Here are some tips and tricks you can use during your regular day to day activities:

1. To keep your plastic containers from getting stained from tomato based foods, rub the inside with vegetable oil or spray with a little Pam before placing the food in the container.
2. To clean your coffee maker: Pour vinegar into it like when you make coffee but with no filter. Turn the coffee maker on and let it run. Repeat this with a new batch of vinegar until it runs clear of calcium deposits.  Run water through for a few cycles before making your next pot of coffee.
3. For removing ink stains: Ball point pen stains can be removed by using hair spray – let the hair spray dry and wash the item.
4. Use newspaper when you clean your windows instead of paper towels.  You won’t get the usual streaks. 

I know it was a week ago but I’ve been too busy to blog about Easter yet.  We had a great Easter.  We started out in the morning with our daughter searching for her Easter basket.  This was the first year she really understood- so it was a lot of fun.  She loves chocolate so she was thrilled with the contents of her basket.  Later on we went to church and had an amazing service.  After church my daughter took her nap and then we ate some dinner.  It was a perfect day.  The weather was a bit chilly but that didn’t make any difference- we had a wonderful Easter.

In my previous post I talked a bit about some tips to help you with your upcoming move.  Now one of the main things you are going to need for your move is boxes.  I am actually hoping to move one day so I save all of the good boxes I can.  I break them down so they are flat and and stick them on the side of my freezer in my pantry.  But, if you don’t have time to save boxes, where can you get some?

Ask stores what day they have their deliveries on.  If your local grocery store has a delivery on Monday then ask the manager to set aside boxes for you.  If you don’t ask, many stores have machines that crush the boxes for the and you won’t be able to get any boxes.  You can also purchase some shipping boxes.  That way you will know you are getting exactly what you need- the perfect sizes and the boxes will be in good condition.

What are some other places you can get boxes?

Are you moving in the near future?  I have moved a few times and I know how stressful it can be.  So, here are some tips to help make your move a little easier:

• Get boxes.  Lots and lots of boxes.  Get your scissors and your packaging tape too.
• Use markers to color code your boxes.  Blue goes in the living room, red goes in the kitchen, etc
• Newspapers and plastic bags are necessary for packing your breakable items.
• Hire some movers- if you’re moving to NY you could hire New York movers.
• Have a special box with your cleaning supplies so you can clean your new home when you get there before moving all of your stuff in.
• Take it easy… if you stress yourself out it will be a lot harder than it will be if you stay calm.

A few weeks ago we arrived at my parents house for a little visit of a few days.  When we got there my parents weren’t home from work yet so we started unloading our stuff.  I happened to glance out the back door and I saw this:

Can you see it?  There are some beautiful flowers and then there is an adorable little critter.  Here’s a better look:

I knew my mom had been complaining that some sort of animal had been eating her flowers and she wasn’t sure what it was, so I wanted to get a picture to show her this cute little groundhog.

Because of where my parents live they get a lot of wild life in their yard.  They have deer, squirrels, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, dogs, cats, etc.  They have it all.  And they enjoy the wildlife- just not the damage that is done when they eat their flowers or eat all of the bird seed.

That’s where Havahart comes in to play.  Havahart’s Organic/GREEN repellent sprays and coatings can help you to keep these cuties away from your home and garden without hurting them.  At Havahart you can get things like racoon repellent or just tips to help you keep the critters away.  They have a Critter Control library you can check out for some fabulous tips and tricks as well as information about Critter Ridder.  Be sure to see what they have to offer you and your critter problems.

Are you looking for some fun things to do?  Things that the whole family will enjoy?  For us that can often be a difficult task.  It’s hard enough to do things a teenager will enjoy and hard enough to do things a toddler will be enjoy.  But, put those together- and try to have a fun family activity that parents, a teenager and toddler will enjoy?  Nearly impossible.  Well, not really- here are some things that all four us enjoy doing.  Now keep in mind- the teenager is not always very enthusiastic about these ideas, but she ends up having a blast.

1. Go apple/pumpkin picking.  Of course you have to do that at this time of year.  And really- this is not exactly something that sounds exciting to me.  But you know what?  We did it recently and we all had a great time.
2. Go on a train ride.  My husband loves trains and our toddler is pretty thrilled about them too.  But me and the teen?  Not so much.  But guess what- once we actually get there and go on the train ride- this is fabulous.  And fall is a great time to do this because you can go while you are able to enjoy the beautiful colors of the leaves changing.
3. Take a trip to a science museum.  We are fortunate that where we live there is an amazing children’s museum filled with fun science activities.  While it is geared more for the preschool age level and up it is still something our toddler can enjoy with close supervision.  And the rest of us have a great time too.
4. Stay home and bake cookies together.  It’s not always easy getting my husband and teen in on this one, but once the fun starts they are usually happy to join in for the decorating and tasting part.

There’s so many fun, educational and affordable ideas out there.  Things that don’t involve the TV or electronic game systems.  Get off the couch and go have fun together!

I’ve posted a few times about how I was going to get my fall decorating done.  Turns out to be a bit harder than I had planned on it being.  My toddler was quite insistent that she help with the decorating.  It was actually quite a bit of fun though to do it together.  And so far (I’m sure I’m totally jinxing myself) she hasn’t tried to take the decorations down.  I think it’s because she helped me to set them up.

Anyhoo, before I started my decorating I looked at a lot of home decorating ideas. To me, that is just fun to do.  Rather than do the same old thing year and after year, I like to change things up.  Before you start your decorating check out some ideas to change things around a little bit this year.  It’s fun and it will help to get those creative juices flowing!

You know one way you can make sure you get everything that you want in your next home?  Well, you could search high and low through homes available on the market.  Or, you could save yourself time and headache and have a custom home built.  A great company to use for your custom built home would be Schumacher.  You can start out by looking at the designs they have ready for you.  From those home plans you can adjust and add and make all of the changes you want to have made in order to get exactly what you want in a home.  If you check out this link – schumacher homes, you will be able to see a video of all of the amazing things they can do for you.  So, rather than give yourself a headache or wasting your time looking through countless homes- have a custom home built.

It is time for my favorite decorating time of year.  I always look forward to putting out my fall decorations every year.  I have big plans for this weekend with getting out all of my fall decorations.  I will also add some fun candles to my decorations.  I was looking at some home decorating ideas today on myLifetime because they have some really fabulous ideas for fall decorating.  One of my favorite ideas that I saw today was this:

Isn’t that just the cutest idea you’ve seen all day? 

There’s so much more than just fall ideas- there are tons of decorating ideas to help you through your home at all times of the year.  If you’re in need of some inspiration and help with your decorating then myLifetime is the site for you!

I don’t have many birds in my backyard and that makes me sad.  We do have the occasional robin and sometimes a cardinal.  But for the most part the birds don’t really visit us.  Watch my video to see that we don’t have any birds.

Now did you know that ornithologist technically means bird watcher?  I had no idea.  But, according to Wikipedia “Ornithology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of birds.”  Honestly, I just thought bird watching was called bird watching.  And apparently there is a very long history of ornithologists with information about the topic dating all the way back to 1500 BC.

I love bird watching and would love to look into getting some bird feeders for my back yard so that I can learn more about these interesting and beautiful creatures.