Monday, April 29, 2013

Lucky Duck!

 
Landon attended a gun safety class for a week. At the end of the week, they had a drawing for a 22 rifel. Guess who won?? (I feel a little sick. They keep saying it will get better as he gets older, but it hasn't happened yet! Not a fan. No I'm not.)

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Best Cup Of Coffee....



After almost six months of cold, bitter, winter,
the sun came out and it was finally warm enough
to sit on the back porch with my morning cup of coffee.
Heavenly.
 


Sunday, April 21, 2013

Wash Your Fruit!

Recently a friend of mine posted a recipe for washing fruit. We all know the horror stories of fruit and veggies being treated with chemicals and such, so I won't go into the ugly details regarding that! Anyway, it said to place your fruit in a pan of cold water, add a cup of white distilled vinegar and stir it up. Yesterday I made a trip to the big store and loaded up on fresh fruit. (After a long winter of sky high fruit prices, yesterday was the first time the prices weren't the same as a buying a new house! Well, you get the drift.) I have to admit that when it comes to washing my fruit, my recipe involves a strainer, cold running water and a good shake. That's it. No vinegar. Well....let me tell ya. Vinegar is my new best fruity friend! (BFF! haha)  Take a look and see.

 
First I loaded up my pan with my fruit,
water and vinegar. Gave it a few
gentle swirls and let it sit a minute.
Swirled again for good measure
 and then I picked out my fruit,
 rinsing it off in the other side of the sink
before drying it with a linen towel.

 
The water was a weird yellow color.
At first I thought maybe the strawberry seeds
that were laying on the bottom
were contributing to that factor.
No. It was not.

 
LOOK!!!
You can see the chemicals/dirt/crud in the water droplets!!
I will ALWAYS be washing my fruit and veggies with vinegar.
I hope you do too.
Life is too short to eat poison.

Kodak Moments

 
Staring out the window all day is hard work!

 
It's making me sooooo sleepy.
Guess I'll take another nap.

Lesson In Nature

One day week, school was two hours late. Usually when school is late, my daycare families arrive late too. So on that day, I only had one family in the early morning. Landon decided to entertain them with a little nature lesson. He and his dad had been out in the woods walking around, and Landon found several deer horns and a skull. (Yes, the scull creeps me out a bit. Ahhh....the joys of having a boy.) He brought them out of his room, along with a turkey caller, duck caller, and pheasant feathers. He patiently showed and explained what everything did, and told them about how the horns fall off and how the skull came to be. (That creeped me out too. And yes, I am aware that it's just a fact of life. Still don't like it.) I was quite proud of Landon's patience and knowledge that morning and just had to take a picture. Love the funny one too!




Saturday, April 13, 2013

Websites

I've recently made some changes in my websites, and I'd like to update everyone.

*I decided to close my Etsy store, as I just don't have the time or energy to keep up with the "funky junk" business. I am still very much into repurposing/creating. I just want to keep it as a hobby I enjoy and not as a business. I very much appreciate all the support I was given during this event in my life. It was one of those "live and learn" experiences. No regrets.

*I still very much have my purse site. I will probably always have that business. I love it too much not too. Here is that link:

http://desireeschicanduniquehandbags.blogspot.com/

My other blog called The Swedish Cowgirl can be found here:

http://theswedishcowgirl.blogspot.com/



I also have a Swedish Cowgirl Facebook page, where you can contact me with questions and requests.

https://www.facebook.com/events/list#!/TheSwedishCowgirl

And of course, there is always email...

tdsiegel@hotmail.com


Have a WONDERFUL day!!!




Tuesday, April 9, 2013

This Is Why...

This is why I support small businesses. Being that I am one, I am all for the little guy. I recently started using essential oils on myself and my family. I was going to do a post on it, but there is so much to tell, I don't even know where to start. I will say, I can't say enough good things about them. Recently I was wondering what I was going to do this summer with the oils and Landon. I was concerned about when he went to the pool and the oils washed off. (They do get into your bloodstream, but it still helps to reapply them.) I know he would not be too keen on pulling out a bottle of oil and rubbing it on his feet in front of the "guys." (The oils help keep him calm and focused. He's like a new kid with the oils!) I happened to come across this web site for terra cotta pendants. You simple put one drop of oil on the pendant and the aroma is almost the same as if you were to apply it to your skin. Since half the boys in Landon's class already wear necklace,s and I found one shaped like a basketball, it was the perfect solution! Now, check this out....

 
Not only did the owner send me a thank you note, hand signed by her...
she sent me candy!!!
Oh, yeah...
I will be ordering from her again.
And...
 
 
 
I would be more than happy to promote her business
by sharing her website with you.
 
I love that she writes,
"Have a wonderful day!"
on her notes.
I write the exact same thing on my Ebay invoices!
Now is that cool or what?
 
 

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

A Few Of My Favorite Things


 
 
One of the 2,677 things I love about Landon.
Oh, those freckles!!
Love them!
 

My Handy Dandy Helpers

 
One one hand, I am thrilled that Landon and Tim
will help out with the dishes once in a while.
(Sometimes I only have to ask them 3 times!)
But on the other hand...
 

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Oh, What A Morning!

Yesterday, I took a personal day off from work. With the exception of major holidays and a vacation, I hardly ever take a day just for myself. But, I was in need of one and gosh darn it all, I closed my day care for the day! I had huge plans to clean out all my cupboards and closets. I know, that's not what normal people would do on a day off, but I am always too beat after work and supper/dishes/homework and there always seemed to be something/somewhere we had to be on the weekends. It was getting deep and it was stressing me out. My junk cupboard was overflowing and I had to do one of those open and shut at the speed of light anytime I needed to get something out of there, or risk having an avalanche of junk fall on me. Well, the day before, Easter Sunday, I wasn't feeling so hot. I even left Easter dinner to go back to bed. I was feeling hot and cold and achy. I just knew the crud was going to get me as it had already hit every single kid in my dc. BUT, here's the amazing part of the story. Recently one of my dc mom's introduced me to Essential Oils. (I will post about that another day as it's a long story) I came home, took two, long, hot, steaming baths and rubbed just about every oil I had on hand all over me. I then took a three hour nap and when I woke up, I was still a little achy, but nothing like I had been three hours before! I am a believer! I was so worried that my day off was going to be a total waste, but thank goodness it wasn't! It took me almost all day yesterday, but I cleaned and purged every cupboard and closet in the house. I had a huge pile for the garbage, a huge pile for the thrift store, and a huge pile to sell at the Shady Hollow Flea Market this Spring. (I'll keep ya posted about that event too!) Man, it is such a good feeling to have that done. It's amazing how just having your house in order can make you feel so motivated and back on top. In my cleaning/organizing fest, I decided to put all of Landon and Tim's meds/vitamins in little pill organizer boxes. You know the ones, that have each day of the week on them. Simplify. That's my motto for the year. Downsize and simplify. Anyway, every Monday, Tim takes Landon's meds for the week to Kathy at the school, but since there wasn't school yesterday, we were off our routine or something and he forgot them. Kathy let me know that she didn't have enough for this morning, so I called Tim. Tim is working out of town and can't get a decent reception, so of course he didn't answer when I called. I then tried Tim's mom. She said she had just woke up and she wasn't dressed yet. That I should try calling Tim's sister, Laurie at work and see if she could do it. I didn't want to do that, because I didn't want to leave Laurie's boss, Julie short handed, so I then tried my dad. He only has a cell phone and doesn't always hear it and of course, when I needed him to hear it the most, he didn't. I then told the kids that we were going for a walk. (It's 40 out, the sun is shining and I have a stroller. they would have survived) I started to bundle them up and the phone rang. It was Tim's mom. She said she would do it, but I had to call the school and tell them to come out to her truck and get them. I did. A little while later, for some reason unknown to me, I decided to check out Landon's pill box. I had a funny feeling and something told me to look. (I can't explain it. It happens all the time. I have been having moments like that all my life. I am hoping one of these days, it tells me what the winning lottery ticket numbers are! ha!) When I looked in the box, I realized that I had given Landon his bedtime pill along with his vitamins! (So much for that idea!)The bedtime pill helps him sleep. It works really good. Almost too good. I had to call the school and tell his teacher what I had done. Not my proudest moment. She said he had his head on his desk. I said I would have someone come and get him. I then called my dad, and lo and behold, he answered the phone! I told him what happened and asked him if he could please pick up Landon. He said,  "Weeeeelllll, it's gonna be a while. I just woke up and I gotta find some clothes and get dressed." Lord have mercy....Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful that they were both there to help me out this morning, and I don't mean to complain. It's just been a helluva morning. I hope their houses never catch on fire. I can just hear them both telling the firemen...
 "Can you come back later? I'm not dressed yet."

P.S.
I love you Dad and Cleone!!