Spring is in the air......

Today we went to Menards and purchased the supplies we need to start our garden. I'm hoping that it will go well this year, this is our first time gardening...so we'll see what happens. So far we've only purchased fruits and veggies, but I would like to eventually carve out some nice flower beds in the back as well.

Here's what we're planting:
1. Tomatoes - lots, we love tomatoes! I also selected some grape tomato plants for the kiddos to enjoy.
2. Cucumbers
3. Broccoli
4. Snow peas
5. Green beans
6. Raspberries
7. Strawberries
8. Pumpkins: full-size and the littler varieties as well. There are no pumpkin farms around here, which I find very odd considering I live in the midst of FARMLAND USA....but apparently you can only grow corn in Iowa. Anyhoo, we want to try growing our own pumpkins for the decorating aspect in the fall, it should be much more rewarding than just plopping down $5 a piece at the grocery store (and MUCH CHEAPER!).

I guess we did buy some flowers too. We bought the kids a mixed variety sunflower pack and we plan to give them a corner of the yard to tend to. Maybe we'll make a sunflower house for them to play in.....

Plans are to start digging out the plot tomorrow and hopefully transplant all the veggies next week. I'll keep you all posted!

It isn't really nesting yet....right?

Normally my quest to dominate the germs, dirt, messies...whatever - aka NESTING -really doesn't appear until closer to 34-35 weeks in pregnancy. Prior to this I have other obsessions, usually involving painting or decorating, but not particularly the cleaning bug. Well, today I tackled our kitchen. I started by washing the dishes and doing a load of laundry (laundry is in the kitchen for those who don't know this already). That lead to the following:
1. Completely removing everything from every cabinet and purging excess/junk then reorganizing all dishes/pots/pans/appliances etc.
2. Cleaning the oven (outside).
3. Cleaning the microwave.
4. Cleaning the outside of the washer and dryer.
5. Cleaning the outside of the fridge.
6. Vacuuming floor.
7. Mopping the floor with bleach to kill all "those germs" that I knew were secretly lingering.....
8. Cleaning our stainless steel sink with bleach also...for same reason as above. I actually followed the directions from FLYLADY (see sidebar for link) on shining your sink, which involves some Windex - post bleaching...and it looks like a whole new sink. Sorry, no pics though.

I still need to wash the inside of the fridge and do the stovetop again. I also need to do the cabinet doors and the drawers, and I'm feeling a little OCD about refolding all my dish towels for some reason.....

So, all in all it's great to have a clean kitchen to wake up too, I wonder if I'll be obsessed with something else tomorrow....????

What $25 is doing for our bathroom:

We love our house. Well, we love the space and layout and functionality of our house. Some of the decor; however, is not exactly (scratch that....EVEN CLOSE TO) our liking. Case in point: the bathroom. Our home was built in the 50's and I think the tile was original to the house. Here's the before:

Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of the entire bathroom prior to Dave's start of this project - but just visualize the repeat of this tile around the ENTIRE room.

There's no way an entire bathroom remodel will be in the picture for us anytime soon (if ever!) but we found a kit on Target.com to reglaze tile, tubs and sinks and thought "well, it can't get any worse right?". 8-)

Here's the result after the first coat. Obviously, it's going to take 2 coats to cover but the results so far are WELL worth it! The only downside is the fumes are HORRENDOUS! We had to put coat 2 on hold until the weather warms up enough to open the windows again. I'm on the hunt for a new shower curtain and then we plan to paint the top portion of the walls and the cabinetry once we have our new color scheme picked out. So there you go, what you can do with $25 and some noxious fumes! I'll update again whenever there's more progress....

Homemade Baby Wipes

I'll confess that I'm the type of person who LOVES to research ideas about how to do different things (sew, quilt, cook, bake, etc. etc.) but RARELY do I ever put these things into practice. I'll blame it on tiredness, too much other stuff to do, homeschooling, no time alone....you get the idea. I'm trying to put a stop to that and actually DO something when I find an idea I like. How profound right? 8-)

I came across this recipe for homemade babywipes and Kailie and I have made 2 batches so far. Each batch has lasted 2 weeks (and that's for 2 kiddos in diapers right now). I figured out that it will save us roughly $100 a year or so from buying wipes (we were buying a full case each month), but the best part isn't even that! All of our kids have sensitive skin and break out EXCEEDINGLY EASILY from just about anything that touches their skin, be it laundry detergent, shampoo, bubble bath or baby wipes. This recipe was tested during our week long battle with tummy flu (and many, MANY disgusting diaper changes!) and the end result: NO RASHES! I was so surprised and am now a committed homemade wipes convert - it only took 5 kids to get me here. ha!

Here's the recipe:
4 cups water (we boiled it for the first batch, but the second time we just used warm from the tap)
2 Tablespoons Rubbing Alcohol
2 Tablespoons Antibacterial Soap - your choice
2 Tablespoons Baby Wash - your choice
2 Tablespoons Baby Oil - your choice, we used the Johnson and Johnson with Aloe Vera and it smells very good! I think I'll try Lavender sometime too....

Pour over your choice of wipes. The first batch we cut Bounty papertowels into fourths. This took about 15 minutes of time. They worked really well but if you use a thinner towel I can't guarantee they'll hold up during the wiping.... Most sites I've seen recommend cutting the towel roll in half and then pulling the wipe up from the middle of the roll. I don't have a large enough circular container to store this style in, that's why we cut ours up.

For the second batch I just cut up an old bath towel into small squares. I got about 50 cloths from one towel and these can just be thrown into the wash and reused. 8-)

I store the wipes in a rectangular Ziplock container, they stay really moist and have worked wonders on speeding up the length of time cleaning the kiddos. I also use them as handwipes and face wipes since they don't cause any breakouts.

I read a tip online that suggested keeping a Ziplock bag of dry towels in your diaper bag and putting the solution into a spray bottle. When you need to change the diaper just spray the solution directly on the child and wipe off. This will help prevent the solution from leaking in the diaper bag.

What does $4 buy you????

Reg. Price

4 cans of Pringles: $1.69 each
3 cans of Air Wick Room Freshener: $ 2.49 each
1 bag of Halls: $1.99

1 Covergirl Outlast All Day Lipcolor: $ 7.99

1 CG Smoothwear Conditioning Moisturizer: $ 4.99
Total Value of all items: $29.20

I had coupons for everything and luckily for me it was double coupon day at Pamida (which is a store I had never heard of before moving to Iowa, but it's basically like K-Mart).

1. The pringles were on sale 2 cans for $3. I had 2 - buy 2 cans save $1.00 Q's which were each doubled to $2. This brought the price for all 4 cans to $2.00.

2. I had Q's for the Airwick's for $1.00 off of one can. I used 3 Q's which were all doubled. Final price for all 3: $1.47

3. My Q for Halls was $0.75 doubled, final cost: $0.50

4. The lipgloss pack was clearanced to $2.50. I then used a $1.00 off any CG product Q which was doubled. Final cost: $0.50

5. The lip conditioner was also clearanced to $1.40. I used another CG product $1.00 Q which was doubled. Final cost: FREE plus I got an additional $0.60 off my total.

So I paid: $4 and some change after tax, a savings of 84%!

I'm also excited to report that I have been in DESPERATE need of replacing ALL of my make-up, I was at the - scraping the last fleck of blush and digging the bottom of the lipstick for an eensy weensy hope of color - stage. However, our budget right now wasn't allowing for a large splurge to replace it all. Here's how I've done since couponing:

Physicians Formula: Blush, Bronzer and Lip Gloss (Walgreens) $13 but will get $10 back at the end of the month.
Final cost: $3
I have a coupon for a FREE mascara the next time I run to Walmart. (and no, it's not buy 1 get 1 free, it's just FREE!)
Final cost $0
CG lip gloss (Pamida)
Final cost: 50 cents
CG lipgloss (Pamida)
Final cost: FREE
Still need to get: concealer, foundation, eye shadow and eye liner.....how much can I save???
Total for makeup so far: $3.50 and I'm halfway to replacing my whole makeup bag.

Easter Sunday

As promised to our family, here are the pics from Easter morning. The kids all looked beautiful! Apparently Lauren (whom we've taken to calling Lolo btw) wasn't interested in smiling for most of the shots, however....someday I'll get one with ALL of them smiling! (I hope, and maybe then we will also work on them actually sitting up and not looking like they're being eaten by the couch....but I digress.) 8-)

(you gotta' love Lolo's hairdo!)

Now we just have to wait for the newest lil' Block to arrive and get a WHOLE family shot!

Blog Schizophrenia

For those of you who have visited my blog in the last week, you may have noticed I keep changing my mind on this blog's appearance. I wanted something cute for Spring, I think I've FINALLY decided on this one. Sorry for all the fuss!

Super cute homemade hairbows for little girls!

Go to Classy and Sophisticated for the tutorial on how to make these beautiful bows for your little ones.

What do you think about this?

I found this in the sales ad for Walgreens this week. I had never heard of it before and am curious to know what you guys think, apparently it's a pee in the cup type of test (ala pregnancy tests) that will accurately predict the baby's gender:

click on image to go to site

Currently reading.....

Here are some books I have read this week or are currently in the process of reading. I highly recommend them all!

Cleaning Plain & Simple
Lots of tips for cleaning the house, stain removal and making homemade cleansers, plus the cover is adorable. 8-)
(sorry, no preview on Amazon....)

The Complete Tightwad Gazette

If you haven't read this before, I highly recommend it. I read it a few years ago but didn't really make any effort to employ some of her strategies. Looking at it now I have found lots of tips to put into practice around the house to save $$$$. (click on image to preview at Amazon)

The Apron Book

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

It is so darn cute and inviting. It really is a book solely about aprons, sounds exciting huh? The author has pictures of aprons throughout the last 200 years or so, but mostly focusing on the 40's through today. She includes photos of aprons and stories from the family members of who wore them, how they were used and what memories they created.

SO CHARMING!

In addition, the author includes many patterns for you to sew your own aprons in all different styles, including pattern ideas for children. (also click on image to preview at Amazon)

I've become a fan of the apron over the last year or so, but haven't yet attempted to sew one. If I have some time this week I think I may finally give in and see what I can create.

Here are some cute apron links which inspire me (but I'm not willing to shell out the $$$ to purchase one, I guarantee you. I just really need to quickly develop some mad sewing skills.....). Just looking at these cuties makes that inner homemaker in me LONG to get out and bake, clean, sew, paint, decorate....you name it!

Jessie Steele
Jillie Willie
D Lux 57
Elizabeth's Embellishments
Taygalook

My first attempt at couponing!

I went this week on my first planned frugality attack of Target and Walgreens. Here's the rundown on how I did:

Target -
They had an advertised sale if you buy a Fusion Power razor and a Gillette Men's Shave Gel you would receive a $5 Target giftcard. I had coupons for both the razor and the shave gel from Sunday's papers. I did this promotion three times and here is the end result:

Total spent Out Of Pocket (with tax): $21.00
Money saved by the sale plus the coupons: $19.40
Free money earned by gaining Target giftcards: $15.00

So I spent $21 but SAVED $34.40 total! I then used some of the money from the giftcards to pay for Lauren and Abby's easter basket stuff. End cost on that purchase? FREE!

Walgreens -
Advertised sales on Physician's Formula Cosmetics and Garnier Hair Products
I spent $13 on PF Blush/Bronzer and got a FREE lip gloss! I will receive $11 back on a Walgreens gift card for making this purchase at the end of the month.
I spent $20 on Garnier products (hair color/dye, shampoo, conditioner, leave-in conditioner, shine enhancer and a hairspray!). I will receive $11 back on a Walgreens gift card for this purchase at the end of the month also.

SO, I spent $33 and will gain $22 back at the end of the month to roll over for next month's purchases.

I also purchased a Colgate toothpaste for $3.49 and earned a coupon off my next purchase for the same amount, which basically makes the toothpaste free. I then saved $6 with a store coupon on Lipton Tea, $3 on Kraft Mac-N-Cheese, $3.75 on 3 individual boxes of Puffs with lotion, $6 on Crayola crayons (64 count) and then proceeded to purchase the following:
8 cups for $1 (kid size)
4 hot-wheels type cars for Isaac's Easter basket for $2
6 bottles of bubbles for the baskets $2
and a variety of other small items I needed that trip.

Total Saved: $44.24 not counting the easter basket sale stuff.

I think I'm going to like this couponing business.....

Here's another blog to look consider.....

I'm currently interested in all things money-saving, especially when it comes to feeding our large and still growing family. I've been reading some blogs from women who are WAY more skilled in this area than I am and thought you might like to glean from their wisdom as well. 8-)

Check out this blog and be amazed at what careful planning and a couple of coupons could do for you and yours......I really have to learn how to do this........

edit (4/5): here are some more blogs to check out....WOW these women amaze me!
Saving with Shellie
Redemption Unlimited
Frugal in Franklin
Money Saving Diva
Being A Wise Steward

Trust me, there are many, MANY more blogs on this topic I could add to this list. For now, though, I will keep it small and see if any of you catch the couponing bug along with me.....8-)

We all need a little help in this area right?

I have benefited greatly from reading the writing of Crystal Paine, a young Christian wife and mother who runs the website: www.biblicalwomanhood.com I recently found another of her blogs here where she writes about saving money, saving on groceries, budgeting, living frugally etc. Please stop by her site, I'm sure you'll be blessed!

Week 15

For the last couple of months I have been somewhat miserable, but it appears that FINALLY(!) that is coming to an end! Yippee!!!

My morning sickness is now gone and my energy is returning - although, these toddlers of our's will always be able to outrun me, I'm sure! 8-)

The unfortunate piece in all of this is that we apparently traded my tiredness and nausea for another round of the stomach flu amongst 4 of the kiddos this week. Sigh. It started Monday morning with Lauren and has slowly made it's rounds to each of the other girls. Thankfully Dave, Isaac and I appeared to have been spared this time....at least for now. This round came with not ONLY fantastic bouts of vomiting but ADDITIONALLY the worst diarrhea I've ever seen in my kiddos. Needless to say, the house is smelling a little....well......ripe, thanks to Lauren and Abby's continual diaper changes and all the remnants of what SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSIDE THE DIAPER landing on their pajamas, clothing, sheets, blankets...you get the idea. I just REALLY want WARM WEATHER to get here!!!!!

What a nice way to update all of you after all this time huh? That's what friends are for!