Be Rewarded for Shopping Online

As I’m sure many of you can relate, shopping with kids in NoT exactly my favorite thing to do. There is always the fighting over who sits where in the cart, then the whining that I’m taking too long, and of course the dreaded tantrum over the desperately needed toy they just HaVe to HaVe! My kids can turn a 5 minute trip to Home Depot for light bulbs into a disaster. They will manage to find something they need…such as the Tinker Bell and Lightning McQueen flashlights that are placed just at their eye level so they can pull the, “Oh wait, we need this!”

Thanks to the ease of online shopping and the availability of coupon codes, (read our post on how to get coupon codes) and free shipping, I try to avoid going out to the stores as much as possible. I was recently introduced to an online shopping opportunity even better than coupon codes! EBATES! Ebates is a company that gives you cash back if you shop through the links listed on their site. They advertise for the stores and you make money back by shopping through their link. It is a WIN WIN for everyone! At first I thought it was too good to be true, but I did my research and have been a member and shopping with them for a month now and earned over $30 back on purchases I would have made whether I ordered them through the Ebates site or not. You can track sales, coupons, and percentages that stores are giving back on their site. The money you earn from shopping is either mailed to you in check form or can be deposited directly into your paypal account. You can still use coupon codes and free shipping codes and get whatever percentage that particular store is offering back on the day you are shopping.

Here’s a link to get you started!

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=1F4aHuk9ijWgSKFCdEfzww%3D%3D

Happy Stress Free Shopping!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)

Homemade Christmas Potpourri

I know I shared this a couple of years ago, but I just had to share this again for anyone that may have missed it! I LoVe this homemade potpourri! It is super easy to make and will smell up your entire home for the holidays! Try it out and let me know what you think!

3 Cinnamon Sticks

3 Bay Leaves

¼ C. Cloves

2 Lemon Wedges

1 Orange Peel

(Top 3 ingredients are found in the dry spice section of the grocery store.)

CoMbiNe all of these ingredients in a small crock-pot. Add water to cover top of all ingredients. Leave on low temperature. As the smell fades, continue to add water and various ingredients to keep the mixture moist for a continuous yummy smell! EnJoy!

*Be sure to unplug your crockpot at night because all the water will be gone by morning and the potpourri will be burnt!

*If you are ready to start a new batch, drain the water and set out the old potpourri to dry. Even as dry potpourri it smells AWESOME! Place the dry potpourri in a pretty bowl on a table as another way to smell up your home and extend the life of your potpourri!

Need a quick X-Mas Present idea?! Throw the ingredients into a basket or mini-crockpot and give as a gift! Include a printed version of the recipe by clicking here!

~Lara

Christmas Card Chaos

Tis’ the season for trying to capture that PeRfEcT photo for the annual Christmas card! You know the one I’m referring to that gives the illusion that your kids never fight, don’t play in the mud, and wear matching outfits daily. First there is the decision over whether to go to a portrait studio, hire a photographer and do an outdoor family photo shoot, or take the pictures yourself. Once that is decided the planning of the outfits can begin. The ridiculous part about this is that stores start putting out their holiday lines in October so if your kids wear a popular size you better be thinking ahead. Ok, now you know who is taking the picture and what everyone is wearing, but here is the hardest part…getting everyone to cooperate!

I am sure many of you moms are going through this torture over the next few weeks so let me share my Christmas card 2013 attempt with all of you. Before I start getting all sorts of complaints from dads, I chose to write moms because maybe there are one or two dads out there who break the mold and take the kids for the Christmas photos, but in MY experience, there is NO dad who wants to be anywhere near this unprecedented madness EVER!

This year I was going to have a friend who is a professional photographer take photos in our yard. Well that idea went down the toilet when I had to cancel the session because it had rained the night before and the grass was soaking wet. I know my kids would never have cooperated if their feet were soaking wet from the grass and we wouldn’t have gotten the photos that I wanted to get. My second attempt pictured above was yesterday. I thought I could take the bull by the horns and take the photos myself. I’ve done it before so why not? Here’s why not…apparently I bought my son “handsome” clothes instead of “cool” clothes and he refused to put them on. In a desperate attempt to move forward with my plan I decorated a tree with candy canes and figured I would at least get my daughter’s picture done since she was all dressed and loves getting her picture taken. I figured my son would get jealous and cave once he saw her getting all the attention and put the cute plaid shirt and sweater on, but boy was I wrong. What erupted was like a scene out of a Christmas horror show. While my daughter was standing on a chair smiling my son took one of my giant candy cane props and started chopping down the candy canes one by one out of the tree faster than I could grab him. Candy was flying all over the place, my daughter was wobbling in a chair in her Christmas dress, and all I was thinking was, don’t react like Clark Griswold when his lights don’t light up in Christmas Vacation!

Needless to say, we marched back in the house after picking up all of the broken candy canes and I am left with this fantastic picture that I share with all of you. Please keep it in mind when you are stressed to the max this Christmas season. As you receive your mail full of smiling faces each day remember a lot more goes into those cards than you think and don’t be too hard on yourself if your journey to whatever your PeRfEcT card is isn’t so PeRfEcT!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)

I am Thankful Project

With my son in Kindergarten, I’ve been planning more projects that incorporate some writing and of course some messy art! With all the academics that need to get covered in the short school day kids don’t often get the chance to get down and dirty with paint anymore. This simple Indian Corn project kept my 4 and 6 year olds busy for about a half hour (just long enough for me to enjoy a cup of coffee!) and the writing piece will remain a special memory of what they were thankful for at this special time in their childhood.

If you are a teacher, this can be done as a whole class activity and it would make a fantastic bulletin board display! Click on this link to print my free THANKFUL FOR tags and get your creative juices flowing!

I cut out a corn shape out of cardstock and fabric and glued them together. You can just use cardstock, but I thought the fabric gave the project a rustic look!

I used burlap to make the dry corn leaves and attached the printable Thankful For cards!

Happy Painting & Memory Making!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)

Okay for ME, but NOT for YOU…

I am hard on my kids. Too hard, a lot of times, which always makes me regret it once I stop and think about how I’m treating them. Instead of choosing my battles, I decide to take on every battle! That is what SUPERMOM is all about, right? Keeping a tight leash on your kids and setting the bar super high? After some ReFleCtioN this week, maybe I should start looking for a new role model…

As Christians, we know how miserably we fail at numerous tasks and actions throughout our day, yet when we glance up at God we are reassured that He forgives and loves us no matter how much we are being a disappointment. It is so comforting to know that when I make mistakes, at least someone still has my back…because HE knows we are human and are far from pErfeCt.

Yet WHY do I hold my kids to a different standard? When they don’t do what I ask, or spill a cup FULL of pop on the floor, I repeatedly get on to them and ask why they didn’t listen or be more careful!! Not only that, but I bring it up AGAIN when their Dad comes home and maybe even AGAIN before they go to sleep, in hopes that I am getting my point across!

When I make the same exact mistakes (just in adult form!), does God TrEaT me like that? Never. I always feel Him looking at me in a calm way, his eyes telling me that I need to pick myself up and go on. I know I let Him down but I also know that once I acknowledge my weaknesses to Him, He moves on and doesn’t keep throwing it in my face. I really appreciate that about Him.

So why is it okay for me to fail God but not okay for others to fail me? As cHalleNgiNg as it will be, I am going to try to be as understanding and calm with my children as He is to me. Sure, I’ll still get on to them and discipline when needed, but then I need to let it go and hope they make a better decision next time. We know that kids won’t always do the right thing, but thankfully God doesn’t give up on us adults either! With every year I get under my belt, I can see I’m going to need all the help and forgiveness I can get!

-Lara

Fall Handprint Crafts

I couldn’t let a season pass by without sharing my handprint and footprint ideas from this year and years past. As my kids get older I am finding it harder to come up with projects that can fit both their hands and feet on one page so I’ve been letting them each do their own thing. I’ve also been having fun adding their drawings to the handprint art! The possibilities are endless!

HaPpY PaiNtinG!

HaPpY MeMoRy MaKiNg!

~Robyn (Jersey Girl)

Biggest Bang For Your Buck {This Burns Fat Like Lighting Fluid!}

Ever since I’ve been in junior high I have been a RuNnEr. I started out doing it to get in shape for sports, but now I do it for a variety of reasons. Of course there is the health/fitness benefit, but then there is the mental aspect. It is good therapy for me. Its my time to think, pray, or enjoy conversation with a friend or my husband.

It’s easy when you’ve been doing something so long to get in a rut. My rut with running was thinking that I needed to run 4 miles Monday-Friday. I don’t know where I every came up with that exercise schedule, but to me that was my “PeRfEcT” exercising scenario.

I had read on numerous occasions that InTeRvAlS (exercise where you alternate the intensity of your workout) were the best way to get in shape. Because that didn’t fit into my “plan” I dismissed interval training until I read an article that claimed interval training “BuRnS fAt LiKe LiGhTiNg FlUiD.” They had me, “hook, line, and sinker”, as I was experiencing a slump in the exercising category and wanted to drop some weight that wasn’t wanting to come off.

The fitness center I worked out at had an interval training schedule posted making the same claims as the ones I had read, so I enlisted. It was a 6-week plan and I loved it. Not only could I do it in 30 minutes (it actually takes less than 30 minutes, but I would walk/run the remaining time to make it a 30 minute workout) The results were FaBuLoUs, so much so that people I knew asked me for my fitness plan. I therefore typed it up on a Word document and share it whenever asked. So HeRe It iS.

If you want to change up your exercise program or are looking to enlist in one, you may want to try this. Never exercised before? Try it with WaLkiNg. Of course, make sure you talk to your physician anytime you start a new exercise program. I have tailored this training schedule to running since that is the exercise I enjoy. You may substitute running with walking, biking, elliptical, rowing, etc.

INTERVAL TRAINING SCHEDULE

WEEK	MAX EFFORT	REST	REPS
1	1 MIN	2 MIN	5
2	1 MIN	90 SEC	6
3	1 MIN	1 MIN	8
4	1 MIN	1 MIN	10
5	75 SEC	1 MIN	10
6	90 SEC	1 MIN	10

Warm-up 5 minutes before intervals with a light jog. I always go for 30 minutes and use whatever time is left for easy jogging. (Reps means the number of times you do that particular set.)

You can use the following as cheat sheets when you are on the treadmill so you don’t have to try to remember when you are suppose to be going your max effort and when you are suppose to be walking.

WEEK 2 – Begin with a jog ‘til 5:00
Begin running @ max effort:	Begin walking @:
5:00	6:00
7:30	8:30
10:00	11:00
12:30	13:30
15:00	16:00
17:30	18:30 – 20:00
JOG ‘TIL 30:00

WEEK 5 – Begin with a jog ‘til 5:00
Begin running @ max effort:	Begin walking @:
5:00	6:15
7:15	8:30
9:30	10:45
11:45	13:00
14:00	15:15
16:15	17:30
18:30	19:45
20:45	22:00
23:00	24:15
25:15	26:30 – 27:30
JOG ‘TIL 30:00

WEEK 6 – Begin with a jog ‘til 2:30
Begin running @ max effort:	Begin walking @:
2:30	4:00
5:00	6:30
7:30	9:00
10:00	11:30
12:30	14:00
15:00	16:30
17:30	19:00
20:00	21:30
22:30	24:00
25:00	26:30 – 27:30
JOG ‘TIL 30:00

~Robynn

“Before” and “During” Pictures of our House

It has been a while since I updated you on our HOuSe! As most of you know, last summer we had our house lifted and moved to our new farm. It traveled over 100 miles! Here is a picture of what it looked like shortly after it was moved and set back down on a new basement foundation:

Over the past 16 months we have added on a new “front” to the house. In August I began painting the exterior–which still needs to get finished–but already has helped improve the overall look. We have many “phases” of the house we need to complete before it becomes our “dReaM” home. Since our current garage is used as my office/woodshop, our next plan is to extend the garage and have a porch which will connect the new garage and current front door area. Not sure how soon this will happen, but in the meantime I am enjoying each new phase of seeing it come together.

Many of you wonder how our house has held up after traveling such a long distance. There were only a few hairline cracks in the sheetrock above the interior doors but besides that, you’d never know it went through such a haul! We continue to feel blessed about the entire process of the move and are glad we stuck with our CrAzY idea ;) We couldn’t be happier in our new location and look forward to making more memories in the first house we ever purchased (just with a different landscape)!

To read about the MOVING journey, click below in the following order:

read Why Move A House? , Demo Work , Moving Day, Moving Our House and Did We Make the Right Decision?

Cheers,

Lara

How I Fixed Our LAUNDRY Situation in 15 Minutes

If you were to ask me what area of my household chores stresses me out the most, I would say “LAUNDRY”. I feel like our laundry takes over my life and my mood! Like most people, we have a small laundry room, which also serves as a mudroom next to our garage. Since I don’t have much room in there, laundry always ends up in our bedroom. Clean clothes, dirty clothes—you name it—ends up either folded or unfolded on our bed. By the end of the day, I usually never get around to putting all of it away, so where does it end up? On the floor! Yep, we are always so tired at night that the easiest thing to do is throw it on a dresser or make a pile on the floor.

This makes me CRAZY because the very next morning I feel like I have to rewash or dry everything due to unwanted wrinkles or not knowing what is really clean. What a waste of time, energy, and laundry soap!!

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when we noticed some of our clothes smelling bad, even after being washed. Since I didn’t have a good laundry system all of our clothes, musty towels and kitchen washcloths would sometimes end up in the same load. What happens when you don’t do a good job sorting? Your shirt smells like the onion you made for dinner last night :-/

I couldn’t take it any longer. One morning, I decided I had to make a major change. I headed down to the basement and grabbed a couple old card tables and plastic tubs. I cleared out the corner of my office (which once consisted of a comfy chair and lamp) and I set the tables up. Sure, I was sad to see my “reading chair” go (which never got used—but “looked” nice!) but I knew this area could be better utilized for something more practical.

I labeled each tub “whites/colors/smelly stuff—washcloths/other” and slid them under the table. Within 15 minutes I had a functional laundry area and my life has been drastically changed every since! I now have room to fold and make piles for each person in our family. I also decided that I needed a place to hang clean clothes, so I took the hanging rod out of one of my kids’ closets and hung in above the card tables! It only took me about 10 minutes to move from their closet to the new spot, and now it saves me tons of time from walking back and forth to bedrooms to hang clothes!

If I don’t get around to putting clothes away, everyone knows that their clean piles are now in my office. My entire family has done great making sure they put their dirty laundry in the correct tub (but I even have an “other/don’t know pile” tub in case someone gets confused!) and I am proud to say that we haven’t dealt with any onion-smelly clothes since! YAY! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

One more thing I want to add…as you can see, my laundry room does not look “pretty”. In the past I would have put off making a makeshift laundry room due to feeling like I needed custom cabinets and a reconstructed room in order to have a functional laundry space. Because I did it this way, I was able to create a better laundry situation within 15 minutes AND it will give me time to try it out before I decide when and if I should ever upgrade to something more permanent.

Is there an area of your daily routine that makes you CrAzY (like my laundry situation)? If so, I encourage you to think outside the box and find a way to make it less stressful. Sure, I am sacrificing looking at dirty laundry baskets in my office, but now my master bedroom is ALWAYS clean and laundry free. I am also saving time this way! Just remember, even though you want your home to look like something from Pottery Barn, you have to ask yourself, “Would I rather have a magazine-looking house, or eliminate DAILY stresses by making an area more functional?””

Good “looks” don’t always mean a HaPpY HeArt! Make a change TODAY!!

Lara

How I am avoiding a stressful Christmas this year…

I know…it is only September…but I already have half of my Christmas shopping DONE! The motive for starting so early? I’m tired of stressing out during the holidays!

The reason I’m starting so early has to do with money. If I began now, I could spread the cost of gifts over the course of several months, instead of spending a large sum of cash in November and December. Since we do a monthly budget, I didn’t want to go WAY over in December (and throw the budget out the window), all because of Christmas. I figure if I SpReAd OuT my spending, I could easily pay $50-$150 in Christmas gifts and it wouldn’t make much of an impact each month.

The last couple of weeks I started searching for a few gifts. To my surprise, I was able to purchase several of my items half-off, just by shopping on eBay and Amazon! If I would have purchased those same items in a couple months from now, I’d be bidding against NuMeRouS (stressed) Christmas shoppers, which would make the bidding prices go uP Up UP!!! I have already saved significant cash on gifts, which allowed me to start working on the items I was planning to purchase next month. Can’t beat that!

The other obvious advantage is avoiding to shop (and panic) at the last minute. I feel less rushed doing it this way and can also make sure I get what I really want (since items are IN STOCK in September! ha!)

Christmas can be the last thing on your mind since we haven’t even hit Halloween, but if your past experiences left you in financial ruins and stress, it might be worth considering!

Happy Shopping!

Lara