So before I tried to potty train my daughter, I didn’t understand why potty training was ALWAYS a hot topic of conversation among mother’s who are in the midst of it. Now I do. You might remember our last efforts to potty train our daughter. Well, after a week, she got the basics, but just didn’t seem ready and to be honest, neither were we. A friend of mine had successfully potty trained her son a few months ago with a method she recommended so she sent me the link to this blog post. I have to say that it has been successful. What we were completely lacking the first go around were incentives for staying dry. Since we started doing that, she seemed to really get it (she turned 2 on Aug 5). (more…)
Potty Talk Part 2
Toddler Lessons: Faith
A friend of mine recently related a story to me that struck me as typical of my life. She was dropping her oldest off at school and had to run back to the car to get her checkbook to pay tuition. Her middle didn’t want to run back through the parking lot with her so she told him to stay by the yellow fire hydrant on the sidewalk that was less than 4 cars away from their van. (more…)
Website Project: After
So a while ago (Mar 11 to be exact), I posted about a website project before and after. As you may or may not know, things don’t always go as expected. I am pleased to announce that the project is finally complete and it went live a few weeks ago. The main hangup on this site was the sheer mass of content. For a small school, they have around 358 pages and I had to transfer it all. But I have to say, I’m glad it’s all over with and live. It’s a vast improvement from their other site and I had a lot of fun with it. But lest you think I was twiddling my thumbs while waiting for this site to be finished, I completed 5 other sites from March until now. Only one of them is live, the rest are all waiting for clients to complete the input of content (including my sister…).
Starbucks Frappuccino
You might be wondering what Starbucks frappuccino is doing as a topic on a Thrifty Thursday. Starbucks is anything but thrifty. Even with coupons, these little jars can cost more than I’m willing to spend. But they are oh, so good! So here’s my thrifty solution – make it yourself! (more…)
Refill Swiffer Wet Jet Bottles
I love my Swiffer wet jet. I don’t like the cost of replacement cleaning solution. For the longest time, I thought they were impossible to open, refill and close again. But one day, I was able to unscrew it without a problem. So now I refill my wet jet bottles with Pine-sol and water. If you need a little help opening the bottle, try this method on YouTube. (more…)
Toddler Lessons: Perspective
Recently, my now two year old daughter has started to play a game with us that we consider disobedience. After bath, she runs away from us and hides in corners all while giggling away. From her perspective, she’s playing with us and from our’s, she is disobeying us when we tell her to go to her room to get her PJs on and she goes in the opposite direction. (more…)
Let there be light!
Velux 14' Sun Tunnel
The outside dome isn't too intrusive
Bright light filters in from 8a - 5p
Our house is dark. It’s surrounded by trees (which we love), but that doesn’t provide much light into the windows nor are there ample windows in our living room area. We often have to turn on a light during the day to see what’s going on. As a result, we spend a lot of time in the sun room, which I’m very thankful for! I’ve often thought of installing skylights, but I thought they’d cost thousands of dollars to install and since we had an attic, it may not work. (more…)
Cleaning a Wedding Dress in the Bathtub
Working the soap into the hem
Can you see the dirt along the hem - it's gone!
Hanging to dry in the shower
My husband and I have been married for 8.5 years. Due to living far away, I’ve stored my wedding dress at my parents house. We finally managed to get it to our house only to find that it was filthy. We hadn’t bothered to have it cleaned after the last time I wore it (and I did wear it twice – we had a reception about 5 months after the wedding). Not only was the bottom of it dirty and greasy, but there was some sort of food stain that looked like chocolate sauce right on the front of it. (more…)
Summer Photos
The Dali Museum in St. Pete, FL
Wading in the Greenbriar River, WV
Biking along the Greenbriar Trail, WV
Remembering Important Dates
If it weren’t for my organizational skills, I’d be just as forgetful as my right-brain sister. So I’ve learned that Google Calendars is a great way to keep track of important dates. My husband and I both have Google Calendars that we share with one another. We have multiple categories such as Church Events, Family Life, Finances, Important Dates, etc. When I put it on my calendar, it shows on his calendar and vice versa. (more…)