YAyyyyy, I love it!

I know everyone is all excited about pinterest, but have you seen clipix yet?  It' similar but so much easier to learn and work with. basically, you set up certain categories of stuff you want to remember and then whenever you see something you want to save to that category you just click the little bookmark tab and it's preserved for you. you can share your clipboards or keep them private. If you're following along with the challenges at the freeplaylife website, then you will definitely want to experiment with the clipix program. Check out this video that shows how they work:

I'm totally hooked, I have clipboards for how I want my house to be decorated, in fact I have one for every room, the bathroom, the kitchen, my daughters bedrooms each individually, the garage, the yard, the playroom, I have some for every area of my garden, I have some for clothes I wish I could afford and places I wish I could visit and people I admire and publishing companies who seem like a good fit for my book and another for companies that would be a good fit for my other book and a clipboard for research for the other book i am writing and also for research on screenwriting and all of the other projects that I have going on in  my life. I just love it, it's so much better than the old-fashioned method of bookmarking your favorite webpages because you can instantly bring up a preview of everything in the category so you don't have to try to remember the name of everything you see. it's great for us visual types. 

Promoted Post

stand up for yourself

If you happen to be in the market for a california criminal lawyer or a los angeles criminal defense lawyer you should definitely shop around. It's important to choose a company that has a reputation for protecting your rights and making sure you get a fair trial. This is the USA and everyone deserves a fair trial, so there's no reason to let your case go to a company who isn't specializing in criminal defense attorney los angeles. I mean, you wouldn't hire a corporate attorney to handle your divorce, you wouldn't hire a nonprofit attorney to handle your will and you wouldn't hire a real estate lawyer to manage your adoption. Laws are so complicated and they change so often that it's really super duper important to make sure that whoever you're dealing with is really deeply involved with criminal law because otherwise they could be making stupid mistakes that cost you your freedom. They could also be overlooking important things that could change the nature of your case, like maybe the prosecuting people are doing something wrong and if your attorney doesn't specialize in criminal defense, you might never know that you could have been spared so much time and hassle just by standing up for your rights.

Closer than ever

Written by my friend Dong Wood
I never realized how watching television could bring a family together before now. A month ago, on a typical evening, our family members would be scattered around the house doing their own thing. Ever since we ordered satellite television from www.directstartv.com everyone wants to be in the den in front of the tube after dinner! I was concerned before we subscribed, thinking it would be something to keep us apart but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. More evenings than not, we can find something everyone wants to see. And if not, we’ve all been pretty good about taking turns and compromising—both great lessons for everyone. Plus, whatever we are watching tends to spark conversations we weren’t having before. Sometimes even dinner conversations about what’s going to happen on the next episode of our favorite sitcom. Or discussions about things that happened to us during the day that reminded us of something we had seen or experiences we have had that relate. Not to mention the educational shows we can sometimes sneak in that the kids are interested in. Who knew tv could bring a family closer together?

purpose in life

Everyone has to think about their purpose in life and I believe that our most noble purpose is to turn our life experiences into positive lessons. We've had times in life where we have been down and out and the only thought we could agree on was that we wanted to stop collection harassment California because before we left California we had some hard times and some of those collection agents can be really rude. I wish I had known back then that there were ways to stop collection harassment for good because it would have cut away tons and tons of stress in those days. The stress alone can be distracting, making it even more difficult to get any work done, right? I don't know about you but it's difficult to make a sale when you're carrying a vibe of stress like that, it's almost like people can sense that you're defeated and no amount of positive thinking can counteract the negative psychological effects of bill collector harassment. I know today that money is nothing but a number, but when we were a young couple with debt it was so difficult to get out of bed each day knowing that we were in the hole, it's not a fun feeling at all. we're older now and manage our affairs differently but one day when I finish law school, I hope to help other families survive their trying times. Life is too short to stress out about worldly matters like that.

have you heard?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you heard about the Express scripts scandal?  They're being absolutely ridiculous with Walgreens and making life difficult for their clients. I can't even imagine being forced to switch pharmacies, especially for old people. In our area, Walgreens is the only drive-through pharmacy and I know a lot of elderly people have trouble walking well, especially when it's snowy and icy outside. i can't imagine what a hassle this is for these poor people. here's the whole story about Walgreens and Express Script so you can see more about what's going on, it's just beurocratic bullcrap if you ask me.  Anyway- Walgreens is committed to making prescriptions cheaper for people who need them, because they have the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club.  I feel so sorry for the elderly people and veterans who are effected by this. Can you imagine?  Honestly, what a nightmare. Anyway, show your support for Walgreens by following Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook.  We're loyal Walgreens customers, i'm there almost every week for register reward savings, grocery items, pet supplies, kid stuff, toiletri, phto finishing and tons of other stuff, too. I hope you're not affected by this scandal. leave me a comment if you have a story to share. Shame on you, Express ScriptsWalgreens on Facebook

Looking good for the holidays

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Zenni Optical for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you seen the adorable selection of cheap eyeglasses that Zenni Optical has for the holidays?  They have some of the cutest frames on display and their prices are so awesome. I was shocked to see that the frames our eye doctor was charging over $100 for were like under $10 at Zenni. Maybe they were knockoffs, I'm not quite sure, but I'm not the type to care for name brands anyway, especially when the savings are so extreme.  I mean, that's more money for presents, right?

Anyway, they have the absolute coolest feature on their website, you can log in with facebook and use your picture to "try on" the eyeglasses, isn't that genius?  Here's the pair that I liked best, they have little Santa Clause on the side, they're so cute. I like how they remind me of Sally Jesse Raphael, only with Santa.  

Anyway, check out their website, I guarantee you are in for a treat, the prices and the selection are phenomenal and the "try them on" option is absolutely a technological WIN. My neighbor says they have a quick turnaround and she was really happy with the final product, so that's an important factor when it comes to shopping online.

hint, hint...

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sprint for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you seen the new Android™ powered EVO 4G devices yet?  Sprint has some very special Christmas promotions going and it's a three day sale so you need to act fast. It begins on the 12th of this month (which was like yesterday) and it ends on the 14th, so you really need to hurry. They have the HTC EVO 4g or EVO SHIFT for free from Sprint when you sig up and they are also waiving the activation for new lines of service and giving free shipping, so even if you're like completely broke, you could get the phone and the activation and have it shipped to you for free, which is just absolutely awesome and I am sure that it would arrive in time for the holidays because that's probably the whole reason they're rushing it right now.   Anyway, yes I am so glad we stopped baking for a minute so we could check this out and now we need to get back to baking.  There are some things every holiday should have and that's cookies (got it covered with peanut butter cookies, brownies, fudge, Russian Tea cakes , snickerdoodles and gingersnaps)  so now all we need is the awesome gift, hint...hint.... (think they heard me?)

Remodeling the kitchen

Don't you just love remodeling? what could be more fun that totally giving your kitchen a makeover? I just repainted my kitchen and the walls are red. I put a little green curtain under the kitchen sink because the cabinet door is yucky and we got little green plaid curtains for the windows. We need to be getting some new dishes sometime soon and I need to do something about the backsplash. I haven't decided if I want to do something with tile or with a nice washable wallpaper border. Oh well, I guess I don't have to decide right away but I'm glad to know I have so many options because I just love redesigning things. Don't you?

Next project is the bathroom. Right now we have blue paint on the walls and it's really a terrible color for the bathroom, powder blue makes your skin look so ugly. No matter what the lighting is like, everyone looks like they're jaundiced in that mirror. I haven't decided yet what color we'll be painting the bathroom but I can guarantee it won't be blue or yellow. Green isn't so bad. I'm thinking white maybe, we haven't had any rooms with white walls for a long time but in that tiny bathroom I'm thinking it just might work.

Hat party again

Remember our awesome crazy hat party of 2009? I just dug up the pictures and I remember how much fun my girls had planning that party. It was so much fun watching the kids come in with all their different hats on, they were all just so creative and adorable. I'm planning to get a few novelty hats for their Christmas presents this year because I know they have always enjoyed them. I even found a few I'd like to have for myself. It's awesome, really, how funky hats have come into fashion, I love that there are so many different kinds available, for adults and children. I think for the littler kids I'll be getting some of those fuzzy animal heads, they're just so cute when they have little bear heads and monkey heads. What do you think? Are crazy hats on your shopping list this year? They should be! I can't wait until my sister's kids unwrap the crazy hats I found for her boys. I think when little kids wear fun clothes it makes it easier to deal with stressful parenting days. I mean, you might be stressed out and all, but when you look down at your child in their little crazy hat it just warms your heart and reminds you that all the stress is really not that big of a deal, right?

Babies RULE, Puppies DROOL

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Puppies vs. Babies for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Darn puppies... sure, they're cuddly but aren't they a bit too aggressive with the licking, the tail-wagging and the peeing everywhere? Not to mention that when they're teething they chew everything in sight, all up to shreds. If babies were to do things like that, the human race would have died out a along time ago. I mean, there's a reason I don't have pets. Their shedding is just so disgusting. People with babies in the house never find baby hair in their food or drink, right?  The fact is, babies are simply a hundred times cuter than puppies.  Now puppies and babies TOGETHER, that is totally sweet. there's an adorable picture of a baby with his face painted like a zombie chewing on the dog's head, it was floating around Facebook during Halloween. But dogs chewing on babies... not so cute!

Anyway- go check out the Puppies vs. Babies online contest and vote for who you think is the cutest. 

I thought it would be difficult, but when I took a peek at the Puppies vs. Babies, it was clearly obvious that babies are a hundred times cuter. What do you think? Did you vote yet?  Will you vote?  The submission period is over and it's voting time right now, but the voting is ON.

Cooking at home

Do you guys cook a lot at home? I feel bad sometimes because I work my job and everything and I still don’t really have time to make a meal for my family but I tell you what I do have time to do and that’s watch Top Chef on my direct tv! I love that show so much and I think it’s honestly because I don’t know a thing about what to do when it comes to making a special meal but you know, I love watching and living vicariously through the chefs on that show. They’ve just started a Top ChefTexas season and boy am I pumped – I don’t know what it is about Top Chef that’s so much better than shows like, I don’t know, any other cooking show, really, but it’s the original and they just knew what they were doing better. I love how dramatic it is but at the end of the day it’s all about the food and that’s what really matters.

Do it for the kids

If you haven't asked around for a Term Life Insurance Quote yet, then you really need to do it soon. Can you just imagine how your family would cope if you happened to die or something? Having life insurance won't keep you alive, of course, but the fact is that every single one of us is going to die at some point in our lives (usually at the end, right!) and the best thing we can do is to make sure that when our kids are mourning and sad and trying to move on, they're not burdened by our debt or funeral expenses. having a will is important, too. You'd be surprised by some of the ugly things people do when they think they're entitled to something when someone dies. I have a friend who lost her mother to cancer a few months ago and her lowlife brother has called her like ten times to shake her down for "mom's money" and he isn't accepting the fact that his mom died in debt and now my friend is having to pay off some of these things. if she didn't pay the $2500 she owed on her car, the car would have been repossessed and it's valued at way more than that, so she is investing in paying it, so the money can be used to pay off some more of her mom's debts, like the house she owes like $12,000 on. It would be so lame to just let it all go, she is working her best to protect her mom's assets and get everything squared away but the brother thinks there's some magic money box somewhere. it's tragic, really. Anyway, i hope you're having a nice day.

Shelf Reliance

I just learned about this today, it's a website that helps you with disaster preparedness. They have a Shelf Reliance coupon section and basically, the idea is that you use coupons and stock up on important things, so that if there's ever an economic meltdown (which there will surely be, this is not sustainable...) then your family is taken care of. I like the theory, having a full pantry so that you don't have to worry about being snowed in or starving to death in a disaster. I used to be a coupon shopper and I had hundreds of boxes of cereal, canned foods and boxed foods stocked up and hundreds of bottles of shampoo and toothpaste and we've just eliminated pretty much all of that from our life. Everything except the shampoo, and since we I don't use styling products, I can foresee going the no'poo route, but I just haven't tried it yet so I'm not sure. I already brush my teeth with baking soda instead of toothpaste, I use coconut oil on my face... I think we really just need whole grains and dry staples like flour and rice and beans. We need a stash of seeds for vegetables in case of some catastrophic earth event and we need to know how to manage ourselves in the outdoors. outdoor survival skills are really important to me. I love trying wild weedy foods to eat like the natives. Acorns are my next exploration, I've done cattails, nettles and a few other things..chicory, dandelion... Processed foods aren't healthy and they aren't nutritious, so while I don't mind couponing for FREE stuff like that, i truly consider it emergency sustenance and not actual food products. What about you? Do you use coupons? how do you feel about processed foods?

Seattle, I love you!

Like I needed one more reason to love The Emerald City. I just found a site called Seattle Coffee Gear while I was looking for a good deal on coffee makers and this place absolutely rocks. So thanks, Seattle. I can't wait to move there, I'm not sure when it will be and I'm not sure how I will get there and I'm not sure which neighborhood I will settle in (although I'm rooting for Bothell) I just know that one day I will be back there, for sure. We lived there in 2000 or 1999 or something and it was such a great time in life. We had a boat and it was so much fun to just head out onto the lake in the evening. It seemed like everyoen came out when the sun was shining, and everyone was so happy just to get out and play. I read that Seattle residents are more intelligent than anywhere else (probably because they read more books since it rains) and I also read that Seattle has more millionaires than anywhere else. Probably because of the coffee, right? Ahhh who knows and who cares, it's a beautiful city with a diverse population, a wide variety of educational opportunities for children and beautiful landscape. I even love the rain. If you haven't been to Seattle, I highly recommend you come for a visit. Catchya later :)

Grandma's home

I know it's easy for me to say because I don't currently HAVE an aging parent who needs a place to live, but if I did, I like to think I'd keep them with me. Elder care sounds a lot like infant day care and I can't imagine that it's actually good for humans to allow for customary institutionalization at any age. I know there are some really good facilities out there, but honestly, I think I'd prefer to have someone come into the house to care for them while I was working or sleeping or something. I guess it would depend on the level of care they required and also it would depend on how coherent they are. I wonder if it's depressing to have your parents need taken care of. I guess that would really suck. I guess it's too soon to decide how I would handle such a thing, it's a good thing my parents are healthy, otherwise I can't even imagine what a stressful decision that would be. Anyway, what about you? Are your parents well? Have you ever thought about the ethics or morality behind institutionalizing someone just because of their age? Probably, if you read my blog but a lot of people don't apply it to elder care, just homeschooling. Oh well, life is good and we always have options.

Shiny and fresh

So, we are moving into a new house again. i know, we tend to move a lot. it's just no fun to sit still and since we're renting now, there's no reason to stay stuck in one place too long, right? Anyway, our old house, the one we were living in before we went on our big road trip adventure was really crappy and the final straw, a few days before we left, was when the water pump went out. The landlord couldn't afford to fix it, so we ended up with no water for a little while. THAT was not much fun with kids, right? Anyway, so we were planning to move when we returned to town and luckily a friend of my husband's manages properties and was able to find a small house for our family. it's nothing fancy, it doesn't have any marble countertops or anything, but it's cozy and has central heating which is important in the winter. Over the next few months we'd like to get out of there and into something in Seattle, because there are better schooling options there for the kids AND because they have more opportunities for work for the both of us. Anyway, I hope your day has been nice. Come see me again some time.

Cleaning stuff

I was reading over at http://www.thesteamteam.com/ today about home carpet cleaning tips austin and I discovered some awesome things. First of all, I had no idea that steam cleaning was such a big thing. I mean, the list of things they can clean is absolutely mind-blowing. Seriously, they do carpeting, rugs (even delicate oriental rugs), upholstery, ceramic tile, terra cotta tile, bathroom tile, concrete, stucco, hardwood floors, draperies, leather, air ducts, heating ducts, dryer ducts, smoke and fire restoration, mold damage, pet odor removal, flood damage, marble polishing, leather cleaning and construction services. I was trying to find out whether or not it's true that you can actually kill bed bugs with steam cleaning because I read somewhere that if you heat them up to 120 degrees, it kills the bed bugs and their larvae. It seems to me that in order to steam clean it would have to be over 120, right? But I didn't see that on their website so I'm not sure. Anyway it's no worries for us because when we drove through Arizona, it was 120 degrees outside and I can't even imagine how hot it got inside the motorhome where the windows were closed up all day, it was probably 200 degrees in here. Thank goodness for friends with swimming pools, right? Anyway, check out their site and see how many things can be steam cleaned, I think it will rock your world.

Portable storefront

I've been tossing around the idea of starting a business selling somethings (probably hula hoops and tutus) at festivals and park events. I know this isn't the time of year to actually sell stuff, but if I plotted out all of the events and started planning for them, I could have a pretty awesome road trip mapped out by the time summer returns. I'm thinking of staying on the west coast for this one, our summer was just too freaking much to want to recreate a cross-country trip. Anyway, I was looking at canvas tents for shade and it just hit me that OMG, I can do this! I can do anything. We all can, that's the point of being alive. So what have you been resisting? What dreams or fantasies have you been denying yourself because it's just too complicated, too expensive, or too crazy to think of? Or how about this, what were you doing when it suddenly hit you that you're free; that you can be whatever you want and do whatever you want? Life is good, why the heck do we forget that? I wish I could find a way to remind myself of that, a way I'd never forget. It's tough when life throws unexpected things your way. All we can do is keep being true to ourselves so that when we look back, we see that we've done our best. The minute you listen to the nasty nay-sayers, things get worse and worse.

best baby advice

If I could recommend one parenting tip to help make breastfeeding and bonding easier, Id recommend babywearing without a doubt because it brings humans physically closer together and it's important to be physically close in order to learn to read your baby's cues. It's a big deal for AP moms to be constantly in tune with their children and whether you're using a ring sling or a moby wrap or even a bjorn (not recommended) carrier, it's important to let baby hear your heartbeat and feel your skin. If you're not sure, ask for some advice from others who understand the benefits of abbywearing. if you have a friend who can help you make sure you're wearing it right then that's helpful, too because a lot of times, I see women wearing their carriers wrong, they've been called "crotch danglers" because when baby's weight is too low then your back ends up hurting. so anyway, wear your baby. Get help if you need it and have a nice day.

GENIUS

Absolutely genius, whoever invented the online liqour store. seriously, a website like this could put an end to drunk driving. Also, I'm not much of a drinker, I'm not into going to bars and stuff because you always have to drive home. Who wants to drive after drinking, certainly not me. After running the restaurant, we got to see first hand how much bar drinks are marked up and why would I want to spend my hard-earned money to pay for the markup AND still have to drive home. No thank you, I'd rather just drink at home. Except not on a regular basis, I just always wanted to have friends over once or twice a week, just to be social. We had friends, before we left, that we could enjoy that sort of social relationship with but our house was never in good enough shape to entertain guests. We had missing floor tiles in the kitchen, we had a bathroom that was completely disgusting. When we HAD a great house that we owned, we were always too busy to nurture friendships with other couples. I had my girlfriends over all the time and that social interaction helped life feel sweeter, but once we moved into the white house, that all ended. I tried to have guests over once and the house was such an embarrassment that I just never tried again. I always believed that the bathroom would be fixed "next month" or that the kitchen would be fixed "soon." So anyway - here we are, what about you?

<3 my phone!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you felt The power of Android yet?  If not, then you're totally missing out on one of the most amazing experiences of modern life.  I know a lot of homeschool families like to avoid technology, but I am NOT one of them.  I happen to LOVE technology and I love when companies like Straight Talk come along with honest plans that cut through the paperwork, the red tape, the whatever-you-want-to-call it.  I knew i was wasting money with my old phone company when they sent me a "bill" that was like 900 pages long. It had the time of every text message, listed on page after page after page, one after another it was just ridiculous.  I mean, someone has to buy the paper, someone has to pay for the printing, the ink, the packaging, the shipping and the phone calls when I have to call to find out "What's that $3.75 charge on page 387, second to the last...?"  It's just a stupid way to do business.  Here's what Straight Talk does: You pay $45 and you have unlimited everything for a month.  period. that's it. No stress, no worries, no funky bills or corporate wastefulness in-your-face and that's all there is to it.  Seriously, for only $45 a month you can Feel Richer with Android because you're able to access the web and all the apps and games you can handle. Check out this video, to see how it works.  If you're smart, you will NEVER go back to a contracted phone plan, EVER.

Have it all with Straight Talk by LittleBard95

Big Fundraising

I just came across an enormous fundraising effort, bigger than the 'donate your car" thing that plays on the radio. This company wants people to donate timeshares to help special needs children. I'm not sure what the name of the charity is, or how long they've been around or if they're reputable or anything, but I do think it's a sign of the times. So many elderly people are planning their wills and needing to get rid of things and maybe they can't sell their timeshare so they donate it and take the write-off for the donation. Who knows. As a mom of six, I can't imagine just giving away something of such a huge value, but I'm glad there are people who CAN do such a thing. I'm also glad that none of my children have special needs, and I'm glad there are charities out there who work to take care of those kids' needs. So what about you? What's the biggest thing you have ever donated? Before our road trip I donated a TON of toys, clothes and books. I once donated a couch, too. We've just never been of the means to be able to give away anything huge. Can you imagine, just IMAGINE what it would be like to be able to GIVE AWAY your timeshare? Maybe someday...

Aging

Ii swear, aging is the one thing that scares me more than anything else on earth. Isn't that lame?  I mean, it's one of the only things we can't avoid in life, unless we die then we're not avoiding it in life we're just skipping that part.  I plan to continue taking really good care of myself and eating nothing but whole and natural and organic foods as long as I can. In fact, I'd rather starve than to eat junk food.  Also, I plan to stay active and physically fit.even when I AM old, I don't plan to only socialize with old people because THAT ages you, especially if your friends are sick and decrepit and... aging, too.  I want to surround myself with energy, vitality and life so you won't ever catch me living in a retirement community ohio or any other retirement facility, for that matter. I will be the Grandma swinging from the trapeze, I'll be the one on a solo road trip, the one on the beach, the one living life to its fullest each and every day and never ever ever growing old, but always graceful!

Saving money on school supplies

Now is the time to shop for discount school supplies. That's right, I know it's October but the fact is, now is when all those "back to school" sales are over and everything ends up on clearance. They can't really save it all until next year. Some stores donate their overstock to underprivileged children and sometimes even domestic violence shelters but most of it ends up being sold at clearance prices, which are even cheaper than the back to school sales. Last year, when the back to school price was 25 cents for a box of crayons, we bought them on clearance for 13 cents and yes, of course we stocked up. In fact, I have a tendency to stalk the Walmart for clearance school supplies and I'll buy out everything on the shelf. One year I came home with 140 notebooks. They lasted our family 3 years and I JUST replaced them a few weeks ago. So whoever you are.. wherever you are.. be sure you check the clearance shelves for the stores you normally shop at because they like to have all their back to school inventory cleared out before the Halloween stuff is put out and since it's only 2 weeks until Halloween, the school supplies will be at their rock bottom prices and THAT is when you save the most. Just buy everything on the shelf because you KNOW you'll be using them throughout the year.

Bookmark this one

Everyone loves freebies, right? I just found a great site where you can subscribe toFree Recipes. Finding new things to prepare for our daily meals has been one of the biggest ongoing projects of parenthood. I know a lot of kids enjoy eating the same things over and over again but my kids like something new. They're always asking me to make something they have never had before. Sometimes foreign foods come with preparation instructions that are so complicated. Sometimes familiar foods have a different name in different countries, so it's funny sometimes to get through a recipe for, polenta for example, and realize that it's the same thing as cornmeal mush. I'm sure there are other names for it, too and what's the difference between that and grits? I wonder if there's a foreign name for meatloaf, that would make life so much easier, right? I think the kids' favorite was one time when my husband made Shepherd's pie. They kids were having a sleepover that night and everyone thought it was totally delicious. Anyway, go check out the free recipes and give one a try. I can't wait to check them out myself :)

Rug Day

We had such a busy day today. Every year, when summer comes to an end I like to take all of the area rugs in the entire house outside and give them a good beating.  It feels good, to get physical aggression out and it also feels good to watch the dust come off and see the pretty colors come through again. I'm always reminded of the times when I was small and my Grandmother would beat her rugs clean.  I have steam cleaner that I like to use on them as well, but physically removing the bulk of the dust and dirt seems to be better than allowing it all to get wet and drip away.  One time, I thought it would be easier to hang the rug on the wall in the backyard when it was 100 degrees outside and just hose it down.  Boy was that a mistake, the sun ended up bleaching out all of the color on one side and it took a very long time to dry. I didn't have a steamer or extractor at that time, I bet that would have made a big difference.

So what do you do with your rugs? I've considered hiring a service to come out and clean them but it's just such a tradition to do it this way and traditions feel nice, like home-loving rituals.

Every mother's battle

Maybe it's a stretch to call weight loss "Every mother's battle" but it sure feels like the truth. I am one of the lucky ones. While I have never made it back down to the 97 pounds I weighed before I got pregnant with my oldest, I have managed to stay slender and no one really ever believes I have six kids. And I did it without any crazy diet pills with ephedra or tropical berry juices or anything like that, I just get a lot of exercise and I eat foods that aren't processed. I also avoid bread products. they make my tummy feel yucky and bloated, so it's easy. Except last week at The Spaghetti Warehouse in Dallas when they served us mini loaves of hot fresh sourdough bread with garlic and herb butter. Afterward, I looked like I was 6 months pregnant and couldn't move because I was so bloated. Pain like that makes it easy to avoid the grocery store's french bread, and even plain sandwiches. But mainly, I think the key to staying a healthy size is to get exercise (I hula hoop like every day, it is my stress relief and it's fun) and also to avoid processed foods in favor of real, live, whole and raw foods from nature. i eat a lot of fresh raw veggies and fruits, nuts, I do eat fermented foods like kimchee and even pickles (as long as they're not heat processed because that kills the nutrients)

My way works for me because it's easy to integrate into my lifestyle but everyone is different and everyone has different preferences and no one can tell you what you need to do to lose weight, only you can make that decision. Listen to your body and love it because it is your vessel in life and destroying it will only cause you more pain. 

Winter is on its way

If you're anything like me, there's a big twice-annual ritual of hauling out all of the ____ weather clothes and packing away all the ______ weather clothes. Insert the words "hot" and "cold" wherever they work. Right now, we are in the process of packing away the summer clothes and unpacking all of the outerwear for kids. The thing is, if i was smart about it, I'd index everything as we packed it away because all summer long we see coats and jackets for dirt cheap and I don't bother buying them because I'm not sure who is going to fit what by the time the season rolls around. Is that purple coat a size 3 or a size 4? Who can remember these things? Amy Dacyzyn (pronounced decision, and I know I'm spelling it wrong) has a genius little system, she has everything logged so that wherever she goes, if she sees something she wants to buy she already knows "Damn, we have seven sweaters in size 5 so maybe we don't need another" and I should be so organized, right?  I guess the time is coming, we are planning to move to Seattle  in a few weeks and I don't want to pack up clothes that are ugly, holey, worn out or things I'm sick of looking at. So I'll HAVE to come up with an intelligent cataloging system. Oh well, such is life, right?

Best $540 investment EVER

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you ever calculated out your phone bill for the entire year?  Ohmyfreakingbajeezlybob I just did and I am so excited that we switched over to a month-to-month no contract program. $45 a month is smart, right, when the alternative (our old plan) was costing me $129 a month, but when you calculate out the entire year the straight talk is 540 and the other one was over a thousand. What on earth can we do with that extra money? With six kids, we could do a lot, for sure. Once i did the calculatios, i was sold, Hook, line and sinker. Check out this video, too, because honestly it explains everything better than I could. 

 

At this rate, our entire family can have their own phones. I can have my smartphone Android on Straight Talk and the kids canCall a friend whenever they want without us being concerned that they will send us over our limit or something like that..

So what would you do if your cell phone bill was only 45 a month? Sounds sweet, doesn't it?  or better yet, calculate your own savings and see who comes out ahead. Life is goodut phone contracts with credit checks and fees and taxes and all kinds of other crap... those are old-fashioned and really wasteful. Switch  prepaid, it's so much smarter.

Call a friend

Scrubs for halloween

I know I've mentioned http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/  before, but I don't know if you've ever taken a moment to go check them out. The cool thing about their site is that it's the most awesome place to shop for Halloween costumes. instead of those lame plastic things, you can get REAL scrubs like real medical people wear and then you're not out trick-or-treating half-naked or spending money on something that's destined for the garbage. After Halloween you can just save it or give it to someone who needs it, but it won't be rubbish that's the coolest thing.

Our family was looking for a whole-family halloween costume and came across the coolest idea. We're going to be a surgical team! My husband finds it really comfortable to wear  scrubs, but he wasn't too into the idea of a group costume, so we added a lab coat to his and made him the official leader of the team. he liked that.

It was easier than I thought to find a pattern hat we could all agree on because there were like a million different colors, patterns and prints. it was the most exciting halloween ever. We even got nurse shoes, so the kids' feet wouldn't hurt trick-or-treating.

So have you ever done a group costume? What did you do?