Relax!

Today while my darling daughter was taking a nap I was feeling cold and sleepy. So I made myself some tea (in my amazingly cute mug that my husband bought me on our honeymoon), lit a candle, got a soft blanket, and a book and I sat on the couch! :-) It was relax-full! :-)

What do you like to do to relax?

Easy Cheese Ball!

 Have you ever wanted to make something that was super simple and super tasty for a party or something? Well this would be just the thing! This cheese ball would be great at a Christmas party, Birthday party, Tea party... Or just about any type of party you want! Or just for fun too!

You'll need 2 8oz. pkg cream cheese softened

1 1oz pkg. ranch dressing mix

Mash those up in a medium bowl or a you can use a mixer.

Add 2 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese.

Once the ingredients are mixed through, shape it into a ball.

Next chop up some nuts, parsley, or (my favorite) chives.

Roll the ball so that it coated! And you have a cheese ball! Store in the fridge till ready to eat.

Mmm mmm good! :-)

Daddy's girl!

Our daughter is such a daddy's girl! She just loves her daddy! Here are a few cute stories to prove it too! ;-)

In the morning I usually bring our daughter to bed with us to feed her an early morning breakfast before we get out of bed. That way I can sleep a little more. After her breakfast is over she plays in bed with us for awhile. This was on the weekend. Then one Monday morning after daddy had left for work she woke up and was wanting some breakfast. So I brought her to bed with my and she ate. After she ate she sat up expecting to play with dada and I. She looked over me for dada. When she say he wasn't there she  said 'dada?' in a questioning way. I said 'no dada went to work'. She then looked the other way and asked again 'dada?'. It was pretty cute! :-) She just loves her dada!

Because we live in the country we have well water. My husband's family lives in the city and they get city water. So we take them well water for drinking in some 3 gal blue water jugs. Anyway, we had the jugs at our house waiting to get filled and to be taken back to my husband's family. Dada sat down with our daughter and played drums on the jugs. Our daughter was super fascinated by it and smiled and drummed away as well! They were having a father-daughter bonding moment which = super cute! :-) Later that week I went to go grocery shopping in the city with my husband's mom and I took back the water jugs filled with delicious well water! My mother in law and I was hanging out at her place and we watched as our daughter headed for the blue water jugs. When she got there she drummed on them a bit then said sweetly 'dada'! It was super cute! :-) She had remember the time dada taught her to drum on the jugs! :-)

The Naturally Clean Home (My Book Review)

I first rented this book from the library when I was just getting interested in green cleaning. And I loved it so much that I bought it! I loved all the recipes in it using essential oils! Now I no longer buy the cleaners that I used to. I now buy things like:

Baking soda

Borax

Washing soda 

essential oils

lemons

vinegar

Although a lot of the recipes in this book you have to use more elbow grease and really scrub things, it makes me feel better to clean with these recipes! I used to get sore throats and headaches from the toxic cleaners I used before. Then when I got pregnant with Susie I was worried about what I breathed in. With these recipes you never have to worry about that! ;-)

"Common, nontoxic kitchen ingredients such as baking soda, borax, lemon, and vinegar are wonderfully effective household cleaners. Pair them with essential oils to disinfect and freshen every room. With 150 all-natural, easy-to-prepare cleaning solutions you can:

~Soften and whiten clothing                     ~Brighten bathroom mirrors
~Break up kitchen grease                         ~Scour Porcelain tiles
~Polish wood floors                                 ~Deodorize carpets
~Scrub the oven                                         And much more!"


A few of my favorite recipes:

I love the pine disinfectant! It is so easy to make, smells amazing, and actually works to clean the bathroom! You can mix it up in a spray bottle and keep it handy for when you need it!

I also really love the Lavender Lift automatic dishwasher powder! It doesn't always clean the glasses to how I truly like them, but other then that it does a great job! I love the smell of the lavender and the simplicity of making it up!

"Banish harmful chemical cleansers from your home; clean it green for a healthier family, a healthier planet."

Have you heard of this book? Do you have a favorite natural cleaner?

Fleas???!

Okay... I am in need of some help. We have a HUGE flea infestation. I'm talking about a room that isn't used is full of fleas. We walk in there for maybe a minute and come out with at least (usually more) 10 fleas on our legs. I opened the back door to the room and looked at the floor just jumping from them. What can we do? Hoping to find a solution to our problem soon!

Natural Spider Deterrent!

I have a huge fear of spiders! And since my husband and I moved out to the country we were finding at least 2 or 3 (sometimes more) spiders in our bedroom/closet/master bath area. It was starting to get to me. Especially when we started getting bit on our ankles at night. Then when I found a bite on my daughters wrist that really got me!

Who would want something like this crawling around in bed with us at night?! Seriously this is what our spiders look like. ACK! No THANKS! Gotta do something about it!

So my husband did some research on natural spider deterrent. Just a note: This is just a deterrent it doesn't actually kill the spiders.

So you get a spray bottle and in it you put:

5 drops lemon essential oil

3 drops citronella essential oil

2 squirts of dish soap

Water

Shake it up and spray around doors, windows, crakes in the floor, heater vents, and wherever else you feel like you should spray. I sprayed all around our bed and my daughter's bed. 

In order for this to continue to work you have to reapply once a week. Because we've been having such huge spiders I've been spraying once a day. ;-)

Since we've started this we haven't found any spiders in the rooms that we've sprayed! :-) YAY!

Part 4~ Tips on making housework easier

Finding your motivation! :-)

What motivates you? What make you feel energized?

Here are just a few things that help me get motivated:

~The sun
Sometimes just opening the curtains in the morning and seeing the sun shinning makes me happy and ready to do anything!

~Fresh air
Opening windows can let in fresh air that just gives me the urge to clean everything!

~Light
I cannot work in a dark room! No no no! ;-)

~Putting tennis shoes on
I don't know why but Tennis Shoes really get me going!

~Flowers
Sometimes fresh flower in a vase on the table or night stand or window seal just give a fresh, pretty feeling that makes me excited to make everything else pretty!

~Music
Uplifting, bouncy music does the trick! ;-)

~Marking things off on a to do list
This just really excites me! I get to mark things off and realize that I am moving along and getting things accomplished after all! :-)


Got any you wanna share with me?