Screen Doors and Fresh Wave

I bet you wonder where I'm going with a blog title like that, don't you?  Well, I really just want to share a couple of new products we've tried recently and actually really like.  (And no, I have no affiliation with any company - this is just my own personal opinion!)

First up is the Magic Mesh Instant Screen Door from Bed Bath and Beyond.

I had seen this in a recent flyer from BBB and thought it might work for us and then, much to my surprise, my mom picked one up and gave it to us.  Our main entrance is our Sliding Glass door in the kitchen.  Nope, not ideal but replacing it with a nice set of french doors is pretty far down on the list right now.  Our regular screen takes a beating throughout the year and now that the kids run in and out, that screen tends to get left open all day long.  Sure the dog loves it, but so does the outdoor cat (who, by the way, got in before we left on vacation and we didn't know it  . . until we got back!  It wasn't a big deal but boy was she glad to get back outside HA!).  When my husband looked at this, he was pretty skeptical that it would work and I was a little concerned that it would be a pain.  We figured we would try it and if it didn't work to keep it up, we could take it down and I could put it up on warm days when the slider was going to be open all day.

Boy we were wrong.  The screen is perfect.  Now, as with all things, we learned things after we put it up that would have made it a little neater but it still works fine.  The magnets REALLY pull it back together.  Even on a windy day, when the wind caught it a little while it was open, you could actually see the magnetics trying so hard to pull together HA  The kids quickly figured out that they can walk right through it and yes, you can really go through it with full hands.  The dog has NOT figured it out yet but has accidentally gone through it a few times.  The only time it is a pain is when the slider is closed and you have to go through both the slider and the screen to get out - but it is really similar to have a door and a screen door to go through I guess. 

When my husband put the sticky tabs on it to hang it, he did not realize they were actually Velcro so the Velcro didn't go on the same direction which is why we have a slight problem at the top - the pieces don't stick.  I really just need to pick up some more Velcro and we can fix that easily.  Also, we had to hang it, obviously, on the outside because there was no where to attach the second side if we hung it inside the door.  Even hanging  it outside, we had to attach one side to the glass door that doesn't open/close since the screen is bigger than our door opening but I don't think anyone would notice just walking in and out the door.  We both think it looks nice too and because it is darker/thicker, it also helps shield the sun a little from the kitchen too.


The next item is also from Bed, Bath and Beyond and is called Fresh Wave.  It is an Odor Neutralizing Product.

A little history.  When my husband was traveling over the road down to Chicago a few times a week he listened to a Chicago Radio Station every day and they would have a pet specialist come on the air periodically.  This Fresh Wave product is what they recommended to help neutralize any pet smell in your house.  When Darryl told me about it, I tried to find it but couldn't.  Well, last weekend while out and about, I got to spend a little time in BBB (my favorite store right now, by the way!).  I went into the bathroom and thought "Wow, it smells nice in here" and then I noticed a canister of the Fresh Wave Crystals sitting on the counter.  Needless to say I picked some up!  There was a combo pack with a 14 oz jar and then a small "sample" jar for $14.99.  We have a few stinky areas in our home (HA) one is the kitchen/stairwell/basement.  Because the stairs come right up to the basement - all musty, pet related smells (the little box sits near the bottom of the stairs) greet you as you walk in the door.  I placed the 14 oz canister on one of my new shelves in the kitchen and it actually blends in with the wall :-)  It really works - it smells good and keeps odors at bay.  Now for the true test.  I took the small one and put it in Nate's room.  No he doesn't stink but his diaper trash pail gets more use than any other one because all three boys end up getting changed in there at some point during the day (My two and the munchkin I babysit).  I can change the trash daily but throughout the day, wow, some days it's enough to knock you out.  On Thursday evening of last week I finally put it in there (there were some nasty diapers that day - so I doubted it would work).  I opened his door to get him up on Friday and it smelled clean and fresh in his room despite the trash (yes, I left it in there on purpose).  What a difference!!   Even if your home isn't "stinky" this product is just so fresh smelling.  I did not get one for the bathroom but I am going to - it's too good NOT to have one in there!!


There is one last product I picked up at Bed, Bath, and Beyond last weekend and that is a two pack of the Damp Rid tubs. 

The photo just shows the refills but I purchased the starter "kit" with the buckets - two for $5.99.  My sister-in-law uses these in her house and told me they actually worked so I picked them up for my bathroom and basement.  I've noticed a difference in the moisture level in both areas.  The one in the basement is placed in a little area right off the laundry room and within 24 hours I noticed that the floor in that area didn't look as damp and this morning I noticed it is dry looking.  I placed the 2nd one in the bathroom and have noticed instead of staying damp all day, it dries out pretty quickly after showers.  I plan on picking up the refill pack (4 refills for $6.99) soon so I have them when the others are gone.  Sometimes it is just a little thing that helps out :-)

I did pick up a few other things on my outing like a new paper towel holder that hangs in the kitchen (one less thing on the counter!), a banana holder (wait, a NEW thing on the counter HA!) because we ALWAYS have banana's sitting on the counter in our house, and a bottle to hold olive oil.  I used to have one but the cork eventually fell apart and I just never replaced it - my husband has been asking me too for . .years :-)

Have you tried any new products that are worth sharing? 

Goals For May

I'm trying to get back into setting some goals each month and yes, it is almost the end of May, but I still wanted to focus on some things this month.  With a wedding and vacation at the beginning of the month, my whole focus was getting things ready for that - now I'm focusing on some other things!

One thing I struggle with daily is having tasks to do that are not computer based.  I know that sounds dumb but with menus, grocery lists, planning activities, making lists . . . it is easy to spend hours in front of the computer.  I hate that feeling. 

You may recall that my theme word for this year is Celebrate.  At first, as I was writing this, I was thinking that I had kinda lost focused but really, I haven't.  I'm up to date on birthday cards; I planned a great vacation - the first one in 2 years; I put together busy bags; I have our summer plans almost set; we have a camping trip scheduled.  That isn't failure - that is Celebration at its best :-)  I do feel like when I set up my original Celebrate plan that I put myself in a box with certain areas.  Instead, I want to focus on things that need to get done and then explain how they show that "Celebrate" theme. 

My goals/plans for May are:

1.  Plan our 1st (maybe annual) family Cook Out Memorial Day Weekend - the date is set.  Now I need to think about food and some fun activities.  I'd like to set up some sort of fun photo area and get everyone doing some fun things.  This Celebrates family.

2. Declutter my basement.  Again.  - Oh my basement is my nemesis.  I cannot seem to come up with an organized way to keep up with it.  I've decided to do a couple of things.  One, I'm tired of having so much stuff stored - for so long I had this mindset that I need to keep things in case I use them in another house.  My mindset has changed - I've realized that my tastes are changing and, in reality, the stuff that is packed away is not stuff that fits my style which is why it is packed.  I plan on going through every tote again and cleaning out stuff that has been packed away with that mindset.  I then need to arrange the basement in such a way that it can "breath" so we don't have the same moisture problem we had last year.  I am then going set up bins for specific occasions/holidays so that when, for example, we get a bunch of plastic eggs from Easter Egg Hunts, they will have a home instantly.  Finally, I want to set up an area for putting things away.  This will include a good will bin - when the bin is full, it goes out.  Everything else should have a bin with room in it so that things can just go "home".  This Celebrates home.

3. Finalize our summer plan - I have everything written down and now need to refine it just slightly and then make a "purchase" or need list.  I'd like to have everything for June on hand and ready by June 1st.  I'm super excited about this plan and think it will be lots of fun and start to prepare us all of preschool this fall.  Part of this plan is making a place for easy storage/organization in the basement.  Some things will be used up and some things will be reused so organization is key!  This Celebrates My Kids

4. Next up is me.  I have two habits I'm trying to work on.  1) Daily quiet time.  I've talked about this before - I struggle with finding time for this but I actually like having my daily devotions in front of my kids; it sets a great example.  The latest Good Morning Girls study started on May 14th and is on the Proverbs 31 woman - something I've wanted to study for awhile.  2) Exercise and eating habits.  I'm really working on making changes - that's all I'm saying for now.  Well, I'll also say I'm working on ideas that fit into my life now.  This celebrates ME!

5.  Finally - misc things.  I have a whole list of misc things to accomplish this month:  Working on my veggie garden, canning plans and also sharing some canning info with my brother Jeff; I have some trips to work on - camping plans, our anniversary get-away, a week for my kids to go to my parents; I'm a little behind on scrapbooking so I need to order March and April photos and work on those this month.  I also need to look at my outstanding scrapbooking projects and figure out what needs to get done next; I have books to sell for my nephew and I REALLY need to get them listed THIS month. 

Notice I've dropped my Pinterest goals for this month?  I need to regroup on those and my Too Cute Ideas - I still love them both but I was getting overwhelmed with projects.  Also, I've had to not worry about my "Mantel" right now.  I was in the middle of Easter, A Wedding Shower and then all of the vacation stuff. . .something had to give.  For the summer, I really just want to pick up fresh flowers each week and keep a vase full on my table :-)

Sometime at the beginning of June I'll let you know how I did and also list my plans for the following month :-)

This and That and our Menu for the week of May 20th

Welcome to another weekly installment of . . our menu :-)  I also use this post to catch up on our week too so it is now our "Catch up" post too !  After a busy 8 days of vacation, this week was pretty quiet.  I ended up with nothing this week - no choir practice and a scrapbooking crop I was going to attend got cancelled.  Darryl had practice but that was it :-)  The weather was beautiful so we spent a lot of time outside and I'm almost getting an "itch" to do some yard work.  Each summer I try to do one outdoor project - last year I planted a garden for the first time and the year before I put in a border around one area of our back yard.  I really do not like working in the yard so one project is about all I get done :-)  This year, besides putting in a small garden, I want to lay down a border in another area of our backyard and also move my black eyed susans, which are getting smothered by kids, dogs, day-lillies and rain to another area of the yard.  Wait.  That's three projects HA  Well, I also need to get some plants to put in along the garage and I'd like to plant some things in the area I'm going to lay the border.  We'll see how much gets done - my kids play outside almost every day unless it gets too hot so even if I take 15 minutes a day I think I can get a lot done.  (Unless we have a summer like last year where it is 90+ with humidity every day. .. .then nothing will get done!!).  With Memorial Day just around the corner, I need to get busy on the garden first :-) 

Enough of that - lets talk food :-)  Last week I do something I don't always do - I stuck pretty closely to our menu plan!  I must have picked stuff that we really liked ;-) 

Here's this weeks plan

Saturday: I had originally planned pizza for tonight but on Friday I mowed the lawn and was just too beat to cook despite having a pork loin in the crock pot so we ordered pizza.  So, we are going to have pulled port BBQ sandwiches tonight along with french fries.  .

Sunday: Cook out!  BBQ chicken on the grill, corn on the cob, Cherry Fluff Stuff salad, and biscuits

Monday: Man Pleasing Chicken (This is a new recipe!), Mac and Cheese and Roasted Cabbage Wedges.

Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner - Amish Breakfast Casserole, Lemon-Poppyseed Bread, fruit salad

Wednesday: Tortellini Soup with homemade bread.  Yes, I know it is pretty much summer but I noticed that tortellini was on sale and it made me crave this soup!!

Thursday: Darryl and I really love shrimp/fish tacos but I really haven't found great recipes - I have a new recipe to try for Shrimp Tacos . .. we'll see how it goes!,  homemade garlic bread and roasted green beans.  Nothing else to say except YUM!!

Friday: This is my husband's last day of work after working 12 days in a row so I think the kids will have hot dogs and we'll order out :-)

I also have a new cookie recipe to try as well as a new banana bread recipe to try . .. what?  I need some recipes to post ! 

Vacation Day 5 . .and then some . . The zoo, unpacking, Playworld and Mother's Day!

This post will wrap up our last day in Toledo as well as the rest of the weekend!  Feel free to catch up on Days One, Two, Three and Four before reading this post!

Day 5 was our last full day of away from home vacation and we planned a full day of fun!  We learned on Wednesday to not take the kids to the continental breakfast . .. there are way too many choices and too many distractions for them.  Instead, we gave them their favorite - PopTarts and Chocolate Milk while Darryl and I took turns getting breakfast from downstairs (don't worry, we brought them up some yummy cereal and donuts!)  This made life much easier and gave us time to actually eat :-)  Once we were done with breakfast, we packed, loaded up and headed off to the Toledo Zoo for the day.  Now, we are zoo people - we love to go see the animals and all the fun stuff and we had heard great things about this zoo.  It was the perfect day for walking around the zoo, and walk we did HA!

Now, I'm going to keep it real.  The Toledo Zoo is not on our list of favorite zoos.  There really are not that many animals compared to many other, even small, zoos.  Add to that the Lions, Hippos, Rino's, Wolves, and Elephants were not on display due to renovations; they have no big bears, zebras, camels and so forth and it really is not worth the price that is charged.  I did something I rarely do - I contacted the zoo after the fact through Facebook and stated what I thought - I was not surprised to see many people agree with me.  Don't get me wrong - we had FUN!  The boys loved the zoo and had no idea what wasn't there - they had a Sloth Bear lick the glass in front of their noses; a gorilla the size of king kong walk by in front of them and fell in love with the Aquarium and the fish!!!  I kept hearing these cute words, "Mom, I want to see more aminals" (yes, that spelling error is on purpose!) We did walk the whole zoo and came to the children's area at the end - there were the cute masks that you see in the pictures that the boys loved and then a little play area that was just great.  The boys loved the slides!!!  It was really, truly a great day!

Once we left the zoo, we had one last stop and I did not get any photos!!  Boyds Retro Candy Store is fantastic.  It's a little store on a street corner just off of I-75 packed full of just about every kind of candy you can think of.  The boys had so much fun!  From the moment we walked in, it was a treat.  They boys were each given their own basket and we let them pick out what ever they wanted.  They also have a cooler filled with all kinds of Soda's - all in glass bottles :-)  Afterwards I wished I had taken my camera to capture the boys picking out candy - it was just so cute!!!  You can also order online so if you are looking for a specific candy for a party - check out their site!

One we got our fill of candy, we headed on our way with one final stop to make.  IKEA.  Yes, you read that right :-)  There is an IKEA store that I have never had a chance to go to; since it was on our way home we stopped.  We went right to the children's area because I was looking for ideas for the boys rooms - in the showroom there are areas set up to look like kids room and the boys found toys and fell in love.  At one point, Josh laid down on a bed and told me that he needed to sleep there - he wasn't going home HA!  Next time, I want to go back without kids so that my husband and I can really look at some things and make some plans.  They have some great stuff and we even have some Christmas gifts picked out for the kids.  Do you know what else we did?  We ate dinner there.  Let me say . . it is good and it is cheap!! 

Once we had finished up, we headed home.  All we did when we got home was put the kids to bed, unload, and crash HA!  It always feels good to come home doesn't it? 

The last few days of our vacation - or staycation - were pretty simple.  On Friday morning, we went and got our dog.  She smelled pretty since we had her groomed (the kids were SOOO disappointed when we got home on Thursday and China wasn't home!!).  Then Darryl worked in the yard and I unpacked, did laundry, and went grocery shopping!!!  Saturday was a nice family day - we took the boys to Playworld and they had a blast.  Again, I chose not to take my camera - I wanted to be able to just have fun without a camera around my neck :-)  We were there for over 2 hours and the boys could have played longer.  For fun, we got Chinese to go and ate at home - it was sooooo good!!!

To end the week with Mother's Day was perfect!  Darryl "let" me sleep in as long as I wanted because he knows I love to just lay in bed.  Shoot, I didn't even turn on the TV - I just went in and out of sleep :-)  Once I got up, he fixed a great breakfast and totally took care of the kids too.  I even snuck outside and sat in the sun, reading, for over an hour . . it was so quiet out there HA!  Later in the afternoon we took the kids for ice cream and then Darryl took care of making dinner and he completely cleaned up the kitchen.  It was the perfect day off!

So, did we have fun on vacation with two toddlers?  The answer is YES!!!  I have already had people make comments to me about how crazy we must be but our kids were perfect.  It was overall an easy trip to take with them and they are already asking when we can go back to a hotel again.  Oh, and every night, Nate crawls into Josh's bed while we say bedtime prayers and then tells us he wants to sleep there.  Maybe putting them into one room isn't such a bad idea . . .HA!

Vacation Day 4 - Boats, Imagination, and some great food

Just stopping in today?  Check on Day1, Day 2, and Day 3 of our vacation first!

The boys woke up at about 8:00 - we expected them to sleep later but I think sleeping in the same bed kinda kept that from happening.  We took the boys down to Breakfast . . .that was an experience to say the least.  They did enjoy the cereal . . . and donuts :-) 

The first thing we headed out to do was  the Canal Experience.  I had read about it online and one of the main reasons we wanted to go is because it has an original working lock that they take you through on the boat that is drawn by mules, just like it was way back when.  When we arrived, we almost didn't get on the boat.  Come to find out, this is prime school field trip time so the boat was technically full based on coast guard capacity but the nice lady selling tickets let us go anyway . . .she didn't count the kids putting the boat at just one over capacity.  We were worried that it would be crowded but, because it was all little kids, there were tons of empty seats so it was no big deal. 

Notice the difference in the two faces above??  For whatever reason, Nate did NOT want to go on the boat.  He stood there saying over and over again "No boat mama no boat".  Josh, on the other hand, LOVED it!  Darryl was actually getting up to get off the boat with Nate as they shut the door; thankfully he stopped crying and just buried his head into Darryl's shoulder.  As soon as we got off the boat, he was his happy self.  I have no idea why he hated it but he did. 

Once we left the metropark, we headed back into the city for lunch.  We decided to have lunch at Tony Packo's, a "famous" Hungarian Hot Dog and Chili place.  If you are a M*A*S*H fan, you may even remember Tony Packo's being talked about by Klinger.  The food was fabulous.  Darryl got the Chili Mac and I got their famous Paprika Chicken. Oh wow.  It was fantastic food.  Instead of pasta, they put the chili and chicken on top of homemade little dumplings.  We also got a hot dog but neither one of us were fans - they were the tough skin type of dogs and that really isn't the kind we love :-)  The kids inhaled their hot dogs and fries though :-)  We will go back to this place to eat when we go back to Toledo :-)  We were too hungry to take photos :-)

After lunch we went to The Imagination Station - a great Children's Hands on Museum. Now, there is a little story behind this.  Back when I taught school, we took our students to COSI - a huge hands on science institute in Toledo.  When we started planning out trip we planned it around COSI . . ..about a week before we left, I discovered that COSI closed in 2007!  Talk about frustration.  It took me a few more days to actually figure out that The Imagination Station had moved in and had taken over COSI.  I'm so glad that we went.  There was a whole toddler area where our boys played for over 2 hours - they loved it.  We never even saw any other part of the museum.

 Once we could drag the kids away from the museum ;-), we headed to dinner.  This dinner was our "fancy" dinner - some place really nice more for Darryl and I.  The downside is that we were still pretty full from lunch!.  One of the unique things about about some of the Ohio State Parks is that they have added really nice resorts with great restaurants.  We went to Maumee Bay State Park  and ate dinner at the Water's Edge Restaurant.  Wow, such great food.  Darryl and I both got Perch Sandwiches.  Talk about good!  After dinner, we drove around the park to see the beach and the trails - talk about a nice place.  Darryl and I want to go back and stay one of these days.  Again, no photos - we were tired . . and just enjoying some family time.

By the time we got back to the room, it was late so the boys went "right" to bed.  We thought we had the bed pretty well set up but Nate fell off the foot of the bed in the middle of the night.  He cried for a few minutes while Darryl held him but then just wanted to get back in bed and go to sleep. 

This was a fantastic day :-)  The food was great and the playtime was even better!

Day 5 + the weekend will post tomorrow - there won't be a recipe post this week since I  haven't cooked many new recipes lately :-)  I'll get back to that post next week!

Vacation Day 3 - Some Driving, Some Animals, Spaghetti, Swimming and Pop Corn :-)

If you are just joining this vacation series, check out Day 1 and Day 2 before reading this post :-)

We got up Tuesday Morning and had to pack up to head out for the rest of our vacation.  We had originally planned to meet my brother Kel and his family in a little town called Yellow Springs but that didn't end up working out for various reasons.  Instead, we packed up and headed out in the area of Yellow Springs to a place called Youngs Dairy. 

 The farm had a lot of goats and a few young cows in the petting area.  The boys loved them but did not really want to touch them :-)  We were a little early in the season so some of the play areas were not open yet which was fine.

After playing with the signs and enjoying the animals, we went into the restaurant and got lunch.  Darryl and I both got fried  Cheese Curds with our sandwiches - they were fantastic.  While the kids finished their lunches, we also got some ice  cream - homemade right there - and it was so very yummy!!! 

Once we finished lunch, we headed on our way to Toledo.  We took some back rounds part of the way and really enjoyed it, even stopping to get some Slushies at a little Ice Cream Shop. 

We arrived at our hotel, Fairfield Inn and Suites, right at 4:00, checked in, unloaded and settled in.  I'm sure the hotel clerk thought we were going to be "those" people when our small cooler fell off the cart and dumped water all over the floor right in front of the elevator ;-) LOL  Oops!!! 

For dinner that night, we ventured into downtown Toledo and went to the The Spaghetti Warehouse. 

As you can see, the boys loved their dinner :-)  They both inhaled their Spaghetti :-)  Have you ever eaten at a Spaghetti Warehouse?  I did years ago and wanted to go back . . .honestly, it was just ok.  The sauce on the Lasagna tasted like it came out of a can and, yes it was 15 layer s. .. 14 of which were pasta noodles ;-) LOL  Oh well.  It was ok, just not some place I'd go again :-)

After we ate, we headed back to the hotel for some fun.

 Can you guess what we did?  Yep, we went swimming!!!  This was Nate's first time in a pool and Josh hadn't been in one since he was a baby.  They were beyond excited (We had actually walked them down to the pool on our way in from dinner and they couldn't wait to get into the big "bath")  Now neither of boys can swim so when we got into the pool area Darryl and I each took one of the boys and held them the whole time.  Nate had no fear.  As a matter of fact, he kept trying to get away from Darryl and would put his face in the water (coming up choking from drinking water though HA).  Josh loved the pool. . .. as long as he could hang on to me for dear life.  I would take him back to the steps where he would splash me and then jump into my arms and want me to swim to the other side and then bring him back.  They were beyond thrilled with the hour we spend in the water!

Once we got back to the room, the boys got baths while I attempted to popped popcorn to have for a special snack.  The microwave wasn't very good so we only got about 1/4 bag popped.  The boys loved their special treat.  Once they were done, we tucked them into bed.  Yes.  The same bed.  For the first time ever.  They thought it was awesome.  They did play for a little bit (we were sitting on the other bed watching TV - they thought that was fun too HA  It took them about 15 minutes to settle down and go to sleep. 

Another great day :-)  The boys were beyond thrilled to be staying in another hotel and were looking forward to more fun!

Tomorrow will bring day 4 of vacation - a very full day of fun and great food!

Too Cute Not To Toot!

I really love finding ideas to share.  I was getting a little depressed there for a few weeks when it seemed like the ideas were just not there.  Well, I have found some more inspirationg this week!

This first idea from I am momma, hear me roar is more of a concept then the idea.  When I first started blogging I read about Freezer Paper Stenciling but never had a good tutorial.  This one is great and offers links to past posts that can also help you out the first time around.

I was so stumped this spring on what to do for any type of decoration - this idea is perfect from Shaken Together .  To make it better, I already have the painted Jars from my nieces bridal shower that I could use. 

These next two ideas are both from Craftomaniac and would be great for upcoming summer BBQ's and holiday parties.  I'm throwing a little shin-dig Memorial day weekend for the fam so maybe I'll have to whip these together for some decor :-)



I love fresh flowers in the summer so when I saw this simple vase idea from Uncommon I wanted to save it - I'd love to have a couple of these on my dining room table with some simple stems of flowers (Ok, maybe I'd buy some nice fake flowers since real flowers get pricey HA)

We have a camping trip planned this summer so when I saw this idea from Come Together Kids I knew I had to add it to our list :-)  These would be so good and easier then trying to get the kids to eat smores :-)

Now that I've taken my camera to a big wedding AND on vacation, I understand the NEED for a fabric camera strap - the strap that comes with the camera is so uncomfortable!  I thought about just buying one from Etsy but then I saw this fairly easy tutorial from The Pinterest Project I knew it was something that I could actually make myself. 

Another cute idea from The Pinterest Project is adorable Beach Towel Robe.  This picture is just a teaser - I didn't want to grab the photo with the Robe being modeled by someone's sweet baby because . . .she was too adorably :-)  You'll have to clink on the link to actually see the finished robe!

One last idea from The Pinterest Project (can you tell I spent some time stalking searching this blog for ideas? )  My two year old loves dino's right now so when I saw this cute idea, I wanted to post it.  I'm hoping to make one of these for both boys by the time we go camping :-)

I have not done a Homeschool Haven post in awhile because I haven't seen a ton of ideas.  When I saw this idea I wanted to go ahead and post it here!  This idea comes from Sew Fantastic and makes a great rainy day activity or a busy bag activity.

Ok, when I saw this idea from Neverland Nook I was so excited because of the whole fruit in an ice cream cone idea.  Before I even read the tutorial I thought of things like dip inside the cone or maybe some cake with cool whip and fruit . .. so imagine my disappointment when I read that there are just cupcake liners inside the cone to keep it from getting soggy.  They are just "displays" for some fruit.  They are still cute though!

After our recent trip, I realized how wonderful "Busy Bags" are but also saw now nice it would be to have the bags be a little further apart :-)  Creating My Way to Success shares a very detailed tutorial on how to create a car organizer. 

As you know, I recently finished phase one of my kitchen.  I love this simple storage idea from Classy Clutter and think it needs to go on my "must make" list - I have room between the fridge and cabinets to slip something this this and it would really help with storage!

I'm working on summer plans for the kids with the goal of trying to do something special and/or educational every day so when I saw these cute cakes from Back 4 Seconds I had to post it here so I don't forget about them!

I love weeks like this :-)  So many great ideas!!