Mrs. Meyers Clean Day in my bucket!

I'm singing about this one.  In my sing songy voice..."I LOOOOOVE It."

Let me just tell you a little about this product and how I came across it.

Well, first I made a not so often stop into our local Fresh Market and was browsing the cleaner isle when I came to a line a products..."Whew!" I thought, "That's a lot more expensive than my Mr. Clean"  but let me tell you what this miracle bottle of potion has done for my house and my sanity!

I'm not in awe as much about it's cleaning power because it cleans as well as others but I'm more in awe over how it makes me feel about cleaning.

I was cleaning with my new found bottle of Mrs. Meyers  Clean Day in Basil Scent today and was in heaven the entire time.

I used to think there was NOTHING that could make my daily grind of cleaning up after 4 messy boys (one of which is darling husband)  enjoyable but I’ve found since my discovery that I have been cleaning for FUN!  Can you believe it!  I love this all purpose cleaner, I love the smell, I love that it’s safe and natural and that it cleans so well!  I’m in LOVE! 

I am so excited!  They have a whole line of products in this scent.  My laundry could smell like this, my windows, my hands, oh my!  It's fabulous.  The smell is so uplifting and fresh and I want all the rooms in my house to smell like this all of the time and did I mention that they have plug in air fresheners.

oh dryer sheets, dish soap...I want them all!

I swear if they don't want to do a giveaway, I'm doing one myself!  I'll go buy a bottle for a lucky reader.  I'd buy you all one except, well, you know.  I'm not Oprah.  

Seriously, now I'm off to finish mopping.  I literally had to sit down and tell you about this amazing product.  And you should see my sparkling bathroom, it hasn't sparkled like that in a... well, let's just a say it's been awhile.

Love you all!

 

Working with Fondant is something I'm fond of...

Eventually I'll get good at fondant but I was in a little bit of a rush this morning trying to finish before the kids got home from grandma's...they came home early!

The tree was made with a dowel rod and an overfilled cupcake.

This was fun making and I think the baby was so adorable.

Fondant has truly changed the way we decorate. 

P.S. Was it wrong of me to only put two "nuts" in the tree?  I just wanted to see if anyone would notice.  You know, since it's for a boy.

Day 23: Make the Season Bright! Continued... Advent Calendar

Obviously, I'm proud of this one!

Originally Posted on 12/6/2008

Last night I spent about 2 hours going through old Christmas Cards, picking the ones that were turned long ways, cutting them out into envelopes, then gluing them together. So this morning my goal was to get tiny clothes pins. After dropping my son off at school, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and for $2.33 I got 24 of them. Brought them home, painted them black.

I grabbed a piece of wood from the garage, covered the front with batting, then with black canvas and stapled all the way around the back, then I used some fancy white cording and wrapped it around to the back, stapling each cord securely. Added two little cord loops in the back for hanging. Then stuffed each envelope with something special for my kids. Here's what I put in them.  Here's the template for the envelopes.  Just click the image to print. 

Also go here to download for "To Do Cards"

My friend made these and I LOVE them.

1. Write and Mail Letters to Santa 2. Bake Cookies and Decorate 3. Share Cookies with Neighbors 4. Make a gift for each others Stockings. 5. Make a Paper Chain for Tree 6. Wrap Presents for Teachers 7. Make up a Bedtime Story using Stuffed Animals 8. Write a Story and “publish” it on Mom’s Blog 9. Make Christmas Ornaments, make Daddy’s B-Day Present 10. Make a “Thankful” list and hang it up (Daddy’s Birthday) 11. Take a Bubble Bath with Candle light 12. Break out the Christmas Music and Dance 13. Watch a Christmas Movie 14. Make More Christmas Ornaments 15. Make Paper Snowflakes for the Windows 16. Have a Tea Party 17. Make Christmas Wrapping Paper 18. Make Mommy a Canvas Painting with Hand prints 19. Read a Pile of Christmas stories 20. Stay Up Late and Watch a Movie 21. Bake Some Bread or Cookies 22. Make Cupcakes 23. Go see Massive Christmas Light Show down the street. 24. Christmas Party at Nana’s 25. Open Presents and Go to more parties.

 

 

You could also do them like the example above, same pattern and concept, just decorate your mantel!

Now I'm off to do #1 with the kiddo's!

P.S. I'm leaving this sucker up all year to catch my important pictures, birthday cards, announcements, invites, etc.! So, it'll work ALL year!

P.S.S.  I made a little origami box to put the envelopes on after we took them down.  The kids liked seeing them "gone".  The box is made out of Christmas paper and sat on the mantel as decoration.  I also saved the strips of paper so I might use them next year.  Read on to see how our Advent Calendar adventures continued...

YES! Halloween was a success!

Lots of candy = SUCCESS (if you are the trick or treater)

Super cute costumes = SUCCESS ( if you are the mom)

The kids get lots of candy = SUCCESS (if you are the dad)

 I stayed up late making Coopers costume, his vest, sash, "boots", hat and then Evan decided he didn't want to be a super hero but a pirate too!  So, I took a thrift store Kathy Lee dress and made a "coat" with a gold belt, added a hat and holster for his gun and his pirate sword, so Jake was our puppy dog!  The one that follows the pirates around that they pirates tend to ignore and his name was "LOST".

After a few rounds to family members, we hit our yearly Trunk or Treat spot!

Then to Chick-Fil-A and to Wal-Mart for groceries, where Evan fell asleep in the shopping cart with the groceries.

What a fun time!!!

Now to prepare for one of my favorite Holidays!