A Day In My Life

It took me a while to get started... but I finally got our {newest tradition} front and center on our kitchen table. Every night at dinner time, we each write something we are thankful for on a slip of decorative paper and add it to the jar. It's turned into a secret - my hubby and I won't know what the other wrote until we read them all outloud on Thanksgiving Day. We also have a rule that every slip of paper has to be unique; no repeats. I like it because it's simple, fun, and a good reminder to focus on the many blessings we have to be grateful for!

I love advent calendars. I love counting down the days - especially when I get to do something fun on each of those days! But I don't have a ton of storage space in my house, so I had to come up with something that would save room when it came time to pack it away. I decided to use an ordinary muffin tin as my base, and I made 12 circles to cover each of the compartments. I debated on using my mini muffin tin, but my hubby said it was better to use the regular sized one so I could add a piece of candy for everyone inside. I scrapbooked and laminated my circles because I want to be able to reuse them, but you could just as easily cover your muffin tin in orange or black tissue paper and let your kids punch out the compartments each day. I stuck my circles on with removable adhesive putty. I also made up a list of fun "Halloweenish" things to do to get in the spirit. I printed it on orange paper, cut each idea apart from the others, and stuck one in each compar...

Sometimes it's hard to keep track of all the "car stuff". I mean, sure, there's a glove compartment for that kind of stuff, but let's face it: us women have plenty of other things to put in there as well. I found a solution for keeping all the car information organized and easily accessible (while still leaving room for all that other stuff). Check it out! Now when you get pulled over... you can pull out your registration and proof of insurance and impress that officer so much - he won't give you a ticket! (Okay, maybe not, but at least you'll know where all of it is!) My tabs include: Registration Insurance Tune Ups Oil Changes Warranties Tires Maps Safety/Inspection Happy organizing!

When I saw this cute craft on NannyGoat, I knew I had to make a copy for myself. It is SUPER easy... 1. Print doubles of the pictures you want to use. 2. Separate the two copies, and cut the heads out of one copy. 3. Laminate the full sized photos (I put them back to back to save space), and laminate the cut out heads. 4. Buy clear velcro, and place the clear side on the full-sized photos, and the other on the back of the heads. 5. Punch a hole in the corner of all the photos. 6. Attach them with a ring. That's it! (See YOU really can do this one...)

When my husband and his four brothers were young, his mom had a tradition. She had a "You are Special" plate. And when that plate made an appearance on the dinner table, it meant that one of those boys was getting recognized. Whatever those boys did that deserved recognition isn't really important. I'm sure some of the time it was for something great - like a birthday or an A on a really hard assignment at school. But the other times I think it might have been used to recognize a boy that made the right choice on a tough decision, or maybe just a good change in attitude around the house. When my husband told me about this tradition, I knew I wanted to incorporate it into our family. And when I saw that you could upload your own picture and have it printed on a plate HERE (and on sale), I knew it would fit the bill perfectly. So I digitally scrapbooked what I wanted to be on the plate, and sent it in. And when it came in the mail... I was pleased as punc...

In my spare time, I'm a massage therapist. Now, I've cut back quite a bit on my hours because of tending my nieces and staying home with my son, but just imagine how many sheets I've folded in the last six years. I've gotten pretty good at folding flat and fitted sheets alike. Plus.. I'm sort of a perfectionist, and there is nothing like looking at your linen closet when all the sheets and towels look like the inside of a catalog. So, here's the technique (I'm folding a crib sheet here for ease of taking photos, but any size sheet works exactly the same). 1. Find the two seams on one end of a fitted sheet, and match them up - wrong side together. 2. While holding these two seams with your left hand, glide your right hand along the right edge (my thumb is touching it in the photo above) of the sheet until you find another seam and match it with the others. Do the same thing - pinch the three seams together with your left hand and use your right h...

1/2 bushel of tomatoes (I fill up my sink twice to measure) 10 aneheim peppers 5-10 jalapenos - depending on how hot you like it. I put 10 in for a medium kick. 6 green peppers 5 onions 3/4 cup white distilled vinegar 1/2 cup salt 3/4 cup sugar 3 tsp dried, crushed red peppers 1. Remove the skins from the tomatoes, then chop everything up and put it in a HUGE pot (mine is 22 quarts, but I only fill it half to three quarters of the way up). 2. Put a bunch of this fresh mixture in a container - you can't beat this. I've tried to make a small batch of this recipe just for this fresh stuff, and it never tastes as good. 3. Boil the rest until it's as thick as you like it. (To save time in this step I squeeze all the tomatoes before I chop them to get most of the juice out. Then I only have to boil it about 20 minutes). If you don't squeeze them out, you might be boiling for 4 hours. 4. Put into jars, and process the quart sized ones for 35 minu...