How to Reuse Swiffer Wet Jet

I was stuck in a bind yesterday.  I was elbow deep in dirt and grime and up to my eyes in dirty laundry.  In the thick of cleaning (and looking quite haggard I might add) I remembered "oh no I'm out of swiffer cleaner!!"  I thought to myself how in the world am I going to mop since I'm sure as heck not getting cleaned up just to go to the store to buy cleaning solution.  Enter what I thought was an original idea of refilling the Swiffer bottle with my own cleaning solution.  I tried as hard as I could to get that darn cap off the bottle.  It wasn't going to budge.  Then I thought "I cannot be the only person to wonder about this" so I Googled it!  Here is a video of how to take the cap off! Who knew it only took like 15 seconds in boiling water!?

It worked perfectly! Then I went in search for a homemade cleaning solution.  I used my own concoction but loosely based on the one posted here.  I had a smaller bottle to mix in which was only 12 oz and put in about 1/8 cup white vinegar and 1/2 tsp baby shampoo fill the rest of the bottle with warm water (not sure if it's important to be warm or not but I think it helped to dissolve the baby shampoo).  It worked like a wonder!  No streaking or anything on the tile floor! Linoleum looked good too.  

Now seriously, I can't believe I bought these before now and didn't know I could do it myself!!  I am going to use up the Costco size box of the pads that I bought back in Virginia but as soon as they are gone I'm going to use the tutorial here on turning a cloth baby diaper (I used them as burp cloths when Hayden was a baby) into a pad.  Seems super easy!  Or on Tipnut they have a whole slew of knitting and crochet patterns (which of course appeal to me! ha) Why spend money on things that you can make yourself! And so simply too! :)  Hope this is helpful to you!

Running my first 5K

My friend Lisa encouraged me to sign up for the San Diego Blood Bank 5K.  Even until I got there I had no real intentions on running it and planned on walking.  Something amazing happened when I got there.  Maybe it was the other motivated people or maybe it was a spark of a little friendly competition.  Whatever it may be, I started it running and ran the first 2 miles non-stop.  Now, let me just mention that I have NEVER enjoyed running-EVER!  I can speed walk with the best of them, but running-eh, I'll pass.  So I really am not sure what happened but I loved it! My first 5k time 31:45 which for not being a runner I'm pretty happy with.  It gives me a great goal to do better next weekend!  After the race there are a ton of restaurants and companies handing out free food and drinks and coupons for restaurants.  It was great!  We sat in the grass and enjoyed our Subway lunch and soaked in the sun.  This is the first time I'd ever felt endorphins like this!  My whole body was alive! I couldn't believe it!  This is why people love running, not because it is fun to do but because of the way you feel after! I get it now!  I signed up for the Spartyka Wounded Warrior 5k.  (I hurried and signed up for another one before I felt how sore I was so I couldn't change my mind! LOL).  This is a picture of me and Lisa before the race :)  BTW-I am SUPER sore today but it was worth it! 

CFA Cow Appreciation Day 2011

 Monkey and I designed cow costumes for today's Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A.  We both got free meals for dressing up! Here is my take on DIY cow costume.  I took an old crappy t-shirt that was in my junk pile and cut out felt spots and hot glued them on.  The felt I had in my stash but it came from the Dollar Tree.  I did the same thing for her Hayden's costume only I used a white tank that we had.  I used Dollar Tree headbands and cut out felt ears and hot glued those on.  For Hayden's I added a crochet flower just for a cute touch :) Enjoy the pics!

(It's hard to take pictures of yourself lol.  Here is the best one I was able to get!)

Her face here cracks me up! It's like "C'mon mom...let's go already!"

Here is Hayden with our free meals :) Such a ham!  I'd love to see your pictures if you have any! :)

This is later tonight after an entire day with no nap...falling asleep during dinner lol.

Parent's Magazine Subscription for $4

As I am part of the Purex Insiders I am able to share an exclusive deal.  Purex is partnering with Parents Magazine to offer a one year subscription for only $4.  That is only 33 cents an issue! 


Go to Purex.com and fill out the form and enter this exclusive code: PX1010 to get your year of Parent's Magazine at the discounted price!  Feel free to pass this code on to all of your friends on Facebook and Twitter that might be interested!  I get the magazine because of the great articles and also they sometimes have amazon diaper discount codes! :)


Thank you Purex Insiders for the discount!

Vacation Pictures-The Bakers

Despite Hayden getting sick and me having some freak allergic reaction we had a great vacation to visit the family in Sacramento.  I've compiled a few of my favorite at my dad's house.  I'll post some of the rest of the family in the upcoming days :)

My dad and Hayden swimming.  The cutest picture EVER :)

Hayden and mommy swimming

Grammy and Hayden having a great time 

Grammy teaching Hayden how to swim

Time with Aunt Jessi

I just love my chunky monkey :)

Visiting Grandma Lois

While we were in Northern California we were able to make it to see my husband's grandma Lois while she was visiting a friend.  Normally we would never get to see her because she lives up in Washington.  So glad I was finally able to meet her!

My handsome Hubby with Grandma Lois

Mimi Penny (my Mother in law), Hayden and Grandma Lois

Me with Hayden's cousin Troy

Hubby with Troy.  He is the cutest little boy!

All of us after our wonderful lunch.

America sign at Lemon Tree Creations

I found this super cute idea over at Lemon Tree Creations.  I would have never thought to use paint swatches to make an adorable sign! SO cute! Check out the post here with more pictures!

I like to think I'm creative but I don't think I would have EVER thought of this! Very creative!

Thred Up Review

I tried out Thred Up for the first time and wanted to share.  Back on Earth Day I signed up for the promotion they had HERE to get one free box and I finally made a decision on which box to get.  I picked one that had mostly 4T/5T clothes and that transition well from summer to fall since Monkey is just now a perfect fit in 4T.  This is everything that was in the box! I only paid $2 to have it shipped to me! I couldn't believe all the goodies we got!!

Here is everything:

Green reversible jacket

Water Sandals

Pink Gap Cover up

7 pairs of shorts (misc brands)

1 Gap skirt

4 pairs of leggings (misc brands)

Close up of the jacket, sandals and cover up

all the shorts and skirt

stack of leggings

I was very happy with my purchase.  Granted, I did use a credit and didn't have to pay full price but even at full price it's only around $15 to have a medium flat rate box shipped to you.  For me, that would have made it around $1 per item.  Each box is different and you should find the best deal for you but a lot of the boxes have 15-20 items!  Here is a brief explanation on how the website works.  If you are a military family you can find out here about what benefits you would get.  Every bit helps!  

This review was just for fun because I enjoyed my experience.  I was not compensated for this review however if you use my referral link and sign up for a new account we will both be given a $5 credit. 

Garage Sale Finds!!

We are on a vacation to visit family this week in Sacramento and this morning I woke up early and went garage sale shopping with my mother in law Arlene.  Can I just say I had a BLAST!!  I haven't really gone in forever.  There were a ton of great finds!  Check out what I got! (please excuse the cell phone pictures!)  And I spent SO LITTLE! I love a great deal! :)  

Jammies for my monkey 25 cents each!! The cupcake set is a 3 piece thermal PJ set. Monkey just recently started to love Tinkerbell so I had to grab that set too! What a steal!

This is super soft yarn that I got for 50 cents!  I'm going to have to think of a super cute hat to make with this! :)  Any ideas?

Monkey is obsessed with Ariel so I got this for 25 cents! It's too big now but will be perfect for next summer!

A little Hurley sweatshirt for Monkey for 25 cents! I can't believe that people are willing to get so little for their stuff!  I got some other clothes too but nothing really worth mentioning since they are all too big (they are for this fall) and mainly just play clothes.

I have been looking for apothecary jars for our bathroom and I found 3 of them! Only 25 cents each!  

This blanket is perfect for our spare room and only $3.  This was the highest price I paid for anything today by the way.  But a nice blanket for only $3 is a great price.

And my most prized item you might ask from todays bargain hunting.  THESE amazing shoes!!  OMG! They are real Coach heels in my size!!  I couldn't even believe it.  But the even more amazing thing about these shoes you might ask?  Can you guess how much I paid for them? 

You'd never guess only $1 would you?  :) I can't believe it either!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Feature Of The Day: Mi Celo Etsy Shop

I stumbled across one of the most adorable Etsy shops called Mi Celo.  She hand embellishes t-shirts and onesies with different popular characters.  Check out some of my favorites and see if you find your own favorite! I'd love to hear which one it is! There are just so many cute ones to choose from!  

DISCOUNT ALERT!! Make the choice a little easier with this code she so generously offered my readers for 10% off!!  Enter MONKEY at checkout for your discount! 

How adorable is this octopus onesie?

Who could resist a ninja or Mr. T?!

Of course I just love the cupcake :)

As if the baby wasn't cute enough then she put him in this yoda-ish shirt!

Optimus Prime anyone? :) 

Feature of the Day: Kid's Table Redo

The Finde is a blog I stumbled upon where she redoes a lot of different pieces and then sells at her shop. Some pretty awesome stuff.  One thing in particular jumped out at me. This Repurposed Ourdoor Kid's Table. Maybe it was the color or maybe it was because I'm pretty sure this is the same table my step dad used to have at his apartment when my mom and him first started dating! HA! How funny is that?  His furniture was so...well...bachelor-esque.  Now I wish my mom wouldn't have ditched this piece! ;)

Before:

After:

Wow pretty amazing what a little paint and some reupholstering can do!   Love how it turned out!  I especially love the choice in color.  Go check out The Finde to see what other furniture she is redoing today and make sure to click "follow" to show her some love :)

Update on Monkey's room & Fun Summer Times

This weekend I got my butt in gear and got Monkey's room painted :)  You can see the post HERE where I redid the whole decor of her room.  Hubby decided Monkey needed more room to play so he moved the rocking chair out of the room and into the spare room and moved the lego table she got for her b-day this year.  The chest scared me having it that close to the window now that she has a friend she talks to out the window next door.  So I moved it into our bedroom to be used like a hope chest.  Do people still use hope chests?? My mom and step mom both have them so I think it's ingrained in me ;) 

After paint:

After: You can actually see the hand painted letters :)

I am very happy with the way it came out! Although I still say I want the rocking chair in her room.  Until there is another baby to speak of Hayden is still my baby :)

Speaking of my doll-baby.  We had a super fun time today.  Daddy was on duty today so we had the house to ourselves all day and night.  We went to the pool and then came home and ate watermelon.  It was AWESOME.  I love spending good quality time with her and those are definitely the perfect summer activities :)  Enjoy the photos from today!

Isn't she so much fun!? :) Love her to pieces!