Kick Back and Play Summer Sweepstakes

Kick Back and Play Summer Sweepstakes is LIVE!
 

I don't know about your family but we do a LOT of laundry in our house. A new Washer and Dryer and a possibility of having a year's worth of Purex in our home would really help us out. I feel like I am never quite through with all the wash that we do every week. The washer and Dryer is from LG- it is a front loading machine and values at $2800. The Laundry soap by Purex values at $126.

 

This week part of our field trip was the park. We stopped by there after eating lunch. I think about the kids as they have grown up and how much time we spent at the park when they were younger. They loved being able to play for hours. It hasn't changed much now that they are teenagers either.

 

Little Tikes

Endless Adventures® Playcenter Playground is a wonderful playground that someone could win. It is worth nearly $1300.

A backyard swing set with the features of large playground equipment! The Endless Adventures® Playcenter Playground features swings, a large kids sliding board, sandbox, cargo net and more. This stylish swing set looks good in any backyard and kids will love the endless number of things to do.

I think of all the days I spend on the playground during my lifeskills subbing for work. The children love the playground. It would be a wonderful gift to a school or local family that needed a fun spot for their children.

You can go enter yourself today at their website Little Tikes

 

 

 

11th Grade Awards Night

May 2013- Junior At MWHS and 1st in his Class.. He works very hard to stay there.

Perfect Attendance, All A Honor Roll, Citizenship Award, Outstanding Achievement AP Calculus BC/Dual Credit, Outstanding Achievement ACADEC, Outstanding Achievement Architectural Design, State Qualifier Technical Math. Very proud of how hard he works and how humble he is about it. I wish we had gotten a better picture of this- he was pretty embarrassed.

Mr. Herzog and Jakob- a huge supporter of his. So thankful he has been awesome at helping him select courses to reach his goals.

He may not be popular with the kids at school and he may be considered arrogant or annoying to them but we are his biggest fans and supporters.

Socially High School can be very difficult. Even though he works so hard he continues to get pushed aside when it comes to officer positions in groups. I pray that college will be a better experience for him. Its sad to see him not understood. I am thankful he continues to persevere though.

Graduation Quilts May 2013

This is a son's graduation quilt. He graduates from High School with top honors this month and will attend a local state school. I am hoping he loves his twin size bed quilt.

I used a blue cotton fabric for the border and the same fabric for the binding. The backing is a cotton black scroll print that matches the same print on the front. I love how this quilt turned out. It is nice and comfy yet lightweight.

This is a daughter's graduation quilt. This one made me a little homesick for my dad. I remember going to San Diego as a kid a few times. I did a couple of special things for this one. It included an appliqued tank top onto a red Tshirt back, the tank was thin and very small. Then it included an initial block on the bottom corner. This is a returning customer and she had this same idea put on her daughter's friends quilt last year.

The front is a nice red that is a little darker than the shirts with a scroll print. I used a tiny delicate leaf print in red for the handmade binding and the back is a cotton black scroll print that matches the front. It is also very lightweight and cozy. This one only included 12 shirts which is actually much easier to do for a twin size quilt then the 15.

An Amazing Son

I am so grateful for this child. He is an inspiration to me. He works so hard to be at the top of his class. He studies more than any child I have ever known in my life. He truly wants to be involved in school which is difficult since he has trouble relating to other children and is also seen as arrogant or self centered. If people take the time to get to know him they realize how loving and helpful he is. How he has some great ideas and sometimes some not so great ones. How he can be a good friend.
As his mom I am truly thankful for his I can do it attitude. He always is there to help me in all my volunteering obstacles. Yesterday was one of those. He was the only child home and didn't want me sitting on the stroll waiting for possible 8th graders to come up and purchase shirts. He tagged along. He sat and did Physics Homework due in a little over a week. The best thing he didn't complain about how boring it was, or how we weren't really getting many orders.
This morning he was upset because I got up earlier than he expected and couldn't surprise me with breakfast in bed. He looks at me with admiration for all that I try to do for all three kids and their friends, teachers and community. He is thankful that I push him so hard so that he stays on task at times when he just wants to relax. He starts his senior year next year. I honestly am not really looking forward to that. I know it will be rushed and complicated and there will be so little time together. I am excited though that the stressfulness of High School will be over for him soon and he will then be in college where hopefully he will meet people that understand his personality and he will build some relationships with others and put all this hard work into the beginning of a bright future.

8th Grade Dance

It is hard to believe that 8th grade for these two amazing kiddos is almost over. That they will both be Freshman at the high school next year. I am so truly blessed to have them in my life. The theme this year was Hollywood- notice my daughter is not dressed in a fancy dress. She didn't feel that was necessary. She wanted to be herself. She went in a cute plaid shirt, jeans and cowboy boots. She braided her own hair and had a great time. My son just put on a nice shirt and some black jeans and he was ready to go. I am so thankful they are grounded to this world and not caught up in the Hollywood of today.

8th Grade Tshirt Endeavor

Life's Little Challenges

Sometimes people think I am truly crazy.. I have a story to tell about overcommitting. Every year our Jr. High puts out an 8th grade tshirt for graduation. It has a graphic on the front and all the students names on the back. It is also typically done at the Elementary school for 5th grade and then sometimes for the High School individual classes- but not always with their names on the back. Anyway, this year there was rumor in early April that this was not going to happen. Sometimes things like Tshirts can be a challenge. We found out why. See you have to fill out an "application" of sorts. You submit the information, the vendor, the graphic etc. The vendor for your shirts has to be approved by the district etc. Since I have never actively participated in a Booster Program I didn't realize how difficult this process could truly be. I also didn't realize that it was something we had to do. A week ago I found out there wasn't any organization on campus handling the sell of these shirts. There were enough parents and students that I knew immediately that would want such a shirt so I decided to take it on. How hard could it truly be..well because we needed all this approval from the principal it turned out to be a huge obstacle. It was important to my two students and their friends so I decided to take the sale of the shirts off campus.
My son and daughter both worked together to come up with this cute graphic. I knew someone that could help with the making of this shirts because his company does this kind of thing. Then I started a facebook page for sign ups, and some word of mouth between students. I have gone to a couple of churches, sat in the church parking lot the night of the 8th grade dance, sat at the stroll during their community event..its been a lot of work. I am truly saddened that I could not get the whole entire thing sponsored so that every 8th grader could have a shirt. See I can't reach every 8th grader that might want one because I cannot sell them on campus. I cannot collect their names, collect their money or distribute their shirts at the school, it all has to be handled off campus. I pray that if students still want shirts after the ones that have ordered them receive them that we could maybe place a second order. I also pray that in the future the 8th grade shirts will be put back at the school and an organization will decide it is worth their time. I have had so many people tell me it is not necessary and its a silly idea and a waist of time. I guess to me its all worthwhile just to have one child happy to have the shirt.
Most importantly I am thankful for those that have supported my desire to provide something to all these kiddos and their loved ones after all that is truly what life is all about.

Soft Scrub Giveaway Mold and Mildew Cleaner

Soft Scrub Mold and Mildew Cleaner is a wonderful product that everyone should really try. In April I became contracted  a Staph infection. I could not even begin to use cleaners or be around them. With the steroids and the antibiotics I felt like I was in the middle of morning sickness. The kids failed to pitch in with the shower and it was pretty disgusting. The problem with our bath/shower combo is it is the original tub from 1974! So its nearly 40 years old. I could truly clean this shower 2 times a week just to help keep the mold and mildew situation to a minimum. The tile truly needs to be replaced, its nearly impossible for it to look like you just cleaned it.

My 14 year old son decided to put this new Purex Mold and Mildew Gel Cleaner to the test. We somehow develop an orange color mold pretty consistently. He said the gel seemed to work better than the other Soft Scrub products we have tried. He left it on for one minute and then scrubbed really good with a brush. Since our tub was pretty disgusting it did take two times to get it to the quality of the below picture's condition.

Since we only have one bathroom I am not sure we will be able to remodel until all the kids move out, but one day I hope to. For now this new cleaner will become a mainstay in our home. A week later there is barely any mildew at all and my daughter whose chore is to clean the bathroom is very pleased with that. I have three coupons to giveaway so enter to try it for yourself.
Make sure you enter the Softscrub $1000 Say Goodbye to Mold and Mildew Giveaway

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/3cf4e532/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mother's Day Coupon Giveaway for Mas Detergent from Purex

Happy Mother's Day

This is an unusual coupon giveaway. I have four $1 off coupons for Mas Detergent. This is made by Henkel, the mother company that makes Purex detergent. They sell a version for Darks and Whites. I have FOUR coupons to giveaway for this lovely Mother's Day. First let me explain the picture. My daughter just had her 13th birthday and she is very much into wolves lately. I found a vendor on ETSY and purchased her some wolf shirts. However, I had ordered two white and 3 black, well she got all black. When you have these graphic shirts made they require a tad bit more care. You have to turn them inside out and then with black it is nice to have a detergent that will help them from fading since it is especially made for the clothing color. It was the perfect detergent for her new items.
Mas Detergent is hosting a Mother's Day Sweepstakes. It seems a little misleading because it says Hispanic Mother's so I went through and read the fine print just to make sure- anyone can enter to win. I know my family could use $1000 and I am sure yours could too so go to this link and enter to win- it will be one of the options for the rafflecopter too.

When I was a child I didn't really dream about being a mother. I dreamt of being a mother to lots of other mother's children. I wanted to be in the community helping children and seniors have a better life. To be a role model and an inspiration. My mom volunteered a lot when I was young and she always really tried to be there for people. It has almost been three years without her come June 2013 and not a day goes by that I don't wish I could pick up the phone and call her. She is my inspiration for a lot of what I do in life. I seem to take on huge mountains of opportunity. Recently I ran our town's Depot Day. It was a huge task but I was up for the challenge. So many people criticized my efforts and desires and many said they didn't understand. I seem to be getting that same reaction lately every time I volunteer for anything- from game nights at school to running the 8th grade off campus Tshirts since our school did not have them this year and I had enough students, teachers and parents interested. My life is very different than what I imagined it to be. I have three children of my own- something no one could have told me would come to be and I would have believed it. I take the role of their mother very seriously. I have high expectations and they seem to rise to the challenge most of the time. There are always bumps in that road. I know that when they were younger my life was pretty lonely. The last three years I have learned that the reason that my mom was always helping others was that it is very rewarding. Yes it is a lot of work for me to manage subbing nearly full time, creating beautiful quilts for others when I receive orders, volunteering when the kids ask or their teachers do, then also volunteering in the community through the Historical Society and other areas. I sometimes don't get much sleep. I sometimes am very exhausted. All of that really is less important when you factor in touching the life of a child or another adult. As I reflect on this Mother's Day I have so much to be thankful for. A supporting husband, three loving children and a community that is very supporting. I am also thankful to a mother who was such an inspiration to me through her daily walk with Christ for without that much of this would not seem very worthwhile. I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day.