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Katrina’s DIY Tip #1 – Flowers LOVE Mouthwash

Katrina’s DIY Tip #1 – Flowers LOVE Mouthwash

flowersDid you know that fresh clipped and store bought bouquets of flowers LOVE mouthwash?  Oh, yes they do!  If your adoring husband or significant other, brings you a lovely bouquet of beautiful flowers, add just a couple teaspoons of mouthwash to the water in your vase and your flowers will keep much longer than just a few days!

The pictured flowers are from four days ago and they are still looking amazing! I can usually keep my flowers looking and smelling fresh for up to two weeks or more, depending on the flowers of course (Carnations do really well and can last for nearly a month).   Remember to add fresh water and mouthwash every few days (as you can see from the picture, I just use generic mouthwash – nothing too fancy – just use whatever you have a coupon for), as well as trim the stems if they are starting to get slimy.  I also trim my flowers of all leaves that are submerged in the water (just helps to keep the water cleaner).

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January 19, 20150 commentsRead More
Katrina’s Coupon Tip #4 – Dig for Coupons

Katrina’s Coupon Tip #4 – Dig for Coupons

You’ll laugh, but I actually found a big stack of coupon inserts this morning on a walk with my youngest son.  We had just dropped the older two kids off at school and decided that since it was warm out, a whopping 34 degrees, that we might as well get some exercise and take the long way home from school.  We walked our regular route around the block, and it just so happens to be Thursday.  Thursday is trash pick-up day in our neighborhood, and usually the trash man comes pretty early.  We have several different trash companies that you can pick from and between the regular trash pick-up and the recycle pick-ups I honestly have no idea what time they come or whose truck is for which service.  But I do know that they come on Thursdays and I’ve seen a lot of recycle bins out in front of several neighbors houses (yes, I’ve walked our neighborhood and searched for which neighbors recycle).

I know of a few specific houses on our regular walking route that have a recycle bin for newspaper and if I happen to beat the trash man, I will go insertStackthrough their bins and help myself to their discarded coupons.  After all, one mans trash is another mans treasure!  So, this morning, I actually found a giant stack of coupon inserts from one single recycle bin in front of a neighbor’s house (this is the actual picture of the stack I found)! I was beyond excited! I plan to visit that neighbor later today and give them one of my “Coupons Wanted” fliers so they know that I would love to collect their discarded coupons and would be happy to stop by on a regular basis for any coupons they don’t want, especially now that I know they don’t seem to use their coupons.  

‘Shopping’ your neighbors trash bins is a great way to find out who uses their newspaper coupons and who doesn’t.  If they continually throw their coupons away then don’t be afraid to knock on their door and see if they wouldn’t mind saving them for you instead.  Nothing was ever gained by not asking.  Don’t be afraid to dig through trash bins, recycle bins or other places you find coupons discarded.  I look at discarded coupons as money – each one really is just like a dollar bill.  You would never throw away money would you?  Happy digging!

Have you ever dug through your neighbor’s trash for coupons?  Leave me a comment about the best coupon you found while digging!

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November 20, 20140 commentsRead More
12 Days of Christmas – What An Awesome Way To Bless Someone

12 Days of Christmas – What An Awesome Way To Bless Someone

Seriously this is one of the coolest ideas I’ve heard of yet to celebrate Christ’s birth! An amazing lady from my church shared this wonderful idea with Kat_sonshinekidsour Women’s Ministry a few weeks ago and I think it’s such a great idea! So great in fact, that our family has decided on how we can participate in this idea for our own Christmas celebration this year! I really wish I would’ve have caught on to this idea years ago, but oh well – time for a new tradition!

The idea is that you pick a neighbor, friend, group of people, etc. who you want to bless over a span of 12 days before Christmas, ending with the 12thday on Christmas day. It’s suggested that you pick a family in need of cheering up, or a family that is currently having a hard time, or maybe a family new to the area. Then for 12 consecutive days you leave them little gifts or treats on their doorstep – but the trick is that you have to do this in secret! You do not want them to know how you are! On day 1 you might leave them 1 ornament with a note about the “On the First Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me….”  On Day 2, maybe 2 cookies, and on and on up through day Day 12. On Day 12, your entire family shows up at their house with your final Day 12 gifts and you surprise the family you are blessing by personally giving them their 12th day gift. You get to reveal yourself and it’s so fun for the family to finally be let in on the secret. Isn’t that the coolest idea ever? My kids would be overjoyed to have little gifts left on our front door step for 12 straight days!  It’s like being “boo-ed” during Halloween, but so much better!

mx2Our family is adapting this idea to bless the amazing kids we met on our Mission Trip to San Felipe, Mexico last month! Our family, along with all our Mission Trip team members, have decided to send Sonshine Hacienda a huge box full of gifts for all the kids to share! We are going to wrap all the gifts according to which of the 12 Days of Christmas they are for and have the kids open up the gifts on the corresponding days. Quick background, my family and a big team from our local church, spent our Fall Break in October on a mission trip to San Felipe, Mexico to help out at home for abandoned/ abused children. You can read all about it by clicking here.  We had such a great time and met so many amazing kids that we wanted to extend our love and gratitude to them by sending them Christmas gifts. Here is what we are going to send them (a lot of the gifts are things the missionary couple that runs the Hacienda have asked for, and others are fun things we know they all would enjoy):

  • Day 1: One Advent calendar
  • Day 2: Two framed pictures of our group from when we were out there in October
  • Day 3: Three different ready-to-make ornament crafts for all the kids to make
  • Day 4: Four new board games like Jenga, Spot It, etc
  • Day 5: Five bottles of bubbles
  • Day 6: Six new shower curtains
  • Day 7: Seven bottles of body spray
  • Day 8: Eight new Spanish Bible Story books
  • Day 9: Nine packages of Spanish sticker books
  • Day 10: Ten new coloring books
  • Day 11: Eleven loofas and eleven super-hero wash cloths
  • Day 12: Ready to make cups for ALL the kids to make their own cupmx3

The list of things we are sending to them may sound silly, but to the kids that live at the Hacienda, this is going to be exciting! I wish we could be there to see the kids open their gifts each day! You can see that your list of things you might choose to bless a family with can be flexible and can suit that particular family.  Just have fun with it! Be the hands and feet of Jesus and really show how much you care this Christmas! You will be blessed in return!

Leave me a comment if your family have ever tried this idea before or if you plan to try it this year!

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November 19, 20140 commentsRead More