What a week, what a week...

This has been one strange week... I have been riding the hormonal roller-coaster that is pregnancy, I have been so mad, frustrated, sad, happy and crazy this past week, well I say week but really I mean since Wednesday. I have not been able to control my emotions at all and I hope that this is caused by the hormones and will pass soon or at the very least in 5 or so months after the baby is born and I can try to pick myself up and dust myself off and become me again. 

I have yelled at everyone, I have cried hystericaly and I have been so unbelievably frustrated and mad that I have wanted to start a hitting my own husband (yes I have been that mad at him before but I have always been able to walk away and control my emotions and in this situation I was ready to put 'em up and duke it out) and I have done what I feel is the worst I scared my daughter half to death and she had to console me as if she were the mother and I the child.... she is so unbelievable and wise for her age. 

A few good things came out of this week though, I got to take my baby girl shopping for a few hours and she got to pick out a new book (one of her favorite things to shop for I might add... ), She got to send a care package using her own money to her sick cousin, I got to take my yearly Paddy's day picture...

 My "Irish Princess"

Robyn had his drug testing and medical for his new job and of course he passed with flying colors, I got to visit with my mom and sister, I got to sleep in and I really mean sleep in, till 11:30 I can't remember the last time I slept that late and best of all I lived through it all as happy, or unhappy as I was during the whole thing I'm still alive and still able to keep going on with my life. Tomorrow is always just around the bend, and I have these two wonderful people to keep me going. 

Birthday Cards By Delaney!

I hate buying cards..... I like the sentiment, I like the cute sayings, I like the animals or cartoons or what have you on the front, I hate paying 4 dollars for one card.... and yes I am aware that the dollar store sells cards and that is usually where I get my cards but when you have 5 birthdays in one month (or more) plus the major holidays that's a lot of money on cards!

I like to make my own cards, I know that not everyone likes homemade gifts or cards but when your on a budget and trying to get your child involved in crafts or even the holiday/birthday I find it much more fun and much more frugal to make them at home, not to mention who wouldn't be happy with a handmade card from a 2 year old.

This month we have a whole pile of Birthdays, Robyn's just passed and in this week alone we have his sister, my mom and my dad. That's just this week.....  So we sat down at our kitchen table the other day and began the card making process. I gathered up some printer paper, some paint brushes and paint, markers and crayons. Then I let go of my need to making sure my child was clean, make sure my table and floor were clean and also trying to keep each paint color separated on her palette (a piece of extra paper). 

And away she went happy as a lark painting away.... 

She painted a lovely pile of Delaney Originals and I set them aside to dry... once dry I folded them either in half or in 4 and gave her full reign to color and mark them up and put stickers where she wanted and anything else she wanted to do.... then I added the Happy Birthday message and of course, Love Delaney! and they were finished! PS to save having to send a second card from Robyn and I, I write (and my mommy and daddy too!) below where I write her name... (you can call me cheap but when on a budget every dollar adds up) 

And of course as I said I had to let go of making sure my child was clean..... I never finish a craft project with Delaney without taking a few pictures of her all covered in her mess... so here you go! 

My Tiny Artist!

Have you done anything crafty with your kids this week? Have you been making your own Frugal Birthday cards? Let me know in the comments if you have any other frugal tips for celebrating Birthdays at your house!

Tuesday tips for Spring Cleaning!

Even though we had a snow storm here in NL yesterday.... Spring is on its way (I hope) and if my Mother taught me anything at all it was that in the spring and right before Christmas you clean.... not just your everyday tidy up, you clean top to bottom! 

Things are a bit different from her time to now... Mom used to use Mr. Clean and lest-oil and lots of harsh chemicals.... and while I will use them on some of the tougher stains or messes I prefer not to use them regularly (although the smell of those cleaners smells like CLEAN to me... if you know what I mean....) So my alternative is of course what many Mommas use, Vinegar and Water!

I usually buy my Vinegar at the Dollerama where I pick up my odds and ends (since I don't use vinegar in cooking  it lasts a long time!) but when I recently saw a series of books outlining what you can do with Vinegar and other household products for just $3 I snatched it up right away! Hey if it saves me even a few dollars in the long run it was worth it to me....and I wanted to share my tips anyone who who can use them and a new theme was born! Tuesday Tips! So every Tuesday look for a few new tips using things you have around the house that will help you keep a clean and frugal house.... or maybe a tip or two  to help you stay sane as a Momma! (we all need those too!)

So today I bring you random tips and facts about Vinegar.

Its obvious you can use it as a cleaner, but did you know that you can use Vinegar and Newspaper to wash you windows? Just dip the paper in the vinegar and wipe on the windows then use a dry paper for a final wipe.

How about removing chewing gum from carpet or or cloth? just put straight vinegar on the gum let it sit and then pull away at the gum, if you need it to work a little faster heat the vinegar first!

Make your own furniture polish ... Whisk 1/2 tsp olive oil, and 1/4 cup vinegar in a bowl apply polish liberally on wood surface and wipe away excess. Then store in an air tight container, when your ready for your next polish shake container and repeat. 

Are you worried about pesticides in your fresh fruit and veggies? Keep a spray bottle with straight vinegar by your sink and spray your veggies and fruit before you rinse them the vinegar will help remove the pesticides.

Well that is it for today but look forward to more tips from my new book collection in the near future! 

Do you have any other cleaning with vinegar tips? or any other spring cleaning tips? Leave them in the comments and Happy Cleaning!

Make it Monday!

As I mentioned last week I had to make a Birthday Cake for our Dear Husband and Daddy! (I prefer to do it at home because it tastes better, its a lot cheaper and I almost always have the ingredients on hand.) Robyn asked for white cake with chocolate icing! 

So for this weeks Make it Monday my Creamy Chocolate Icing Recipe!

I found this one HERE at All Recipes, I started using it about 3 years ago. It is soooo yummy, and super easy too. I find it makes a small batch but it does cover a small (8 or 9 inch)  round cake (as seen below)

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar. 

Do you have a Birthday or a few in the coming weeks? If you do give this recipe a try and let me know how you like it!

Weekly to-do list...

It's the end of another week and start of  a brand new one! So of course I need to get another to-do list out there.... I really found out that putting it up here on the blog really held me accountable! The only thing I didn't get done was the extra sugar cookies for Robyn's Birthday.... and to tell the truth I'm not all that tore up about them. I did have a bit of trouble with the Bib's and the Burp cloths... they didn't all get finished but they are super easy to finish, and it wasn't really even my fault that they didn't get done, I had a few issues with my sewing machine and rather than get too mad at it and put it away for another 3 months or more I thought I would give it a few days and I will likely be working on those in the next few days. But other wise last week was a success! So here is this weeks to do list! 

To-Do March 13th to March 20th

1. Write and wipe style frame! - I found this frame at the Salvation Army before Christmas and planed to use it for a Christmas gift but time ran short and it never got done... I want to turn it into a white board type to do list for our kitchen.

2. Hot chocolate tin up-cycle! - We used to buy out hot chocolate in BULK! and I mean BULK! We used to buy the Club Pack brand at out local super store or if cheaper the name brand and they always came in these huge tins, I have used them for ages for pens, pencils, ribbon left overs, stamps etc. But they look kind of ugly without something covering the labels, so I am planning to re-cover or revamp them in some way.... More on that later this week! 

3. Tea cup pin cushion! - My mom's birthday is this week (I know we just had Robyn's birthday this week but this is by far our busiest month for birthdays! I have Robyn's sister, my mom and dad all this week). I plan on making her a tea cup pin cushion as part of her gift. Inspiration found HERE! 

4. Practice my Knitting! - well not my Knitting it's self... my Knit stitches are great, if I do say so myself. I need to practice my Purl stitches as I plan on making some ribbed coffee cup coozies for Christmas.

5. Scrap style up-cycled books! - I want to try my hand a making a few brag books for Mothers day for Robyn's mom and mine as well as a little book for Delaney to help her know what her role will be when the baby comes. The ABC board book and the Spider-man book will be done with inspiration from HERE

6. Taggy blankaly - I want to try my hand at making a taggy blankaly for my friend who is also expecting, she wont be finding out what she is having before hand so I am making it as gender neutral as I can.

So there we have it my list for the week, on top of all my regular everyday things to do of course... 

What do you have to do this week? Did you get everything you needed to or wanted to do last week done?