Halloween Fun

So this weekend instead of doing any "work", we just did a Halloween Craft. Of course we still had dance classes and then Sunday evening was our Harvest Festival at Church.

Saturday after dance classes were over the girls were ready to get started on their work for the weekend, however I thought we will just have some fun. So I cut out two orange pumpkins for them to decorate.

Sunday evening was the Harvest Festival at our Church, Love Life Church. The girls first went last year and have been looking forward all month to going again this year. :-) They had a blast at all the different game booths and then of course in the different bounce houses.

We also had a nice surprise left for us Sunday afternoon by some family. I have some medical issues right now and have had to cancel some plans I had for the girls and felt a little down about it. So my sister and brother dropped off some goodie bags for the girls and myself. So we can do the fun Halloween crafts at home instead! <3 They were super excited and I will share next time what they have been working on.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!!

Using Your Basic Package from Norwx

My mom purchase a Basic Pack of cloths from Norwex. This has an Enviro Cloth and Window Cloth. With just this pack, you can get a good bit of cleaning done around your home without the use of any chemicals or other cleaners, and no papertowels!

She decided to take the challenge to see how well a cloth can clean her mirrors and windows and shared the before and after pictures with us.

All she did was use the Enviro Cloth damp to wipe down the mirror and window, and then went over it with the Window Cloth to dry it. Pretty amazing how great they look, no streaks, and they came clean! All without using chemicals or cleaners of any kids.

Norwex Cloths are Anti-Bac, with silver woven into the microfiber. This means that while the microfiber is picking everything up, the silver kills the germs. So all you have to do after cleaning, is rinse your cloth and let it dry out. You can use the same cloth for at least 2 weeks before having to wash them! This is amazing!

No paper towels to drag around with you with the cleaning bottles. No waste, no chemical residue left over! Keep in mind you can also use the Enviro Cloth for wiping down all your counters, sinks, walls, outside of the bathub/toilet, dusting, and more!

If you are interested in ordering, please do so HERE, or you can contact me HERE if you are interested in learning more or hosting a party!

DIY Vapor Salve

It's that time of year where colds are more common. I don't know about you but I have been trying to be more natural with what we use in the house instead of instantly grabbing an over the counter medicine.

Right now Eucalyptus is the item of the week at Spark Naturals and is a great oil paired with Peppermint to make your own vapor rub.

The recipe below is good for a 4oz jar. I like using metal tins for my salves.

DIY Vapor Rub

1/2 cup coconut oil
2 TBS beeswax pastilles
20 drops eucalyptus oil
20 drops peppermint oil

Instructions

Melt beeswax and coconut oil together in a double boiler and then remove from heat.
Add oils and then pour in your jar or tin.

This is great to rub on your chest, under your nose, and on your feet.

Remember to use OURCRAZYLIFE247 to get 10% off of your order, and all orders $55+ ship free.

Happy oiling!

Oh Meal Planning - You Allude Me

Meal planning sometimes seems like such an easy, and at others seems so tedious and hard to stay caught up with when working full-time. At least for me, but that could also be due to how many other various activities I have packed into our week nights and weekends. One thing for sure, my kids can never say they had a boring childhood staying home all the time, lol.

So this weekend we purchased more tortillas (still have plenty of Mexican cheese) for some chicken and cheese quesadillas.

We also purchased some rotisserie chicken to shred up for pasta. We still have plenty of Mozzarella cheese, pasta, and sauce to use.

I did buy some more macaroni and cheese and of course bread for sandwiches.

I never did make the rice casseroles that I bought the salsa for so I will be making some rice tonight as well as pasta to get a few dishes in the freezer that we can just pull out when we need them.

We also picked up some cantaloupe, bananas, grapes and still had some apples on hand. Costco is perfect for produce!  Also grabbed some baby carrots and snap peas.


I had some very personal issues come up this week, so after we get through these next few weeks with what we have on hand and purchased, my whole diet will be changing to make sure I am setting myself up for proper weight loss. We believe I have a cystocele, and regardless of if we do surgery or no surgery, weighing less will help from what I have been told and read. I am also uplifting this situation to our Daddy in Heaven and praying for healing.

Sorry I am not much help in the planning out meals right now, but that will change since I have to set myself up for success now. I do not want to be one of those people with a medical condition that has the ability to make it better, but I don't.

Happy meal planning everyone!!

Week 8 - Catch UP

I know I said I am letting go, and for those that know me know it is hard for me to do so, lol. The girls just love their papers! So I didn't plan as much, we were able to sit down and get done in about an hour. Not bad and it kept the time peaceful for the most part.

So for Makaylah, we had some catching up on with F, G and H. I used the Letter Hunt pages from Confessions of a Homeschooler for all three letters. This is by far one Makaylah's favorite thing to do. I love it because she is having to recognize both upper and lower case letters.

We also had her trace her letters and then pick out four pictures that start with that letter. I didn't take pictures of these sheets, and am not sure off hand where I got them. I believe they were also included in the curriculum I purchased from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

We then did a couple crafts for the G and H letters. She loves cutting things out and gluing the, coloring not always so much lol.

The Groovy Grapes craft we found on DLTK-Kids as well as the H Horse craft.

For Arianna we did handwriting practice by her tracing then writing a scripture verse. I was able to get this from a free download awhile back.

Then we had some fun with Pumpkin Math! This was also another free download I was able to get a little while back. Check out The Frugal Homeschooling Mom for free downloads you can get!

For fun Arianna also colored the Letter H Mini Book, which will be included in her reading for this week.

Sonya has still been doing her art work in her free time, and we will start picking projects back up since she seems to have a good handle on her homework now.

Happy Homeschooling!

Green Cleaning at Work

So I have yet to clean at work with my Norwex Travel Enviro's until yesterday. Not sure why but now that I have I couldn't be happier!

You know the dust you see and then you clean it and it seems a good portion reappears the next day? Well this morning I came in and everything looks CLEAN! :-)

I don't have a water spray bottle at work yet, so I just used some water and put a little on the cloth and wrung it together to spread the water throughout the cloth and went to town wiping everything down. It was so nice just wiping everything down and seeing how clean it got everything! Even better was coming into work and not seeing dust again right after I wiped it off, meaning I didn't just put it back in the air. No wasted Clorox wipes, no chemicals used.

The Travel Cloths are great to keep in your purse with a little spray bottle of water for when you are on the go. How many times have you needed a wipe and not had one, keep them on hand! :-)

Happy Green Cleaning!

Norwex ~ Improving Quality of Life!

Letting Go

One thing I have a hard time with is letting go of something I think I should be doing. I struggle with my schedule since I work a full 40 hour work week. That being said I am out of the house more than 40 hours taking drive time and lunch into consideration.

By the time we get home, sometimes we have enough time to do "school work", read, etc. Sometimes we are rushing because there is home work, then the work I want to do with them, bath, and somewhere in there is suppose to be dinner.

In reality the kids attend a very good charter school. In fact the principal was just asked to take on another school that was going to close their doors. That is amazing!

Makaylah is blessed to be going to a great in home preschool provider. She does an amazing job with the kids and I am updated via Facebook and/or nightly when I pick her up. This last week their letter was G.

Makaylah can even now write a few letters on her own without tracing!

So I think at night my focus should be reading with my girls. This is one area that Arianna needs improvement in and both girls love it. Just making sure homework is done can be a challenge, no need to add any stress to any of us trying to fit in other things.

I was going to add things in the weekends, but sometimes our weekends fill up fast with dance classes, birthday parties, meetup events, and just visiting with family. I think all three of the girls get enough at school/preschool and homework they are doing ok without anything additional from me.

This way we are able to fully enjoy our weekend and get our chores done and not stress out about anything else.

This all being said from time to time we will work on things, because the girls love it! But it wont be scheduled, and I won't have a deadline, it's when we are able to fit it in. I still wish I could homeschool, but until I don't have to work (which won't be anytime soon lol) that is not an option we are going to pursue, and sometimes it is hard to just let go.
 

Citrus Kit from Spark Naturals

This week the Item of the Week is their new Citrus Oils Kit! You can grab it now for only $17.99 instead of their regular price of $19.99. This kit will save you vs buying each one individually.

Citrus oils are great for uplifting your spirit and energy! You can add these EO's to your drinking water or diffuse. Each one has it's own great benefits. This is a great way to get started on stocking up on your citrus oils.

If adding any EO's to your drink, I recommend doing your own research and doing what you are comfortable with. I have used EO in my water and love it, but not all companies process their oils the same way.Spark Naturals will give you recommended uses for each oil you purchase. :-)

Lemon and Lime oils can be helpful for bringing down fevers and reducing headaches. They are both helpful for your immune system. Lime helps with sore throats, colds, flu and coughs. Lemon can also help reduce muscle problems.

I have lemon on hand and have used it with lavender to help naturally reduce the fevers of my daughters. I use a few drops of each oil on the bottoms of their feet.

Wild Orange can help promote good feelings. I actually diffuse this daily at work and find that I am generally in a good mood all day. :-)

Grapefruit is great for vitamin C and can help with your mood as well.

This is a great price to get stocked up on these citrus oils. Happy Oiling!

Use coupon code: OURCRAYZLIFE247 for 10% off your order!

Green Cleaning Your Bathroom

I am not a huge fan of cleaning the bathroom. Ok I am not a huge fan of cleaning period, lol. It always seems to take forever, going though paper towels, or your rag not coming clean when you rinse it, grabbing and exchanging cleaner, having dirty water in  your buckets, etc.

Well, it has turned into a simple process with Norwex. I wish I had done before and after photos, but to be honest I am still so new to Norwex myself, I am still skeptical even though I have loved how great the products work so far. I keep finding myself waiting for something to not work.

First I start off by using our Enviro cloths, getting them damp and I wipe all the surfaces down. Yup, that's it, no cleaners no paper towels to throw away.

If I need to, I can simply rinse out the cloth and continue wiping down surfaces. However I have a small bathroom and I am able to fold mine and then use the other side, and then refold to use the other sides with no issues. I use this cloth for my counters, sink, outside of bathroom and toilet.

I then rinse the cloth and wipe down my mirrors and then dry the mirrors with the window cloth.

I have been truly amazed at how well this works. Absolutely no streaks, smudges, and it gets everything off. Just water, a cloth, and drying cloth. Again no use of chemicals and no paper towels to throw away.

Last night was the first time I tried the Descaler on our bathroom with the bathroom pink scrub mitt. I will admit, I am a scrubbing bubbles person because of how easy it made getting the bathtub clean. But what I didn't realize is what it left behind, the chemical residue. And we take baths in it thinking we have truly rinsed it and cleaned it. Eek! Well I rinsed the bathtub out, sprayed some Descaler, grabbed the pink scrub mitt, got it damp and was just going over the whole bathtub. Everything came right off, just as easy if not easier than using scrubbing bubbles! I was truly amazed at how easy it was. Descaler is one of our items that we sell for when you need a little extra "elbow grease". I will tell you that it did all the elbow grease work for me!

Now the one thing I didn't order in my initial order was the Blue Diamond cleaner. This is for use in your toilet, but you can also use this in your tub and sinks as well. I do however have Ergonomic Toilet Bush, and using just that was able to clean most of my toilet. There are a few spots that I think once the Blue Diamond come in will help clean the rest of it right up.

 If you are interested in learning more, you can contact me via my site or place your order HERE. You may also request information on hosting a party and receive host rewards!

Our Global Mission is Improving Quality of Life by Radically Reducing Chemicals in our Homes. Happy Green Cleaning!

Spark Naturals Item of the Week - Carrotseed Essential Oil

Did you see that Spark Naturals Item of the Week is their new Carrotseed Oil?

Historical uses of carrotseed oil include Jaundice, arthritis, gout, edema, and edema rheumatism. This is also a great oil to add in to your homemade sunscreen as it's SPF range is from 35-40 depending on how much you use. It can also help soften your skin!

This oil can even be used in your diffuser to help with stress.

I always recommend using a carrier oil such as almond or coconut oil when applying essential oils directly to your skin.

If you use coupon code: OURCRAZYLIFE247 you will save 10% on your order! :-)

Happy oiling!

Using What It Is On Hand For Meal Planning

So I have had two successful frozen meals planned out that helped us tremendously over the past month or so. I plan on doing this again, however right now I am trying to use what is already in our cupboard.

So this weekend I organized the cupboards to take inventory of what we already have. Several cans of black beans, chicken broth, bags of pasta, etc. I did toss a few things that were way beyond expiration date, I guess this happens when you don't go through your cupboards often enough, lol.

So what I ended up buying was 3 rotisserie chickens (to have shredded chicken ready), mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Mexican blended cheese, tortillas, salsa, sweet potatoes and then our regular items like eggs, cereal, milk etc.

So using the black beans I already have, the Mexican cheese blend and tortillas we will have quesadillas a few nights.

Then using the pasta I already have, shredded chicken and mozzarella cheese I will make a chicken pasta dish that will be enough for at least 4 nights.

We have a huge bag of rice that is still about half full. So I will use the rice and black beans I already had and add some salsa and Mexican cheese and we have a few casseroles! We can probably even make about 4 total.

Then just for something different we bought sweet potatoes and will have scrambled eggs with sweet potatoes and black beans. I will also do a night or two of baked potatoes.

So just using what I have and adding a few things from Costco, we have 2 weeks worth of dinners. I will definitely be ready to plan our menu next time so we aren't have the same thing 4 times, but this is a good way to reduce waste and use what we have. Girls were thrilled with the pasta so I am sure they won't mind having it multiple times. :-)

What types of menus have you done to try and cut back on spending and use what you already have on hand?

Enjoy! <3

Just Add Water Cleaning

Ok, so I have received my Norwex kit and my first order. I have to tell you that using these products actually makes me excited to clean. I am amazed every time I use something else.

There are so many reasons to try Norwex in your home. What got me SOLD on the products was watching the Black Light and Protein Test.

After watching that video I knew I wanted the Enviro Cloths for my own house. Luckily this happened in September and I was able to join for FREE and am not able to sell the products to help you turn your home in a green safe haven.

By cutting out the chemicals, you are making your home a safer environment for those you love and as you can see above you will be saving money since you won't have to buy the cleaners anymore! Know what I love? I am saving time. I just grab my cloth, get it wet and go to work. No having to sort through cleaners for different rooms and lugging everything around with me. It's truly amazing how much time you safe.

I used the mop system this week for the first time and I have to admit I was shocked how much I picked up and how much the dry mop held. After I went over my floors with the wet mop, my floors felt CLEAN. There was no sticky residue feeling, I didn't have to "rinse" my floors, I was done!

Sonya Eckle is amazing with the videos she has done.

Not sure where to start, get just the basic household package and contact me about hosting a party to earn the hostess rewards.

Ready to get your products? You can order HERE now! Feel free to like and follow my PAGE on Facebook to stay up date with current specials. Contact me either place to talk about setting up a party or if you have questions.

Thank you for stopping by!