The Ice Cream Man is Outside!

Have you ever heard that from your kids and then scramble to grab money, run outside all excited just to see their tail lights turning off your street and then he is gone....we have.  So this year I came up with a plan because because getting money from the ice cream man is one of the joys of summer.  It is a super simple project and all you need is:

a jar (mine was .50 at goodwill)

spray paint

vinyl or sticker

ribbon

 I used this Green Apple spray paint that I already had in my stash.  Spray paint the lid.  I used two coats to get it all covered evenly

I cut my vinyl decal with my silhouette but know that not everyone has a paper cutter. I have seen that Hobby Lobby has some cute ice cream stickers or even letters where you could spell out "Ice Cream" on the jar as an alternative.

We have been putting our change at the end of the day in it, any money I find in the washer or dryer, and the kids can earn money to go into it by doing extra chores if they want.

Like I said, super simple project and it will be fun to grab the whole jar and run outside next time the ice cream man makes his rounds down our street.

XOXOX

Jeannie

I posted this on my back in the day at my old  blog but love it so much I wanted to share it again.  So much wisdom here. I especially love #15 and think someone should make a printable of it...if I figure out how to do that I will make one to share


Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and
parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.{amen!!!]
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never
blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up
to you and no one else
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d
grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come…
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift

Both Hands Project Day!

So, life has been crazy busy lately.  Here is a peak at one of the reasons why.

Hubs and I are adopting again!  Our son HB is adopted locally and we are excited to bring home another child but are working on getting the money in place first.  When we learned about the Both Hands Project that Lifesong for Orphans came up with we prayed that we would be accepted for the program.  Not only would we get to raise some of the money for our adoption but we would also get to bless a widow in the process...yes please!

The day of the project was amazing!  It was wonderful to see the people God has placed in our lives that are willing to bless us and Kathie (the widow).  I want to thank everyone who donated money as well as time and energy for this project.  We are truly blessed!



Signs that summer is coming in Alaska!

It is officially. May is here and there is still snow on the ground... I guess it was to be expected after the record setting snowfall this year. (We got over 11 feet of snow this winter, beating the old record from the winter of 1954/55!)

Anyway, while cleaning off my porch I was wondering to myself what it would be like to really have "April showers bring May flowers" like the common Spring time saying.

I stopped and took a look around at all the brown leaves covering the ground and the bare naked trees starting to bud and found some fun stuff starting to pop up around here. Because our winters are so long, we get really excited about the slightest signs of summer coming. Other than the excitement of a few blades of green grass. I have my blue poppies coming back!

See those green things poking through...that is a sure sign for us in Alaska that summer is coming! I saw ferns coming up through more brown leaves by my front door.

And my favorite sight of the day is the rhubarb coming up through the snow!

While the rest of the world is enjoying warmer weather and spring flowers, I just thought I would give you a glimpse of what we in Alaska look forward to as "signs of summer". :)

Amanda's Cleaning Checklist

I am headed back to college starting this summer! Every semester when {D} goes back for his classes, I tell myself "you've got to go back and finish". Then I negotiate with myself and say "next semester". I seem to have conversations with myself like this a lot. I literally feel like one of those cartoons with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. I have mental battles every morning when the alarm goes off to get on the treadmill too.

Anyway, going back to school is a goal of mine that I need to start on so I can be done by the time we have children.

I'm really nervous about going back to school.

I will probably want to quit come Christmas time. BUT to help prevent this quitter mentality, I am trying to plan for all the excuses I can think of now. My first excuse I could think of is: I won't be able to keep up with the housework and laundry.

What better way to keep track of something or keep up on something than a checklist!

I created a checklist with daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly and quarterly tasks. I searched the web for other ideas and made it work into my own. I am going to print this off and laminate it. This way I can use a dry-erase marker to check the items off as I do them.

Daily:
Tidy Bedroom
Make Bed
Tidy Bathroom/vanity
Load/Unload dishwasher
Take out the trash
Laundry

Weekly:
Fold Laundry/put away
Wash Sheets
Sweep/mop floors
Vacuum House
Clean our refrigerator
De-clutter kitchen table (we collect mail here)
Clean/disinfect bathrooms
Empty trash (Sunday night we put the trash by the curb)

Bi-weekly:
Deep clean kitchen - clear everything off the counters and scrub
Dust house/furniture
Clean windows/mirrors - and anything else requiring glass cleaner
Organize - I normally have a project of some sort going

Monthly:
Wipe down walls - especially the kitchen and the bathrooms
Wipe/sanitize switch plates and door knobs
Purge magazines and other papers - homework and newspapers collect on my coffee tables
Wash throw rugs - I only have them in my bathrooms and kitchen

Quarterly:
Clean oven - it's self cleaning so really I just have to wipe it out
Scrub inside of refrigerator
Deep clean kitchen cabinets
Dust/clean moldings around house.

What do you think? Am I missing any obvious chores? I hope this will help me stay on top of things around the house as I venture back to school. What do you do to stay organized when your plate is really full outside your home?

-Amanda

Rotating Toys = Mommy Sanity

I don't know about you but our family has acquired enough toys that rotating them has become necessary or we would look like a Toys R Us store.  Don't get me wrong, we purge, donate and throw away toys that are not played with or broken all the time. We just happen to have a big generous family who loves to buy our kids prizes.

 Welcome to our family room, don't be fooled by these pics, its almost never this clean.  This is the room in our house that is dedicated to our kids and their stuff.  I don't stress about it always being picked up or the room being spotless because it's meant for them and their stuff.  When toys migrate down to the kitchen or living room I make sure that it gets back upstairs so I can keep my sanity and have at least one area free of toys and clutter.

So let's talk rotating toys. I rotate toys at the beginning of the month because that it what works for me.  I have a big storage bin that holds the small toys that aren't out that month.   HB loves this day so he ended up in most of the pics.

The process of rotating toys is messy but don't worry the end result is a less cluttered space for you and your kids so keep the end goal in mind when your house looks like this.

Because I have a child that gets overwhelmed with to many choices I also rotate our kids DVDs each month.  Sometimes he asks for a movie that is put away and I tell him that it isn't out right now but we can remember to keep it out next month and he has always been fine with that.

This is a before pic of the movies we had out for March.



Here is what we put out after.  Notice that "Cars" and "Cars 2" are staying out?  I make sure to pay attention to what phase he is in at that point and right now its Cars so if I put it away I will be asked about it multiple times so its just easier to leave them out.

We also have several big items that I rotate.  The ones that are in storage fit under our clothes in mine and hubs closet or in HB's closet.  This month the easel got put away along with the basket of cars under it

and the tent came out.  After this pic I put a blanket and pillow down in there and some of his stuffed animals hang inside the tent for the month along with whatever else he puts in there himself.

Also, when I move these big things I will vacuum under them before putting something else in its place because I know that I am going to be to lazy to move them when I vacuum each week.

Tool Box went away

to make room for drums.

This shelf was home to a "Cars" swirly race track toy and a bead maze. We are keeping HB's Veggie Tales Pirate Ship and the cookie monster toss game there.

I try to have one type of each toy out so when the train track and trains went away the Car's race track came out. See what I mean?  Both track style transportation toys and if they were both out only one would be the favorite that month anyways. I always keep one of these bings for miscelaneous toys.

Little Peoples Zoo went away and the "Toy Story" toys came out...not sure where most of them were for this photo shoot.

He has several big trucks like these so he chooses two at a time to keep out.

Dinasours almost always stay out because he plays with them often and they don't take up much room.

Lego's went away and blocks came out.

"Car's" characters stayed out for a second month because he just added to this collection on his birthday so they are still a newer toy.  He has way more than these but he tends to have one with  him at all times so they get spread out.

And, what is this??? Could it be??? an empty basket which I'm sure will be filled up by the time you read this post.

What are your tips and tricks? Do you rotate toys?  Do you have a designated space like a toy room for your kids to play in?



Fifteen Minute Boot Socks

These have been all over blog land and Pinterest and I've been wanting a pair forever, the only problem was that I didn't have any boots until Christmas (thank you hubs) to wear them with.

I've had different styles pinned on my "to do" board for a long time and just never got around to making any.  Living in the desert, I thought that I had missed my window to wear boots because we are already up in the 80's or higher every day.  Well, the other day we had a random cool day on a Sunday. I was determined to wear my boots one last time this year but I had never made any boot socks and was wishing I had.

After getting ready, I decided to make some right then and there (much to hubs dismay).  I scrounged around and found a tank that is old and stretched out but had nice lace on the bottom and a pair of hubs dress socks that he has never worn.

I planned to buy some lace originally but with only about a fifteen minute window to make them that was out of the question and using this tank made them free.

So, I cut off the lace bottom of the tank and cut it to size to fit around the upper part of my calf where they would sit.

I turned the right sides together and sewed with a straight stitch along the short sides.

Pinned them right sides together with the top of the socks.  When I sewed the lace on I stretched the top band of the sock out so that when it wasn't stretched it has a gathered look and so it stretches around my calf.

With one sock done and one to sew, I was hearing heavy sighs from hubs as he loaded the kids into the car for church.

Do that for each sock...finished! 

These were actually taken after church because I ran to the car carrying the socks and my boots and put them on in the car so we wouldn't be late.

Sorry for the pics not being great, some things you just can't do on your own so I had an adorable ten year old take them.