More Snow Fun!

More snow starting falling on us this morning. We got a light dusting compared to our Southern neighbors. It reminded me that I still hadn't sat down to post the pictures of our snow storm that hit before Christmas (along with many other events yet to be posted-bad blogger-I KNOW!). We still have some remaining clumps of snow here and there from that snow storm. It turned out to be quite the mess, but on one very cold day, we got out of the house and played. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for our cheeks to get too red and our fingers and toes to get too numb.

Aleeyah LOVES the snow. We struggle with getting her to understand that just because it's snowing doesn't mean it's Christmas again and "Ho, Ho" isn't coming again until next year! She enjoyed throwing snowballs at us

and always takes the opportunity to ride on her sled!




Chris even decided he would get on for a short ride


This was technically Oliver's second snow. We had him for last years snow, but he was so tiny that we didn't really let him go outside in it. We were still working with puppy pads and so he REALLY enjoyed playing this year. I kept putting him in the house to get warmed up, but then he would whine and whine because he wasn't outside playing with us.






Chris had decided after his attempt to ride his bike in the snow


that digging into the big pile of snow sounded like loads of fun! It was quite humorous to watch him wiggle around in there trying to dig out to the other side.

He finally made it through and Miss Aleeyah had to check it out. Check out those red cheeks--shortly after these 2 pictures were taken, we headed back inside!



And I have to take a moment to brag on my husband. When I first walked out from getting all bundled up, I had expected to walk out and see him and Aleeyah playing right away. I was delighted to see that he had saw a neighbor trying to get his car in his garage with a snow covered driveway between him and his garage. Chris had grabbed our snow shovel and ran down and started shoveling. The elderly man sat in his car while Chris shoveled and they were eventually able to get it into the garage.




Even in all his kid like demeanor he often thinks of others and goes out of his way to help. Warmed my heart on such a cold, cold day!

Did someone spray Febreeze on my blog?!

Okay, so if you use feeds to read your blogs, I'm letting you know to stop on in and check out the new, refreshed look! Finally finished my new blog design! I've been itching to change it for a while and have held off. There are a couple of small minor things I'd like to fix/change, but for now it's going to stay. :)

Of course, I'd love to hear what you think!

Salsa and Taco Salad for Everyone!

Well, tonight was Mexican food night-AGAIN. I never get tired of eating Mexican food! Yum! Last night was healthy enchiladas and tonight was turkey taco salad. For dessert? Salsa!

I've been a fan of Bill Phillip's book, Eating for Life, since I picked it up one day at the store. If you've cooked with me even a little you will know this. :) I've made a good amount of the meals in it and have only been disappointed once (carrot muffins-not so tasty!). The meals are always relatively simple and great portions! You don't ever feel like you are cooking to feed 20. Other great advantages of the book are that it goes into detail about proper nutrition and eating well balanced diets. They focus on eating several smaller proportions throughout the day and give great tips on how to achieve this. We find ourselves cooking out of it even when we aren't trying to get healthy. Of course, right now we are joining the ridiculous amount of people who are vowing to get healthy after gaining those holiday pounds. Our family doesn't necessarily set resolutions and such, but it's a better time to start than tomorrow. Wait..there's always tomorrow, right?

Anyway-I've been asked many a times for my salsa recipe and have offered it to a friend just recently. So I suppose now is the best time as any. Since I made the EASY taco salad AND salsa, I figured I'd share them together.

Disclaimer: I don't think I've ever featured recipes here because I sure don't remember realizing how much I suck at taking pictures of food before. None-the-less, you will get a few pics! Never mind, the sucky part. :)


SALSA!! Everyone seems to have their own concoction of what they call salsa. I've had some great and I've had some not-so-great (nobody who reads here, of course). Mine is well...mine. It was derived from another great salsa recipe and Chris and I have tweaked it to a point of liking it even more. Others have raved about it, but it may not be for your taste buds. And that's okay, too. Just tweak it yourself to make it personal for you.

Ingredients and Tools of the Trade



5 cans of diced tomatoes
4 roma tomatoes (or 3 regular ones)
1/2 white onion --you may have to buy a whole one though :)
1 lemon
5-6 cloves of garlic (depending on size of cloves)
4 tsp lemon pepper
4 tsp fresh cilantro
4 tsp parsley (fresh is best, but can use dried)
5 tsp garlic salt
* jalapenos to taste

*This can get quite tricky some times. If you pick the right jalapeno then you can get away with only using one, but if you don't, you might have to pick up several more to get it to spice up. Go for the bigger and greener jalapenos to get the most kick out of your pepper. I pick up a few to limit the possibility of having to make a pepper run. While at the store, you can pick up the ingredients to make something that includes those extra jalapenos that way they won't go to waste.

Other items to have handy and make your salsa making a tad bit easier:

Garlic press -I use a Pampered Chef one where you don't have to peel the garlic
Sharp cutting knife -typically only use it to cut the up the tomatoes, parsley, & cilantro
Butcher knife -works great for everything else, but mostly chopping
Measuring spoon -I use the ones that adjust to size and LOVE them. Drives me nuts to deal with all those little spoons floating around the utensil drawer.
Cutting board -unless you and your significant other are okay with you slicing up your counters
Scraper -not a necessity, but works great to get up all those pieces
A Large Bowl -you've got to have something to put all those yummy veggies in!
Large Spoon -mixing is one of the most fun parts!
A Little Helper -Don't have one? Borrow one! There is always a willing parent! okay, okay. Again. Not a necessity, but makes life a little bit more fuller!

Here's my helper sifting out the lemon seeds...


Okay, with that said-let's FINALLY get started. I've found that it's easier if you start out squeezing your lemon into the bowl. If you squeeze it into the bowl (while nothing else is in there) you can easily get those seeds out. Now, you could use one of those lemon squeezer or juicers, but well...that would be something else to have to clean later. Work out those forearms and squeeze it yourself. Also helps to get more of the juice out if you roll the lemon on the counter as you push down before slicing it open.

Next, slice and dice everything up (except for the jalapenos!) and throw into the mixing bowl.

HELPFUL HINT: Worried about getting your cutest apron dirty from the splish, splashing of tomatoes falling out of the can? That is where your helper comes in to save the day. Have him/her do the splashing. They will love it and you will get to stand back-free and clear of any flying tomato juice!



IMPORTANT REMINDER: Do your world a favor. It takes just a couple of extra minutes. Rinse out those tomato cans and toss them in the recycle bin over throwing them into the landfill! And if you train that helper right, he/she will help you remember EACH AND EVERY TIME YOU FORGET!

Mix up your salsa! Yes, give it a whirl! My helper told me that we must stir 3 times in one direction and then 3 turns in the other direction and repeat until well mixed. Aides in helping your child count to 3. But I suppose, that if your child can't count to 3 yet, they might not be the best helper in the kitchen! Just a thought there. There could be exceptions.

Now, you ALMOST have salsa! Salsa just isn't salsa without some kick. You may want to start off with 1/2 a jalapeno (this has been the least amount that I've ever needed). Chop it up. It's up to you in whether or not you want to use some sort of gloves. I don't necessarily recommend like an oven mitt (haven't tried it), but something to protect the hands would be great. Even if it means using the bag to hold as you chop. Anything to keep from fully man-handling the pepper. TRUST ME--it's BURNS your eye balls or lips even after several washings if you have a strong pepper. Start adding your pepper until you think it's just right. Save a little for after your salsa has had some time to meld together in the fridge. You may find the next day that you will want to add some more spice to it.

BE CAREFUL though. Add too much and you will find yourself burning the helpers poor little lips...




and then you will feel bad. :(


If you find it's a bit too chunky for your liking-throw it in a food processor and give it a few pulses.

At last--SALSA!




Now for that Turkey Taco Salad(going quicker and simpler this time as my laptop is heading to it's battery's death!)

Ingredients



(makes 4 servings)

1 lb of lean ground turkey
1 can (15 oz) chili beans in chili sauce
5 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup salsa (go ahead and use that new salsa recipe!)
1/2 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tomato, diced
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup sour cream (we forgo-ed this one)
4 oz baked tortilla chips

Instructions simplified:

Brown your turkey meat over medium to high heat
Stir in chili beans and let cook until heated and sauce thickened a bit
Divide out portions on each plate
Add broken up pieces of tortilla chips

A quick, cheap, and healthy meal! CHOW!




Hope you enjoyed or are going to enjoy! Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions!

Us versus Cabin Fever

Aleeyah and I enjoyed the heatwave today! It was all of 42 degrees outside with a wind chill of 36. It felt SO wonderful to get out of the house and play. We spent over 3 hours outside playing in the snow. Well, she spent a little less than that since we left the snow boots in the car Chris drove today. She wore her tennis shoes and her piggies got a little colder than she liked. We threw snowballs at each other. We played with the sled. We built snowmen. And I even shoveled snow from the drive and sidewalks.

Yes, even though we are looking to have some temperatures finally above freezing and it will probably all melt soon (before the next snow), I shoveled snow. But THAT is what cabin fever will do to you! It didn't matter that my legs and bum were numb under my thin sweats from sitting in the snow. It didn't matter that snow gets heavy after shoveling an approximate 10 foot long path. Because we looked cabin fever in the eye today. We told it that we weren't going to take it any more.

And it felt good!

Aleeyah was more interested in sliding on her sled down the hill than making a snowman. So, I got the opportunity to take my time on her. Making sure that each ball was smoothly round and sized just right. Aleeyah stepped in to finish up the details and offered her hat to finish the look. After spending a good deal amount of time smoothing out the snow down the 10 foot path that currently is about 4 foot high and then covering up a lot of the dirty snow with clean snow so it would look pretty, she was complete. I was happy. And I am quite certain my looming elderly neighbors probably thought I was quite the nut job!

I wasn't quite ready to go back in after shoveling, so I asked Aleeyah if she wanted to sit with me while I made an Oliver from snow. It took me all of 15 minutes and I think he is DARLING! I thought about putting his lime green coat on his snowy replica, but we kinda like Oliver in his coat. So we chose a collar to match the Misses.

Of course, I took a few pics of our endeavors today. None of playing in the snow or building the snowmen because lets face it-cameras and snow covered gloves really just don't go hand in hand.

Enjoy!

Missing Your Autumn Warmth

Poem by Robert Frost

Back in October...

I know we are well past Halloween, Thanksgiving AND now Christmas, but I have yet to post the last of our Halloween pics and have posted absolutely none of Thanksgiving. I thought maybe I should do that before I really go head into Christmas pics.

We went out to the Powell Pumpkin Patch this year to pick out some pumpkins.



It's one of my favorite holiday events around this time to do with Aleeyah. I made the mistake of putting her in her new tennis shoes. Apparently, after a few days of rain the pumpkin patch gets quite muddy! I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times she tripped over a corn stalk in the corn maze or pumpkin vines which all landed her hands and knees in the mud!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas tree...

Miss Aleeyah got her very own tree this year for her room. She was REALLY excited about it-even more than our living room tree! I was super excited about how inexpensively were were able to do it for. (all for under $50!! and all re-usable!)

We knew we wanted a white tree even though Aleeyah tried to stray away from white when we went to the tree farm. She wanted a little green tree then because she could bring it home now. They didn't have a small one for sale and I talked to her about this one being able to kept and reused again next year. She was tired and cold, but understood.

We searched several stores before I finally gave in and went to Wal-Mart. I don't shop there really much at all any more. When we lived in Oklahoma it was conveniently right down the street. Here it isn't and we have plenty of other stores around us. I've not been a big fan of Wal-Mart for quite some time so it all works out. Target had a beautiful white tree for just a ridiculous amount of money and none of the other places I looked even had a white tree. Wal-Mart had 4 white options in a price range that I really was looking to spend. We chose a 6 foot pre-lit tree for only $25.

We were looking to make an alphabet tree. Aleeyah LOVES everything alphabet! We found an unpainted A at Hobby Lobby for $2 and we painted it with a coordinating green I found in my stash. We also found a great package of letters that are all brightly colored paper on top of pressed cardboard. I just needed to punch holes in them and then used some bright thread I had on hand. I was able to get them for 40% off at Hobby Lobby with a coupon so they were all of $3 and really helped bring a lot to the tree.


We purchased some very bright plastic (but looks like glass-seriously, had to take them out of the package to find out if they were plastic or glass) balls, bells, and snow flakes from Target. Spent $15 there.


The tree skirt is made up of some left over fabric I had in my sewing stash. It's a couple of strips that I neatly draped around the bottom of the tree.




She's one happy girl!


And it matches her room which makes mom happy!


She asks to keep her tree on when she goes to sleep. I'm kind of curious to see how it goes when it's time to take it down.

BTW-looks like she will be getting a big girl bed in the near future! We've been putting off, but now her feet are growing closer to the end. She's not too excited about getting a new bed. We've talked about it several times and she tells us that she likes her bed and doesn't want a new one. I think once we do it, she will love it, but understand she's hesitant at this point. The one we've picked out is a black daybed (pictured below) so I think it will be similar enough to help her transition well!


I don't love it in the picture, but looks cute in person. Plus we will be able to get a pop up trundle to go underneath that way we will have an option for when our family comes to stay.

Lullaby, and Good Night

As Aleeyah played half of Mary Had a Little Lamb tonight on the piano from memory when I showed it to her about a month ago, I couldn't believe how grown up she is becoming. She is constantly comparing her height to mine and asking when she is going to be as big as daddy. Her head already reaching halfway up my rib cage when she stands next to me. Her fingers can comfortably fit in between mine now. Her feet are finally able to stand in my high heels. She asks big girl kind of questions. She makes proclamations that instantly make my mind think about the teen years ahead.

I wonder if we will get it mostly right. If when she's grown she will look back and know that we did everything we could do to be a part of every moment of her life. If we took each day with a positive outlook and lived our lives with her the best they could be. If we succeeded in helping her to learn to follow God-hand in hand.

Today, I cherish that her daddy is her hero and I am there to make everything better. I enjoy her climbing up in my lap to cuddle even when it means that I'll be jabbed with every sharp bone in her body. I can say that I even enjoy the nights she is scared and comes crawling in our bed with a slight whimper. I get to hold her close those nights and comfort her.

Most of the time, it feels like it's going by all too quickly...

------

After putting Aleeyah to bed tonight, she came walking back into the living room where Chris and I were sitting. She had tears in her eyes and her voice all shaky.

Me: What's wrong Peet?

Aleeyah: Momma, I want you to sing me my favorite lullaby.

Me: And what is your favorite lullaby?

Aleeyah: The one you have sang to me since I was a baby.

------

...but then there are those moments like this evening. When it all comes back to holding her in my arms like I once did and singing my baby girl her favorite lullaby.

Lullaby, and good night,
With pink roses bedight,
With lilies o'erspread,
Is my baby's sweet head.
Lay you down now, and rest,
May your slumber be blessed!
Lay you down now, and rest,
May thy slumber be blessed!

Lullaby, and good night,
You're your mother's delight,
Shining angels beside
My darling abide.
Soft and warm is your bed,
Close your eyes and rest your head.
Soft and warm is your bed,
Close your eyes and rest your head.

Sleepyhead, close your eyes.
Mother's right here beside you.
I'll protect you from harm,
You will wake in my arms.
Guardian angels are near,
So sleep on, with no fear.
Guardian angels are near,
So sleep on, with no fear.

Lullaby, and sleep tight.
Hush! My darling is sleeping,
On his sheets white as cream,
With his head full of dreams.
When the sky's bright with dawn,
He will wake in the morning.
When noontide warms the world,
He will frolic in the sun.

Oliver was hung by the chimney with care

and he hopes that someone would rescue him from up there.


**Disclaimer: This photo was taken and manipulated in a closed photo session . No one should attempt to hang a dog in a stocking above a fireplace, no matter how much he or she may weigh. No Olivers were hurt in the making of this photo.

Apparently, more tree than we can handle!!!

We decided that since we didn't know where we were going to be living next Christmas and that it didn't make sense to buy a tree for where we are currently that may not fit well in the new place, that we would go with another real tree this year. It's not a decision I really thought was ideal. My experiences with the real tree last year didn't go very well as it bothered my allergies while it lived in my house for a month. The OCD in me didn't care for the unpredictable branches either. BUT I also knew that I didn't want to go buy an artificial one this year to possibly turn around and have to get rid of it the next year.

So we headed out to the tree farm with my dad to find the perfect tree. (Little did we know how UN-perfect our tree turned out to be!) We ended up at a different tree farm than the one we went to last year. It looked like they had a good set up, but we made it there just before dark-too late to enjoy the extra stuff. We began walking through the hundreds of trees to find a suitable match.







We found "the one", Chris cut it down, and then we headed back to have it bundled and shook for us. By this point, it was sleeting on us. It was cold to say the least.



(at this point, we attempted to get a family picture with our tree in the sleeting rain, but Aleeyah wasn't having it)

We got her home and set upright.




While I started on the lights and garland (and took pictures of them admiring their handy work), Chris and Aleeyah worked on getting a fire going.



Aleeyah also (quickly!) put on her PJs because she was insistent that she had to be in PJs while she decorated.



It was time to start decorating!












We finished and as Chris vacuumed up the pine needles, Aleeyah and I had some hot cocoa.



2 peas!



Even Oliver sat down and relaxed by the fire....okay, if ONLY that were any bit of truth-that would be great! He is WAY too busy to sit down and relax by the fire! Truth be told, I sat him there and told him to stay. It took about 20 pictures to finally get one that didn't have him launching out of his bed right at me.



Chris began turning off the house lights so that we could see the tree glow, while I straightened a couple of small details. All the sudden, things went down quickly! No, I mean literally, I'm standing in front of the tree barely touching the thing, when all the sudden it starts falling! I tried but couldn't catch it. I stood there for a split second in shock until I realized that the tree base's water was being poured out onto the carpet!

Something missing in the picture? Oh, yeah-the tree. This is where the tree once was...

Broken carnage...

More ornaments (mostly under the towel) and mess that Aleeyah moved for us as we spent the next 1.5 hours! trying to get the tree to stand upright again.


We ended the night with throwing the tree in the corner until our minds were clearer and the red dot rash was removed from both my arms and hands from the pine needles stabbing me like little allergy shots.


The next evening, we spent another 1.5 hours trying to fix it again. We ended up tethering the thing to the wall and calling it good. I put the garland back on and then we waited another 24 hours to make sure it stayed up before we decorated again.



So THIRD night of Christmas tree decorating, it is decorated and still standing (we won't talk about the lean we noticed again tonight even though it is mounted to a stud). We set the mood again and enjoyed another night of tree decorating.









He looks highly impressed doesn't he? (just wait until you see another pic we took!)

SO there ya have it--our Christmas tree woes. NO MORE REAL TREES!!!!! (you may need to remind me again next year after the tree incident of 2009 will become one of those memories that is just funny and I forget the tears that were cried on my couch that night.)

Be a Cindy Lou Who

The other night before we went to go get our Christmas tree at the tree farm, we watched, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Chris and I haven't seen it in a while and Aleeyah's never watched it. It was a great reminder as we head into December. I also found myself really understanding where the Grinch was coming from. Everyone's garbage was heaped right outside of his front door. Such as,'old' Christmas trees that were probably not big enough to fit a Who-ville kind of standard anymore and presents that weren't good enough. His points were valid, in deed. Cindy Lou Who saw the sadness of what Christmas has become also. A time of doing everything bigger and better than before and still feeling like it's never good enough. And when I think about all of this (and the ridiculous TV screen at the Dallas stadium I saw on TV last night), it turns my stomach to think of all the children in the world dying of hunger while we search for more.

On the flip side, the Grinch has a hard time joining in the Christmas festivities when all he sees is the way Christmas is being done wrong and is very loud about his dis-cheer. Aleeyah kept asking me if he was mean and angry and, on the surface, it would seem that way. He's unhappy about the things that were once done to him and angry at the people of Who-ville for their, for what seems like, shallow holiday cheer. He took his point to the other extreme and began to despise all things Christmasy.

After watching the movie, I would neither like to be like the people of Who-ville with their shallow desires of big Christmases nor like the Grinch who has a hard time seeing past the wrong of Christmas to really enjoy the warmth and family that the holiday brings. I'd like to be like little Cindy Lou Who. A sweet little girl that saw and understood both sides and she chose to act in kindness and love to the grumpy Grinch and the commercialized people of Who-ville. Just kindness and love.

Refine Me

A friend sent this to me for encouragement today and I wanted to share it also. Thank you to my friend that sent it to me. Your email means more to me than you could imagine.

------

'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.' Malachi 3:3

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God .

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

------

and it ended with...

Thank you God, for teaching me to laugh again...but please Lord, don't ever let me forget that I cried.

Storytime brought to you by Aleeyah

Title: The Eyeless Aleeyah Turned Bear
Storyteller: Aleeyah
Videographer: Mom

Oh, the sweet taste of phosphates...

The other day, a friend wrote a post about her recent experience with making laundry soap. They are adopting from Ethiopia (insert the awwwing noise that people make when they have just heard that someone's having a baby) and have been looking at ways to "save a little here and there".

It got me to thinking about a book that I have sitting on my kitchen counter-always. It's called "Green up your Cleanup" (The Green House) by Jill Potvin Schoff.



I've read through it even though I think it's more suppose to be like a cookbook--a book you reference, but not necessarily sit down and read it. It does have a lot of great information though just as you would find in a cookbook. It has recipes on cleaning supplies and how to store them, alternate cleaning solutions from your normal hazard cleaning ways, and lots of information as to why you ought to avoid certain chemicals from your home.

Greening up is something that came along my way when I decided to get a parrot.



His name was Pickles. No, we don't still have him for a few reasons, but I'll save that for another day...okay, well if you for some reason desire to know-shoot me an email. BTW-I won't be waiting for that email. Moving on....

So around parrots or any other bird, it is un-advisable for you to use any kind of cleaning chemical, air fresheners, candles, or teflon pans if you wish to be able to keep your sweet, little chirping (or high-pitched, ear piercing, put cotton in your ears squawking sound that Pickles made) pet around. As even a small amount of exposure to any of these things can cause immediate death. So as a new parrot owner that spent way more on the bird and necessities than any of her full blood dogs, I didn't want to accidentally kill it.

Then (being the sharp one that I am) got to thinking, IF these "harmless" chemicals were really that harmful to a small creature, I wonder what it does to our bodies over a period of 100 (I'm being hopeful) years of lifelong exposure. Surely it couldn't be that innocent.

A few reasons why you may look into possibly going greener even if you do it in stages:

First and foremost, "Green up your Cleanup" tells us that "...there is almost no government regulations of the chemicals used in cleaning products in the United States." Think about that for a moment. The companies are allowed to do as they wish when it comes to chemicals that we expose ourselves to daily and are even able to keep those recipes as confidential.

The book also states:

"A study by the Environmental Working Group tested the umbilical cord blood of 10 American babies born in 2004 and found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in each baby's blood."

"Phosphates are banned from most cleaning products, but automatic dishwashing detergents have an exemption and can still contain up to 20 percent phosphates. Phosphates that end up in our waterways cause algae blooms that deplete oxygen and kill off fish." (our DISHwashing soap. Dishes. Those things we EAT off of!)

"The EPA reports that levels of air pollution inside the home can be two to five times higher than outdoor levels."


Okay, so those are the more personal reasons. There are MANY environmental reasons.

Are you feeling warm and fuzzy yet?

Yeah, me neither (as I can smell the sweet smell of fabric softener lingering on my shirt. Mmmmmm....fabric softener)

SO what do we do from here? Well, personally, I think it's time for a change. It's time to try out the greener, healthier possibilities. I've had the book. I've made a few changes here and there, but I definitely think it's going to be cheaper and easier than what I'm anticipating. Probably. Maybe. I'll let you know. ;)

If you are up to the challenge, get the book and some basic supplies to get started. The must have's.

Here is what you are looking for:

Liquid soap -a mild liquid soap (something like Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap). She tells us that a little goes a long ways and a lot of the recipes have this included.

Borax located in the laundry section at the store

Baking soda

Washing soda

White distilled vinegar

Lemon juice -"fresh squeezed is the best, but bottled can be used in a pinch"

Powdered oxygen bleach

Club soda

Citric acid -can be found online or in places that sell canning supplies (also called sour salt)

Essential oils -for scenting your cleaners. "Look for ones that say 100% pure"


Alright green team. Put your hands in. Goooooooooo GREEN!

(too cheesy? yeeaahhh..probably!)

Surprise!!! It's NOT your birthday!!!

We were basically headed out the door around Chris' birthday in September. His birthday is on the 9th and we were leaving for Oklahoma on the 10th and Alaska on the 11th. His day got totally pushed aside for our vacation. He was fine with it, but I hated at least not giving him a birthday cake and celebrating his day. I had told him I'd make it up to him.

It had crossed my mind a few times that we didn't get a chance to do anything for it and finally when it hit me again on October 10th, Aleeyah and I devised a plan to have a birthday party for him...as a surprise. It was one of the rare times Chris had to work on a Saturday. He had said he was hoping to be home by 2pm. That gave us time to go to the store, decorate, and make cupcakes (with his favorite frosting). We rushed around the house trying to quickly put together a birthday party on a budget.

Aleeyah worked on the banner...


and helped me with the cupcakes...


and balloons...


We decorated the table...


And the kitchen area...


Everyone was in attendance...


But quickly got tired of waiting so they took a seat at the table...



Then we waited and waited and waited. We took a nap. Finally at 8:00pm, Dad was finally on his way home!

And he was super surprised when he got home!



Who wouldn't be if you were given a surprise party a MONTH after your birthday! Happy 31 babe (yet another month later! haha!)

Now Aleeyah has been throwing us random surprise parties here and there on a whim! Drawing banners and cards. Apparently, she likes the idea of surprise parties!