders over $25 in the month of April for Earth Day... buy some soon! And check out all the other products they offer.

Another important event... Malcolm Rands the founder of Ecostore New Zealand is here in the United States with us to promote Earth Month and stop at the different MEIJER stores that we have launched at. He will be answering all the "green"questions and passing out organic Ecostore T Shirts to the first 25 moms who come to MEIJER. You can get the complete schedule on their blog on www.ecostoreusa.com

Eco Friendly Housecleaning

On my quest for ecofriendly products, especially with my asthma boy, I have tried many different companies and recipes to get rid of the chemicals. From laundry soap to dish washing powder, I have tried many different things. Today, I found this site EcoStore USA. I am looking forward to trying the front loader laundry soap. I will let you know how it goes!

I Have Been Tagged!

This one was cute. My friend Michelle tagged me to get into my 6th picture folder and the 6th picture and reflect on it. I have not even looked at it yet, so here it goes... you will be as surprised as me...




Okay- this is funny- and proves that you can have pictures of anything on your computer. This is my husband's principal and plant manager at his school, on the roof, looking over the flock of kindergartners.

Not mushy gushy here. :) HAHAHA! Michelle said she was reminded to back up her pictures. I am reminded to delete some!

I am tagging Betsy and Vicki.

Thanksgiving Pics

A collection of pictures from the day... I am just getting around to posting them!

These two cuties!

Mom and Briana--- a rare picture together.

Natalia's purple hair (a little faded).

Ohhh The Blogs....

I just went searching for a blog that has been mentioned to me a few times by a few people (Livin and Lovin)and I have spent the last hour looking at everyone else's blog that I know and did not know they have a blog! It was so nice to look at the pictures and see what they have been up to... a great way to keep in touch! And it is nice they all have links to each other!

I tried it! Coupon Mom- Preparing for the Grocery Store!

In preparing for my grocery trip today (I hate going to the grocery store) I tried out Coupon Mom via recommendation of Betsy. I also resorted back to an old site, Menus4Moms to get some inspiration for dinner this week. I did not get to fully investigate Coupon Mom, but I did find some good coupons to print. Her free ebook about cutting your grocery bill in half looked promising, but I did not have time to read it during my prep time. Menu4Moms is great since the grocery list and recipes are all ready for you. I did not resubscribe, but went to their archived lists and selected a menu with all food items I would eat. I then gathered up my cut coupons from other weeks and pulled all the coupons before I left the house. While it did take less time at the store, overall, it all takes a lot of time to shop with coupons. But hey--- I did save over $20 using coupons, plus I went to Walmart and bought all my packaged goods so overall, I probably saved more than my typical trip to Publix. I will go to Publix tomorrow to get my meat and the local produce stand for produce. A lot of trips, but saving the money is worth it!

Frudal Friday: Homemade Gifts

Vicki has posted some great ideas about making your Christmas gifts this year to save money. I wanted to add a few that I have tried and that I will be doing this year.

Over the years, I have attempted to make some gifts- a fleece blanket for my niece and hubby (no sewing required, just cut some fringe on the edges), a Big Church Bag for another niece made from a simple square of fabric with some embellishments, and some picture ornaments. Mostly, I do my best to not make it look too crafty and many that don't require too much pre-planning. Projects that take the fewest amount of items to create are also good. Simple is the best plan!

Here are some of my ideas...

If you work outside the home, you often have some special friends that you may want to give a gift, but you do not want to spend a lot of money on. Like Vicki pointed out, food is always great. I have made peanut clusters (3 ingredients- how can you beat that), pickled vegetables, and eggnog cookies. These are all simple, but not so common, food items.

A new favorite this year are sugar scrubs and bath salts. All are very simple and very reasonable for gift costs. Find some nice jars and you have a great gift.

And let's not forget, cookies in a jar. Who can beat a premade jar of homemade cookie ingredients!

Pictures in frames always make a nice gift too. My mother never displays a picture unless you give her a frame too. There are some great photo crafts from HP you can find or even a photo memo board. You can even make it a project for your kids so it can be an extra special gift for grandparents.

We also are doing a special gift for my parents this year. The local shop class made Adirondack wooden chairs and ottomans, sold them at a special price for teachers. We are going to stain them for my parent's lake house. This is cheaper than purchasing them already stained and we will make them a little special with some personal touches.

And as Vicki stated so well, it is not about the gifts or the money, but the celebration of Jesus' birth. "For to us a child is born, for to us a child is given..." In these tough economic times, do not worry about the gifts you give, but be more concern with the love you share.

The First Santa Letter

Today my son wrote his first letter to Santa, all by himself. It is so cute! He wants the entire collection of Toy Story toys, plus a TV and a clicker. And don't forget the candy cane (which he drew a picture of!). He said not to mail it because Santa comes here anyway, so there is not point in sending it to him. I wish I had all of this recorded!

The Great Turkey

My son figured a new way to get gifts every month...assigning a special character each month. This month, he wrote a letter to the Great Turkey. He got the idea from Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin. He requested one gift for himself and one gift for his father.

Get Trkey I wut u e.r.pen for Cresms
(translation: Great Turkey I want a airplane for Christmas.)

He decided later that the Great Turkey would know it was not for Christmas, but for Thanksgiving.

And BELIEVE it or not... the Great Turkey came and brought the Charlie Brown DVD set.

Next month will be a given, Santa is on his way!