Three Lovely Ladies!

Since we had some snow on Friday, there hasn't been any yard sales yet this year for us. I've been stopping by the Goodwill a couple of times a week but nothing there seems to be jumping in my cart.

I think I've just gotten more selective in my older age. If I don't have a use for it or if I don't have a specific place for it, then it's not coming home with me!

I've also been planning my own yard sale and trying to declutter this house so that is probably another reason why nothing has appealed to me lately either.

I did pick these 3 lovely plaques up late last fall for $0.99 each at the Goodwill! Yes! I said LOVELY! Just wait, the next time you see these ladies, they will have a fresh look and be gorgeous! I had in my mind where I could use two but I thought I would go ahead and take the third one home with me for that price. I'm planning on using these ladies in my living room when I finally redo it. I can see them painted black, can't you?

Click on the button below to see what other Thrifty Treasures were found by other thrifters this week.

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I'm Lovin' Family Fun Magazine and Website!

One of my favorite magazines of all time is Family Fun.

I LOVE this magazine!

If you have kids and don't subscribe to this magazine, then you are missing out on some easy Family Fun!

Heck, even if you don't have kids but know one, you need to get this magazine!

This is the April 2010 issue. I just received mine in the mail the other day so it should be on the magazine racks now.

Family Fun Magazine is put out by Disney but it's not filled with Disney stuff. Yes, of course there are ads for Disney. However, as I quickly flip through it, I see an ad for the Disney Channel, the Disney Cruise line and one where Verizon has Disney characters in their ad. To be honest here, I don't even notice the ads since there are SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS to do with or for your kids!

I'm not quite through this issue but let me share with you some things that caught my attention:

• Constellation Collaboration - an instant fun idea to foster you kids' imagination and create constellations from star stickers.
• Keep It Under Your Cap - recycle bottle caps into fun magnets for your fridge.
• Their readers always have great tips too. One I really like this month is "Pay the Maid." It's a cute clever way to help your child put their toys away. . . and you're the maid!
• "Green" crafts - this is so up my Allison's alley!
• Kitchen Concoctions - one of the ideas is how to make a lava lamp. Fun!
• Secrets of Organized Homes - can't wait to read this one!
• Kid recipes for making brunch - doesn't gingerbread waffles sound yummy?
  
• Fun for Little Ones - these are ideas for kids 5 and under.

If you have been following my blog recently, you know that I'm a ripper and rip things out of magazines and store them in my binder system. Well. I DO NOT rip anything out of these magazines. Nope! There are just too many ideas . . . I would be creating another magazine!

I store the whole magazine in magazine holders grouped by issue. . . all the January issues are together, the February issues are together and so on and so forth. So for example, if I want ideas for Easter, I grab all of the issues that have Easter ideas in them (probably March - April) and go through them quickly. I always find an idea or two or three that may not have been age appropriate when she was 2 but we can now do when she is 8.

Oh, they also have a website and you can find it by clicking here. It's filled with a ton of information too! Are you having a Princess party for your little girl? You can find how to make a cake in the shape of a castle there. How about a Halloween costumes? It's where I found the idea and instructions on how to make Allison's mouse costume when she was little. If you go over there now, you'll find some fun ideas for April Fool's Day to fool your family.

How about a piece of Chicken Not-Pie?
(Photo Credit: Family Fun)

It's actually pudding, candies and a banana!
Fun! Fun! Fun!

Okay! Don't you want this magazine NOW?

Besides picking it up at the magazine rack for a few dollars, why not go ahead and get a subscription. You will NOT regret it. I promise you that!

It's $10 for a year's subscription on their website BUT if you go to www.magazines.com and order it there, it is $9.95. HOWEVER, if you order it before April 17, 2010 and use the code, SpringMags, you will pay $4.95 for the whole year! Yippee!!! BUT WAIT, if you want an even better deal and you are a UPROMISE member, you can order it through their website by clicking through to magazines.com and use the code, UPMAG5off, and you will still pay $4.95 but you will get 30% back on your child's college fund. So with $1.49 going into the college fund, it actually will cost you $3.46 for the whole year! Now that's a bargain!

I hope I have you lovin' Family Fun Magazine and website!

Stop over at Tidy Mom's place by clicking the button below to see what others are lovin' on this Friday!

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Binders Can Organize Your Life Series! ~ Part 2

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to Part 2 in the "Binders Can Organized Your Life Series."

If you missed Part 1, you can click on the link below to take you there and to see why I'm doing this series and how I store my binders.
Part 1 ~ Manual & Warranties, Holiday Ideas, Decorating Ideas & My Recipes

This week I'm sharing my "Crafts, Gifts & Tips" binder and my "Christmas Planner" binder.

There are 3 more weeks of binders and here is the schedule for the next 3 Wednesdays:
Part 3 ~ The Child Edition ~ Girl/Boy Scouts, Catechism/Sunday School and School Info Binder
Part 4 ~ Home Management Binder
Part 5 ~ Financial Budget Binder

First let me say that I'm so sorry I'm late in posting this today. I usually like to post in the morning but yesterday I was a bit under the weather and didn't feel like getting to the computer. I'm sorry about the quality of these pics. The camera and the sunlight just didn't want to cooperate with me today. :(

This first binder up today is my "Crafts, Gifts & Tips" binder. It is where I put all of those amazingly clever ideas that I love and know I will use or want to reference some day. Again, I use a front view binder and made a cover and spine insert using images I found on Google Images.

My sections for this one are: Mom's Tips (This isn't tips for Moms but tips for this Mom. Things like painting tricks, organizing ideas, etc.), Cleaning Tips (everything from how to clean windows to how to whiten doilies), Gift Ideas (self-explanatory), Kid Stuff (any craft ideas for kids or good ideas to do for kids) and MCNO Ideas (Mom's Craft Night Out which is a craft night I do with my friends and I'm in charge of the craft. You can read more about it here.)

Here is a view of the inside. This is a page in the Kid Stuff section. As you can see, I just cut the idea out of a magazine. If it's not a whole page, I use glue stick to paste it on a piece of copy paper.

This is "My Christmas Planner." It's where I keep everything I do for Christmas so I don't forget anything that's important. It drives me crazy when I forget something and this binder helps me to remember all those things my memory forgets.

My sections for this one are: Gift List, Card List, Tradition/Memories, Decorations and Recipes & Menus.

When I converted my closet into a Command Center last month, I cleaned out this binder so there really isn't a whole lot to show you. I actually got the idea of a Christmas Planner in 2003 from a Family Fun Magazine (love that magazine!) and modeled mine after their suggestions. Here is a link that will take you to the online article. A couple of differences I made to mine were: 1. I added Traditions to the Memories section because traditions are very important to me and I don't want to forget one in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. 2. The other difference is the Decorations section. This section holds all of the decoration ideas and such that I currently do. Any ideas that I've cut out of magazines and such, go into my Holiday Ideas binder that I shared with you last week. After I've tried them and liked them, they get transferred to here.

Here is the inside back of my binder. It holds a zippered pocket that I use to keep my receipts so they are easily found for returns or exchanges.

I hope you enjoyed Part 2 in the "Binders Can Organize Your Life Series" and be sure to come back next Wednesday for Part 3.

You can become a follower or just come back to:

Works-for-me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family
or
Show and Tell Wednesday with Blue Cricket Design.

I'll be sharing this series at both places.

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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall!

I'm linking up with Rhoda's "Today's Thrifty Treasures" party over at Southern Hospitality to show a couple of thrifty treasures I picked up. Click on the button below to take you to Rhoda's site to see what other treasure have been found.

I remember years ago my Mom having a mirror on her wall like these. It was probably sometime in the 1970's. Do any of you remember these?

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one but I couldn't pass up the price of $5!

I paid $6 for this one and I'm planning on painting this one black and using it above my table in the foyer.

I actually bought another one of these last year and painted it a bright, bright green for my daughter's room. I know it seems a little much but she's 8 years old and loves it and that's all that matters to me!

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3 and 6636!

As I wrote yesterday, Rita's was giving away a free Italian ice to celebrate the first day of spring.

I had this crazy idea to walk to Rita's. It's not that close but I thought I could do it. I asked Curtis what he thought and he said I would never make it. Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence honey . . . NOT!

Well Curtis went over to his brother's to work on his car and left us alone for the day.

I debated walking there several times during the day and decided that it was probably a bad idea. You see, I'm a realist and although inside I feel like I'm in my 20's, I know I'm not and certainly not in the shape I was then either. I know it's in my control and I know I can lose the extra fluff but I have to be there in my mind and I'm not quite there yet.

Okay, let's move along here.

Allison apparently overheard Curtis and I talking about it earlier and made the decision that we were going to walk. :( She said, "Come on, Mom! You want to lose some pounds, so you can just walk them off!" Oh boy, I wish it was that easy! Anyway. After much persuading from her, I agreed.

Eight, yes 8 minutes into the walk, I was regretting my decision. It's not because I was out of breath or tired yet but because when we turned the corner onto a side road, all I saw was a long road with a hill at the end. Hmm, I take Allison to school every morning on that road and never noticed that hill before! Oh well. I promised Allison and I didn't want to look like a wimp in her eyes and turn back now . . . at least not 8 minutes into the trip!

I'm happy to say that I made it! It wasn't as bad as I thought and I was feeling sort of proud. That was until we turned right at the end of that road and saw even a BIGGER hill! No problem! This was about a 1/2 mile hill but we were walking down it so I knew I could handle it. I bet you know what I was secretly fearing inside though! YES, that we had to walk UP it on the way home! Goodness! What have I gotten myself into?!?!?

Well we arrived at Rita's and stood in line. When it was our turn to approach the window, I couldn't move. My legs felt a little weird and sort of jello-like. I said a quick prayer and was able to make it to the window without falling. They didn't have many flavors left since this was in the evening but I picked blue raspberry and Allison got one side of her cup filled with chocolate chocolate chip and the other with s'mores. There wasn't any place to sit so we walked over to a shopping plaza and sat on the curb.

I explained to Allison that "Mommy isn't going to make it up that hill." and that I was going to call our neighbor Audrey to come and get us. She refused and told me that I could do it. She said the people on the Biggest Loser work harder than walking up that hill and that I was in better shape than those people. She said that it wouldn't be that bad and we could take breaks if we needed it. Wow! Hey Jillian & Bob! If you need an assistant, I've got one right here for you!

Okay. I decided that I would do this for Allison. After all, I made it this far so why not go for the gold and show Allison to push through things you are afraid of doing!

However, In the back of my mind I was a little . . . okay, a lot afraid of passing out or something. So, being the practical Mother that I am, I asked Allison if she knew how to call 911 on my cell phone? She said, "Oh of course, it's 9 - 1 - 1." I explained that she had to push send after that. I also coached her on the name of the road we would be walking. She then looked at me and asked, "Should I start CPR until they get here?" LOL! Love that kid!

Well, I'm ecstatic to report that I MADE IT! We only stopped twice up that hill at 2 intersecting side roads before crossing. I took that opportunity to catch my breath. Honestly, it was in no way as bad as I thought it would be! It was actually easier than the first hill on the way to Rita's even though this one was bigger.

When we were minutes from home, Allison said this has been the best weekend ever. First, she got to go to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" on Friday after school and then today (Saturday), she got to go on a long walk with her Mom to get free Rita's. I am SO glad I pushed myself . . . not only for her but for me.

Oh, and the title of this post . . . 3 is for the three miles that we walked and 6636 is the number of steps I walked. I'm so happy I put on my pedometer before we left. I now have a new goal to beat!

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First Day of Spring & A Freebie to Celebrate It!

Yippee! It's here! The First Day of Spring is here!!

Can you tell I'm excited???

I can't wait to get outside and clean up out there and do a couple of projects! I've made my list and hopefully, I'll be getting to it this week sometime!

One thing I know we'll be doing today is heading on over to Rita's Italian Ice for our FREE Italian Ice to celebrate the first day of spring! Yes, that's right. They give out a FREE Italian Ice to whoever stops by one of their locations today.

Click here to find a location near you!

Allison's favorite is Watermelon, Curtis loves Blue Raspberry and my preference is Georgia Peach. YUM! I hope they have our flavors today!

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I'm Lovin' My Mom!

Cheryl over at Tidy Mom is one of my favorite bloggers. I can really relate to what she writes about so when she started up a new blog party every Friday, I knew I wanted to join her fun.

Her bog party is titled "I'm Lovin' It Fridays" . . . very cute idea!

Anyway, sometimes I prewrite blog entries and set them post at a scheduled time but I thought with this one, I would think about what I'm lovin' at this moment in time and write about it. So, with that being said....

I'm Lovin' My Mom today!

Yes, of course, I love my Mom every day but I especially do at this moment in time and so today I want to celebrate her!

Here she is last month with my daughter. Please ignore the fact that she is gambling with my daughter by doing scratch off tickets with her. She loves doing them with Allison because she is so lucky and Allison understands how each one of them works. And yes, they did win . . . $10!

Anyway, I hit yet another speed bump of life last night and was feeling like I couldn't get a break. I usually can go with the flow and roll with the punches but last night hit me different. I thought I had something settled with our insurance companies for Allison that I've had to deal with for 1 1/2 months only to find out that "there's a problem" with the insurance again. Seriously, I can't take much more of this! I was feeling really beaten down last night and I called my Mom. Not because she could fix it but because she's well, my Mom. She let me cry uncontrollably and soothed me over the phone. She just listened, asked questions, offered suggestions and told me she loved me.

She's one wonderful Mom!

I've said it before here on my blog that all I ever wanted to be for as long as I can remember was a Mom. I know it was because of her example and love that made the job seem so wonderful. She raised and guided three totally different individuals into adult hood and is still there for us the moment we need her.

She taught me how to be a Mom . . . how to worship, how to cook, how to decorate, how to clip coupons, how to plant flowers, how to have parties, how to iron, how to be Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, how to be frugal and resourceful, how to never settle for less than my best, how to have faith and she taught me how to love unconditionally.

One particular time stands out in my mind more than any other when I think about my Mom supporting me. I was in the labor/delivery room and my best friend had cleared everyone out of the room so I could have a few minutes alone with my Mom. She asked me how I was doing and I started to cry. I told her that I didn't know if I could do this. She said I didn't have a choice right now. I told her that I wasn't talking about delivering the baby but about being a Mom. She gave a me a little laugh and said "Oh Cindi, you'll do just fine. I never worried about you being a Mom."

Wow! What life changing words for me! Knowing that she believed in me gave me all the confidence in the world!

I can only pray and hope that I am everything to Allison that my Mom is to me!

If you want to see what others are lovin' click on the button above.

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Binders Can Organize Your Life Series! ~ Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I found out I won 1st Place in the Organizing Junkie's 28 Day Organizing Challenge for making over our hall coat closet to a new Command Center.
Of course I was so excited because I don't win anything. So let me take a minute to toot my own horn. Toot, Toot!

Okay. Now that that is over, let me get on with this post. As a result of my win, I had dozens of comments and questions on my binder system which has saved my life! Well, not really but you know what I mean, right? So in an effort to help all the women out there (and some men) have a little peace in their lives, I am going to share with you what my Binder System is all about. Since there are so many, I will do it in a 5 Part Series over the next 5 Wednesdays.

Binders Can Organize Your Life Series
Part 1 ~ Manual & Warranties, Holiday Ideas, Decorating Ideas & My Recipes
Part 2 ~ Crafts, Gifts & Tips and Christmas Planner
Part 3 ~ The Child Edition ~ Girl/Boy Scouts, Catechism/Sunday School and School Info Binder
Part 4 ~ Home Management Binder
Part 5 ~ Financial Budget Binder

Let's get started with Part 1:

This is one of two of my Manual & Warranties Binders. Why do I have 2? Well because it tends to get a little heavy if you put them all in one binder. I use HEAVY DUTY 2 inch binders. I didn't spend the money on view binders since we rarely use the manuals but you know you need to keep them. As you can see they are nothing special. I just put a P-Touch label along the spine as you can see in the picture above.

Here's the side view showing you it can get pretty thick. If it was a bigger binder, it becomes hard to handle. Trust me on this, I know from experience . . . well, it just makes sense, right.

So here is the guts of the binder. I put HEAVY DUTY sheet protectors in there and fill them up. It is so much easier to flip through a binder when you are looking for a manual or warranty instead of rummaging through a box or file folder. Another great tip is to put your receipt with the appliance right with the manual. I just put them inside the front cover.

Next up is my Holiday Ideas binder. As I've said in a previous post, I'm a ripper. I like to rip ideas out of magazines, newspaper or print ideas off of the computer. Now, what do you do with them once you've done the above. Do they go in a file folder or a box never to be seen again? That is exactly what used to happen to mine . . . until I created my Binder System. As you can see, I used a front view binder (I got them all on Target's clearance of the back to school stuff for under a $1) and made them pretty with a cover and spine inserts. I pulled these images off of Google Images but if you want me to email you mine, just send me an email asking for them and I'll get any or all of them out to you. They are all word documents.

I like 5 Tab index dividers. It gives you more room to write or type your tab tile than an 8 Tab index divider does. My tabs are: Winter, Valentine's Day, Spring, Easter, Summer, 4th of July, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas.

Anything that relates to the holiday goes in that section . . . such as ideas I print off the Internet like how to make cute votives out of small jars.

Here is an example of something I "copied & pasted" from a website onto a word document and printed because sometimes when you print something from online, you get all the advertisements and junk. Isn't this Halloween costume cute? I made it for Allison several years ago but I've kept it because hopefully one day I'll have grandchildren!

In this example, I printed something off but there was all this dead space at the bottom so I just pasted with a glue stick something I cut out of a magazine.

Now in the spotlight is my Decorating Ideas Binder. There are a million and one ideas out there about decorating that I love so I've created this place to have all of my favorites in one spot.

My index tabs are: Foyer, Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room, Bedroom, Kids, Bathroom, Craft Room (I don't have one now but maybe someday. . . Allison will be going to college one day!), Garage/Storage and Outdoors.

Same idea as before . . . I cut out, paste down and then I add what I like about the pic or my idea on how I would change it.

The last binder I'm going to share with you today is "My Recipes" binder. It's nothing fancy but it serves it's purpose. I would like to make a pretty page for each recipe but I'm a realist. I have SO many recipes that I know a pretty page for each is not going to happen. I also don't use sheet protectors because my kitchen is so small, there is no room to lay the binder out in there. When I use one of the recipes, I use a magnetic clip on the refrigerator to hold the individual recipe page. In the future when I get a bigger kitchen, I'll transfer them to page protectors and get one of those pretty cookbook holders to hold my binder.

My index tabs are: Appts (Appetizers) & Party Foods, Soups & Stews, Salads & Side Dishes, Main Entrees, Cakes & Cookies, Desserts, Beverages, Kid Recipes, Holidays and Miscellaneous (tips & serving ideas like different ways to fold a napkin and such).

I use the same idea in this binder as the others. I three hole punch recipes that I've printed from the Internet. The recipe below is in my Mom's handwriting . . . I love that I'll have this forever!

This particular recipe is one of mine from my cooking blog, From The Heart of My Kitchen. I open a word document and put the picture and recipe on it and then print. I also save all of these recipes in a file on the computer so I can put together a binder of all my recipes for Allison. I'll give it to her when she moves into her first place.

I hope you enjoyed Part 1 in the Binders Can Organize Your Life Series and be sure to come back next Wednesday for Part 2.

You can become a follower or just come back to:

Works-for-me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family
or
Show and Tell Wednesday with Blue Cricket Design.

I'll be sharing this series at both places.

Have Fun!

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An Easter Wreath ~ Revisited!

Easter is just around the corner! Can you believe it? How did it get here so fast?? Thank goodness the Easter Bunny has things under control!

This week I'm joining in on Kimba's "Do it yourself day" party at her fabulous blog, A Soft Place to Land and "get your CRAFT on" at Today's Creative Blog! Stop by those blogs and see what some amazing do-it-yourselfers have done. They are the jackpot of great ideas!

I've decided to share the Easter Egg Wreath again we made last year at one of our "Mom's Craft Nights Out." It is probably the one project that I've had the most emails and visitors commenting on or asking more information on. It was SUPER easy . . . that's if you can handle a glue gun!

You can visit my original post by clicking here to see all the wreaths the Moms made and to see the tutorial on it so you can make one yourself. It's just cardboard, plastic eggs, Easter grass and ribbon. So simple and SO INEXPENSIVE . . . which is a good thing in this economy!

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Where Is It???

If you are looking for my menu for the week, I have moved it to my cooking blog, From The Heart of My Kitchen. There's a link over there --->
or you can get to today's post by clicking here.

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