Awesome and Spring Cleaning

I've been busy, doing spring cleaning. I just washed walls in the hallway and living room. Wow, what a job! The best cleaner I've found is also the cheapest, Awesome degreaser which you can get at the dollar stores. I just spray it on, let it sit a minute or so and then do a little scrubbing. It got off all the dirty finger marks, food, etc. Jayden likes to throw his food sometimes, something we're all trying to teach  him not to but for two year olds, its taking time. He's not allowed to eat much in the living room, mainly drinks but accidents happen. Plus he got  a blue marker and crayons which made a mess on several walls. The Awesome got that off easily. The only thing it didn't get off were black scuff marks from shoes near the baseboards but the Mr. Clean eraser should take care of those.

Its great stuff and works on so many things. I also use it to put on greasy spots on clothes. I just did a google search and found it listed on ebay for big bucks which surprised me as we buy 6 or 7 at a time at the Dollar Tree..which blesses my frugal heart.

Meanwhile, while I was washing inside, Alan was pulling weeds outside. Our lawn is looking so nice now, like a park. 

The potatoes are flourishing, the cherry tomatoes we planted about 3 weeks ago are blooming too!

Just a few more days until my giveaway is over, still time to sign up!!!

Easter Goodies

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When I was a teen, I adored chocolate and ate way too much. Over time, there are only about two things in chocolate, I get a hankering for at times, Snickers and also Rocky Road bars. There is something so good about marshmallow and chocolate together. Seeing these chocolate dipped Peeps really seemed yummy to me. Peeps by themselves, not so much although my youngest son loves them.

Rather than copying out the recipe here, I'll just give you the link. I found this on Pinterest and its from  Tastes Better From Scratch  I know the grandchildren and also the young adults will love these. I might sneak one or two myself!

Nancy Huggins sent me a complete gingerbread house kit some time ago and with everything else, I haven't put it together but think I will for Easter. I'm getting some inspiration again from Pinterest.

                          Don't know if ours will look as nice as these, but it will be fun to try!

More on Light bulbs.

Evidently my post about light bulbs struck a nerve as I got alot of comments. I do hope the LED bulbs we bought will be good ones but like most of you, I think the CFL bulbs are scary. I got this off the EPA website on how to dispose of them if they get broken.

Before Cleanup

• Have people and pets leave the room.
• Air out the room for 5-10 minutes by opening a window or door to the outdoor environment. 
• Shut off the central forced air heating/air-conditioning system, if you have one.
• Collect materials needed to clean up broken bulb:
  • stiff paper or cardboard;
  • sticky tape;
  • damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes (for hard surfaces); and
  • a glass jar with a metal lid or a sealable  plastic bag.

  During Cleanup

• DO NOT VACUUM.  Vacuuming is not recommended unless broken glass remains after all other cleanup steps have been taken.  Vacuuming could spread mercury-containing powder or mercury vapor.
• Be thorough in collecting broken glass and visible powder.  Scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard.  Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder. Place the used tape in the glass jar or plastic bag.  See the detailed cleanup instructions for more information, and for differences in cleaning up hard surfaces versus carpeting or rugs.
• Place cleanup materials in a sealable container.
  

  After Cleanup

• Promptly place all bulb debris and cleanup materials, including vacuum cleaner bags, outdoors in a trash container or protected area until materials can be disposed of.  Avoid leaving any bulb fragments or cleanup materials indoors. 
• Next, check with your local government about disposal requirements in your area, because some localities require fluorescent bulbs (broken or unbroken) be taken to a local recycling center. If there is no such requirement in your area, you can dispose of the materials with your household trash.
• If practical, continue to air out the room where the bulb was broken and leave the heating/air conditioning system shut off for several hours.
  Can you imagine anything more irritating than going through this procedure over a light bulb?
  We're talking light bulbs here!

Last Week to Enter

Hi, just a quick note today,,,You have just one week left and I'll be picking the winner..you still have time to enter so its not too late...only 8 signed up so your chances of winning are good! I will be having another giveaway for April so don't give up if you don't win this time. I'm stitching a very cute panda card for the April giveaway. Please enter on the left hand of this blog! Have a great Sunday!

Lightbulbs and Thomas Edison

The last year or so we've both noticed that our incandescent light bulbs burn out at an alarming rate. We have a hallway with two ceiling lights and they burn out about every two months or so. The lamps in our living room burn out at even an faster rate. This last week all of the lights, including our porch light burned out at the same time! I found a small 40 watt bulb in a bedroom lamp which I used so we could see in the living room but it was time to go to the big box store for a light bulb run. I suspect a plan to nudge us all into the more "environmentally" correct bulbs, don't you?

The store has an entire section just for light bulbs. There are incandescent, LED, CFL and more which can be very confusing to say the least. The clerk was somewhat helpful but it took us quite a while to figure out what we needed. We ended up getting LED which are supposed to be 85% more energy saving and last 25x longer than regular bulbs. I'm very skeptical but we're giving them a chance. We kept all the packaging and wrote on each container the date when we bought them. Time will tell.

I think Edison would be thrilled with the innovation of his invention. Having read quite a bit about him, he was always pushing the envelope and improving his creations. He was an amazing person and some of his quotes are worth repeating.

"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves."

" I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."

" Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to doesn’t mean it’s useless." (so true!)

"What you are will show in what you do."

Spring and Emma's birthday!

Spring has sprung here. Its been in the high 70s all week and everything is blooming outside. Our nectarine tree and the strawberry beds. I hope we can have a home grown  strawberry pie this year but have my doubts as both the dogs jump into the beds and eat them. We've put up barriers so hope they work!
Yesterday we put in marigolds throughout the planted beds. The potato bed is really growing so we hope the flowers will keep the potato worms away. Nasty things.
This week we celebrated Emma's first birthday. It was celebrated at Chucky Cheese.. There were about 30 of the family there, mostly from her mamas side.

 

The restaurant was very noisy but Emma took it all in style. Here she is with the bib that Nancy Huggins sent her. She ate pizza and a birthday cupcake. She really loves cheese pizza!

Potatoes and More

As we had hoped, the rain really kick started the potato plants...

Everything's coming up spuds!

These are red potatoes which are one of our favorites. 

The onions are getting larger too and I'm looking forward to onion rings one of these days.

Yesterday was Emma Grace's 1st birthday!
 

She smiles constantly but can Grandma get a photo of her beautiful smiling face? Of course not.
Please pray her sweet Mama as she's in the hospital. Yesterday Samantha started feeling poorly and my son took her to emergency. Turned out she had appendicitis and went into surgery last night. He was with her all night and then had to go to work this morning. She's better today but it will take a few days to recover.

We went to the county hospital pharmacy and got Alan's meds today and had lunch in the hospital cafeteria. It was yummy, Reuben sandwiches. We ate them outside and enjoyed the view of snow capped mountains.
I tried to get a photo in the parking lot....

 

I believe these are the Big Bear mountains. As our weather has warmed up into the 80s today, the snow won't last long!

March Giveaway and Encouragement

I'm having a little giveaway for March and to celebrate the opening of my Sweet Home Stitchery Etsy shop. Please sign up and you could win this cute little note card. This is one of my favorite patterns. Just click on the giveaway link on the left side of this blog.

The rain is drifting away from us now and everything is very soggy.  No rain in the immediate future so we can dry out a bit. The rain wasn't that scary but the wind was and several trees were blown down as well as some peoples outdoor coverings. We get blustering winds normally of course, and once we had a patio umbrella blow into a neighbors yard and get shredded several years ago.

Our friend, Dave Sherman shared this on Facebook.

Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are to be exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. It does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside Christ. The early Christians were able to experience joy in their hearts in the midst of trials, troubles, and depression. They counted suffering for Christ not as a burden or misfortune, but as a great honor, as evidence that Christ counted them worthy to witness to Him through suffering. They never forgot what Christ Himself had gone through for their salvation; and to suffer for His name’s sake was regarded as a gift rather than a cross. Christians can rejoice in tribulation because they have eternity’s values in view. When the pressures are on, they look beyond their present predicaments to the glories of heaven. The thought of the future life with its prerogatives and joys helps to make the trials of the present seem light and transient.

Daily Prayer

Father, help me to go beyond the afflictions and tribulations of our age, and to look toward the inheritance reserved for us in heaven.