Busy, Busy, Busy.....

It sure has been crazy the past week...We went on the 100 mile yard sale - so much fun! My hubby took a days vacation so we could go, so it was him and I and the 2 girls. The boys weren't interested in going to yard sales all day so they stayed home and had some quality brother time :-) I got some pretty good deals.
We also went on the ATV dice run to benefit our local search and rescue team. We had a blast! It was over 25 miles of trails. You had to be 16 to ride so my sister watched the kids for us and me and Eric got to have a day to ourselves - just the 2 of us. It rained off and on and was reeaaallly muddy but we didn't care. We laughed and talked during the whole ride, it was nice to be able to spend some alone time together.
My step-nieces graduation party went well. The decorations turned out great (and I forgot to take pics of them) and thankfully I made enough cookies for everyone! Rikki and Maddie enjoyed helping me make them (and licking beaters and eating cookie dough).
The kids have all been invited to birthday parties (3 of them in 5 days) so I have been busy taking kids to parties, buying presents....ahhhh These were just for their friends, my nephews bitrthday was the 11th, my best friends daughters is also on the 11th and Daniels was the 8th!
Plus the 4th - this month has sure been a lot of partying!
I finally got my email last night for my swap partner - I was so excited - I was even more excited when I checked the mail this morning and found a package from my partner! I received some great things! The coupon holder was my favorite! I have been looking for one of those forever and haven't been able to find one - my partner must be a mind reader - lol Here is a pic of what I got. Well the pic is at the top for some reason and I can't figure out how to get it down here. I really need to learn more about blogging - I see all these other bloggers with these awesome, fancy pages and I have not yet been able to figure out how get mine awesome and fancy - I will need to put that on my to-do-list.

Blog Talk..

Well it sure was a busy week, I spent some of it in the ER, at the doctors, and the operating room with my husband. All is well now.

It was Daniels birthday and we had a party. I made him a dirtbike cake since he has been into them lately. It turned out pretty good. Cake making is my thing (or at least that's what my family and friends think) I have made quite a few cakes and here are some pics of a few of them.

I went to a few yard sales, and got some pretty good deals. I bought a ladybug sweeper for my pool for $5! It's like new and works great. (its one of things you just drop in your pool and it cleans by itself) We also got a very old bike for my mother in law for $1! She has been looking for one for a while. Its in pretty good shape for its age but we are going to paint it and put a basket and stuff on it for her. I will post some before and after pics when we get to it.

Our local Dollar General is moving so they are have a big sale, (well the signs say the entire store is on sale, but that's a lie because none of the food, cleaning or paper products are on sale) I did complain about it but was told I had to contact the "head honcho's". Anyway I did get quite a few school supplies for the kids (that stuff was 50% off). I ended up getting a bunch of notebooks, folders, pens, pencils, binders, a few t-shirts, two 20lb bags of dog food, batteries and some shampoo (all of which was 25 - 50% off) for under $30. I would have taken a pic but I had so much going on I just wanted to get it put away.
I am looking forward to this weekend, it's time for the 100 mile yard sale. It's 100 miles of yard sales, people sell baked goods, food and soda and well, their unwanted items. You get a big map to show you where they all are. It's a fun time. We also have an ATV dice run to benefit the local search and rescue. And a graduation party for my sister's step daughter, which I have to make decorations and cookies for so I think it's going to be another busy week!

Right now I have 5 teenage boys camped on my living room floor, they set up tents in the yard last night but it got pretty chilly so they must have decided to come in and get warm :) It's almost 10am and I really need to wake them up so I can get some cleaning done. I hate to do it but I can't tiptoe around the house until they decide to get up...Ohh to be young again, staying up late with friends and sleeping late, without a care in the world, life was so much easier....

Blog Talk...

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday. I know I did. My husband had a 4 day weekend and we took the kids to see fireworks, had a cookout and went for a 4-wheeler ride. My youngest son Daniel just got a dirt-bike so he has been driving us crazy wanting to ride it everywhere, so getting him out for a long ride hopefully satisfied him for a while:-) It was such a relaxing weekend, I can't believe it's Monday already :( It sure was hard getting out of bed this morning after being able to sleep in for 4 days - lol. I have a lot to get caught up on so hopefully I can stay busy enough to keep myself awake. I'm hoping for some warmer weather today, last week it rained just about everyday, the weekend was nice but a little chilly. Definitely not the weather I would expect for July. The kids have still been swimming almost daily and I have no idea how they enjoy being in that cold water...but at least the pool is getting used. We just put it in this year and I figured it was going to be a waste because of the weather but the kids are enjoying it so I guess that's all that matters. Well if I am going to get anything done today I better get moving.....

Fishing

We took the kids to a fishing derby a while back and my son Daniel won for catching the biggest fish - He won a free mount and $20. He was so excited. My daughter Madeline also caught a fish - but it wasn't the biggest and she begged to have it mounted. Of course we gave in and got it mounted - thank goodness my husband knows the taxidermist and he didn't charge us much to mount it. They finally got them back - here are some pics of their beauties :-)

Helping the Hubby...

Tonight after dinner the hubby got the bright idea to clean out the shed! And of course this "project" of his turned into "honey can you give me a hand" - Well needless to say it turned into a 4 hour project. Now I'm dirty and sweaty and in dire need of a shower. I think I'm going to need a hand washing my back - lol I must say I am proud of the hubby, he just run up to the store and came back proudly exclaiming that he bought provolone cheese on sale for $3 a lb and hard salami on sale for $3.99 a lb. I guess I'm starting to rub off :-) Well I'm going to hit the shower and then make some Lazy Granola that I got from another blog..Goodnight

To do list - update

I got everything done (with a little help from the kids) except cleaning out the boys room. My sister came to visit today, I made fudge and an apple pie, and had 2 extra kids here so I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished today! I'm ready to relax for the night!

To Do List

Tons of things I need to get done today! I've been slacking the past week, the weather has been so nice so I have been working in the garden, mowing grass, taking care of the pool, etc. The outside of my house looks wonderful but the inside is a mess. Most people would probably think its clean but I'm a little bit of a clean freak so if anything is out of place I'm freaking out! lol I know I really need to clean because Charlett has built a web in my door! ahhh! Today I'm hoping to accomplish -
1. run a load through the dishwasher
2. hand wash the things I don't put in the dishwasher
3. gather up and take out the trash
4. laundry
5. dust all the rooms
6. clean the bathrooms
7. sweep and mop floors
8. go to the post office
9. go to the store
10. clean out the boys room (I did the girls room yesterday)
Hopefully since its raining today I can get a little help from the kids and will be able to accomplish everything on my list. Time to get started......

Bee's and Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I finally got my visit from the bee keeper - He wanted me to pay him to take the bee's! (mind you he keeps them and uses their honey to sell)! No way was I paying him, so I politely refused his services and decided to take care of the bee's myself. Which I did while Eric was at work - because of course he told me to leave them alone until he got home. I took some ideas from the bee keeper and put a cardboard box under the bees, I did not have a hive (of course) so I used a gallon orange juice container and set it in the box, I smacked the trampoline with a big stick and the bee's fell right into the box! I was hoping that the queen had also fell in because the bee's will stay where the queen is, as I'm sure most of you already know :-) I got lucky and all the bee's stayed in the box and in the OJ container - I waited about a half hour or so, went to the box, closed the flaps and hauled it away! Easy and better than paying someone to do it - I guess I was very lucky because I got through the whole ordeal without a sting!
I learned how to make homemade dishwasher detergent this weekend - Works better than the stuff you pay an arm for in the store and costs Soooo much less!
Ingredients Needed:
Borax
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
White vinegar (optional)
Lemon Juice (optional)

Add 1 tablespoon of borax and 1 tablespoon of washing soda to the dishwasher. For a little scent you can add a drop or two of lemon juice (which I already had) to the borax and washing soda. For a rinse just add a tablespoon of vinegar - the dishes will come out spotless!

I spent about $5 on the borax and washing soda, the lemon juice and vinegar I already had. I'm guessing that the ingredients will last me 3 months or better (if I only use them for the dishwasher) and only run the dishwasher once a day. So I'm figuring it is going to be well worth it considering the stuff I was buying was costing me about $15 a month! Next thing I will be trying is homemade soap for the washer (which I seen on one of the blogs I watch). It looks fairly easy and inexpensive. Enjoy your day and thanks for visiting :-)