Purex Fresh BlueBonnet Detergent Coupon Giveaway

Being a resident in Texas means that spring time is Bluebonnet season. Purex has joined the excitement with this new detergent. I love the scent of this bottle of Purex Fresh Bluebonnet Detergent. It truly reminded me of laundry as a child that was brought in after being hung all day on my grandmother's clothes line outside. It has a fresh scent and is not overpowering scent wise. This is truly important to my family.

We have some laundry obstacles in our house, one is the large amounts of rain we get here in Texas, that means a crazy amount of wash due to dogs and the mud created outside from all this wet weather. It also means I tend to wash a large amount of bedding as well. There is nothing worse than the smell of wet dog.

Of course my daughter may beg to differ as this boys gym clothes are pretty ripe. I am pleased to say that I ran both a load of towels and his gym clothes and you would never know how bad they smelled before. They came out clean, smelling fresh and it really met our needs.
Now about this giveaway. Currently Purex Fresh Bluebonnet detergent can be purchased here in Texas at HEB locations through participating stores. I have a couple of coupons to giveaway for those who would like to enter. The entries are simple and the contest lasts a week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All opinions are my own and I was provided a coupon to purchase my own bottle of detergent to provide this review. This is in no way related to Blogger, facebook or any other social media.

The winner will be contacted by email and mailed a coupon for purchasing of the new Fresh Bluebonnet Detergent.

Regional Track Meet

For the first time he got to come home prior to a track meet. We learned a lesson- he should have eaten something. The curved back roads gave him a motion sickness headache that then turned into a migraine as the evening started.

Thankfully I messaged prior to arriving and we purchased a kids meal with rootbeer to help him out. He just ate one piece of chicken and had some of the rootbeer and some motrin. There was enough time before he ran that it all set in and he was feeling a little better.

There were quite a few boys running the 4 by 400m race for this Regional Meet. There was really tough competition. I could see how nervous he was as well as his teammates.

I waited all night to see this yawn, it always shows me his head is in the meet and he is ready to go.

I know he was nervous about going down. The previous couple of meets prior to this one he had trouble. He probably could have pushed a little harder, but he just didn't know.

While they didn't win a spot for State and came in last for their heat I was just so proud to see him running. I am excited to see how the summer goes, hoping he can run most days and just really become stronger and be ready for the 2016-2017 Senior Year Cross Country and  Track Seasons.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Poppies Quilts

This order started with an idea to make 6 quilts, it then grew to 8 and by the time I was finished I was able to create 11 of them. They are a little smaller with only 20 pieces and are roughly 45 by 50 finished.

I tried to put a pocket or two from shirts in each quilt.

Each Quilt had a label on the back that either read Poppie or Dad

They contained a few pairs of pants as well as shirts

She chose all the same fabrics front, back and binding.

There was one shirt that was highly important, it was a work shirt. I made sure each quilt had at least one piece of this polo.

Its never easy to loose a loved one.

There are days we truly just want them with us. There are so many events that continue in our lives and they are no longer a part of those. These quilts allow healing to begin.

Often you can see a shirt and remember a vacation, sunday church service or special event.

It gives us something to hold onto until it is time to meet again one day.

Parents and Children are difficult looses for sure. I love how the labels looked similar to handkerchiefs.

What is nice about these quilts is they are so universal. Even though they contain the same clothing they truly are unique one from another.

I am thankful the Lord brings customers to my doorstep, allows me to be part of this journey of healing, joy and love in their lives.

It was an honor to create 11 quilts and celebrate the life of Poppie/Dad.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Creative Lighting

We had a huge storm come in and lost power for more than half of a day. That posed a problem for our new chicks. They needed light to keep them warm. My husband was super creative. He took out a propane camp light and hooked it up. They seemed to understand to just huddle around it to stay warm. Once the day warmed up outside I was able to take it out and they were fine and the power returned that evening so they could use their normal heating lamp.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Lucky and MeKenzei

MeKenzei can't wait for summer. She loves coming home from school and riding Izzy's horse Lucky. She feeds him every morning and most evenings. She has really enjoyed having him.

Sometimes its a conflict as she will have a lot to do, but it sure is healing for her spirit to ride. He doesn't seem to mind too much either.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Window Units and Bedroom Arrangements

Installing a New Window Unit was necessary in the Loft area. Both the boys will share this space that is about 5 foot tall in the center of the room, going down to 2.5 foot or so at the edges. Having two boys in this space meant they needed a stronger unit to keep it cool for the summer months.

Of course it would be easy to pull the old unit out and put a new one in right? If only..
This unit was just a bit wider and quite a bit taller, that meant cutting out more wall space and re-framing it some.

My husband had a hard time getting it in but once it was in, the rest was easy.

Great stuff is awesome. It really helps keep it secure and we didn't have to screw the unit into the surrounding wood.

A nail gun is awesome. This is a new investment for us and really has helped with projects like this one. Reattaching the exterior wood was pretty easy.

Then he just needed to cut new pieces of wood for the border around the outside and the inside. We can't seem to find the matching paint but that will have to be on our agenda soon. We learned outside wood does much better once painted or treated.

The inside wall looks great. We need to actually run electrical to the room. Right now it runs off an electrical cord. Hopefully this is something we can tackle over the summer.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Martha Home the Mary Way Day 3

I am very behind in posting on the cleaning challenge. We had tackled the cabinets the other day. This is one of the lower sections. It was a disaster. This seems to be the place anyone putting dishes puts things in a hurry, instead of doing it correctly. This is the before photo. 

We removed everything, tossed some things into a box that we could part ways with and reorganized. There are probably a couple things that could be moved from this space, but we won't know until we tackle the couple spots that hold pantry items. 

This is the before of my other upper cabinets. I had posted the reorganization of the spice cabinet the other day. We had worked on the other side and it is also so much better. It seems food items that are left on the counter get put here when I ask someone to clean the kitchen.

It was amazing how much space we truly had when everything went to the right place. In fact I had purchased two pans sets for my husband to help with canning and they both fit along with some other appliances that are used pretty often. It will be nice for him, and maybe just maybe he will put them away instead of leaving them out.

This is my donation box for my kitchen. Stuff that truly doesn't get used. Its really nice to down size.

If you want to catch up on the challenges if you didn't print your page from Sarah Mae'sBlog then here you go.

Day 1: Put a Load of laundry in the wash. Kitchen: Do the dishes, scrub pans, clean out sink. Gather papers from counters and set aside. Wipe counters.

Day 2 Kitchen: clean out and wash down interior and exterior of the fridge, Clean out interior and exterior of microwave.

Day 3: Kitchen Wipe down cabinets, Scrub the Kitchen Floor

Day 4: Kitchen: Clean out your Pantry.  Pull everything out, throw away what is old, wipe pantry down, organize and put food back.

Day 5: Bathrooms: Clear Counters and Remove trash can, clean toilet, sink, mirror. Wash out tub, sweep and scrub floor.

Day 6: Bathroom Closet/ Cupboards: Pull everything out and sort into trash, keep and donate. Take donate box immediately to your car. Put Keep items back.#MarthaHomeMaryWay

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

New Crops and Produce

I am so excited, beyond excited. The cilantro we are growing is amazing, its been great to have on hand for soups, pico de galo, etc. Now we have our first crop of broccoli. I really wish our oldest was here, it is truly his favorite. He is home on Mother's Day from college for the summer, hopefully we will still have some broccoli producing at that time so we can have some.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Memorial Quilts for Poppie aka Dad

I cut all the clothing very carefully for this order. At first we talked about 6 quilts. She mentioned if I had enough maybe we could do 7, upon cutting and stabilizing I knew we could do at least 8. I wrote to let her know. Once it was stacked into piles per quilt I realized I could make 11 quilts. How amazing. She will be able to provide quilts for some grandchildren, not just the wife and siblings. I am grateful for guidance as I make these quilts. Sometimes what seems impossible truly becomes a blessed memory in a extra quilt or two, in this case four.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts

Jakobs Induction into Alpha Chi

Jakob's Induction into Alpha Chi

This young man has already accomplished more in his life than I have. He has taken college full force and is doing amazing there. He has all A's, he works 10 hours a week and takes a full load of Junior Level courses as a sophomore.

Last year we got to see him inducted into Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi, as well as the National Society of Collegiate Scholars as a Freshman with in year status finishing with Junior Hours. 

I know it was discouraging that so much was going on campus this same weekend so they did not have the Honor Societies walk the stage due to time restraints. Its tough, the students like him work so incredibly hard. This recognition truly is a wonderful moment. I am thankful regardless that we drove up and were able to be part of it.

It was a little scary since we were away from our other two children with all the storms that are going on, the flooding etc. We did not know if we would make it back from Dallas to Houston that night. While on the road the rain had stopped, traffic was light and we were blessed to make it back without getting stuck anywhere. It is still hard to believe how much rain came in such a short time. It meant two days of school would be missed as well as Paul missing work. 

This is one of my favorites. It was a display of lives lost due to abortion every day in the US alone. It really shows you how many lives are missed for various reasons, I can't even begin to imagine how many lives this would be if it were a whole year.

google.com/+JennWellsandSunshineOfAutumnQuilts