Month: August 2013

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Making A Statement With Flower Girl Baskets

Flower girl baskets are a great place to add details and style to compliment the special occasion. Watching the flower girl stroll down the aisle selecting rose petals out of the flower girl basket and dropping them gingerly on the floor is one a highly photographed moment. Make sure your flower girl basket stands out and doesn’t look boring and plain.

Flower girls baskets are easy to make unique and one of a kind by adding embellishments including lace, beads, ribbon, pearls, and of course the flowers. By adding just a few simple details you can take your plain and ordinary flower girl basket from drab to fab. The best part about it is it doesn’t have to be expensive. Flower girl baskets can be very affordable, especially when you embellish them yourself.

You might even consider giving the flower girl basket tot he flower girl as part of her wedding favor after the wedding. I’m sure she would love it. What little girls doesn’t like to parade around in her dress up clothes and pretend she is doing something very special. After her having the chance to be the flower girl in your wedding she will have those wonderful memories to look back on and can use the flower girl basket in all of her adventurous pretend play.

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Enhance Your Theme With Beach Wedding Favors

Wedding favors leave a lasting impression on your guests. While I was looking into different types of wedding favors I found that there really is a huge variety of favors to choose from for every theme you can imagine. Today, I’m going to talk more about Beach Wedding Favors.

How exciting would it be to have a beach wedding out by the water and be able to listen to the relaxing waves as they come crashing in on the shore. You can offer the perfect wedding favor to help your guests remember this special occasion at the beach.

Enhance your wedding theme by including the beach wedding favors as part of your decor. Use the wedding favors as place card holders at the tables for your guests. Sea shells, sand dollars, or star fish can help add a little pizazz to your table. Add these little tokens to tea light votive holders and you have an instant beach wedding favor. Include some sand  to hold the candle in and it will remind everyone of the wonderful time they spent with you at the beach.

Another festive way to commemorate your beach wedding could be to chose a functional item with a twist. A great example of this would be to give away a classic wine or bottle stopper but with a beach element on top like a starfish. Your guests will definitely appreciate the thought and detail you put into the favors you offer them.

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Where is the sax?

Saturday at the street dance and concert that my kids and I went to, the band was playing a song about how much they love the saxophone, and I could swear that I heard the saxophone playing, but darn if I could see anything that looked like a saxophone anywhere on the stage! This perturbed me greatly, as my uncle used to play a mean sax, and I was thinking about talking to him later about the concert and the song about the saxophone! It wasn’t until my brother was telling me about the cheap buy used yamaha wx5 sale at guitar center event that I realized that there are other instruments being used in this day and age that can mimic the sound of the saxophone, and the trumpet, and other wind instruments.

I felt amazed, and yet cheated, at the same time. Isn’t modern technology amazing? And how sad for the many talented musicians that are now out of jobs because machines can mimic what they took years and years to learn how to do! I think that I would prefer to see the genuine saxophone musician wailing on his sax – it provides a much better theatrical performance!

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Mid-morning Parenting Rant

This morning after breakfast my daughter had the biggest melt down I’ve seen in ages. You would think we were really doing something awful to her, when in fact she was just upset because I wouldn’t let her sit on my lap while I was working at the computer.

I love spending time with my children, seriously I do. However, I still need some grown up mommy time to myself. It drives me insane when I am trying to get a little bit of work done and one of the kids decides it’s the end of the world until everyone else int he house stops what they are doing and runs to give them their complete and undivided attention.

I make sure I sent a good amount of time each day with the kids without trying to be distracted because I don’t want them to feel they have to compete with us for attention. Sometimes though it goes without fail that as soon as my husband and I are trying to do something else they are stuck to us like glue. Then at other times when we want their attention they are no where to be found. Kids are silly little creatures.

I suppose if I really wanted their attention all I would have to do would be to either walk into the bathroom or put my phone up to my ear. Those two events are bound to draw them to me like magnets.

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The Great Closet Purge of 2013

I’ve decided it’s time I go through and clean out my closet, well closets really if you could my children’s and my husband’s closets, to get rid of anything we don’t wear, is tired and needs to be thrown out, and things I know I would like to give away or donate.

I have a bunch of closes in my closet taking up tons of space that I know could be put to better use  I would like to have one of those fancy looking closets that you see in all of the home and garden magazines. I know it will be possible to have pretty baskets and shelves once I get rid of things to make space.

I’m sure I have sweaters and dresses in there that I haven’t worn in well, honestly I don’t know how long. I think I’ll go with the rule if I haven’t worn it in the past yea it’s gone for sure. I say the past year because of the different seasons. I can’t hold on to things that I think I might use someday just because it’s still in great condition. I think items that are in great condition are the perfect ones to donate.  Who wants to buy a tattered old robe from Good Will? No one! But, you can be certain someone would be willing to buy a plush and cozy robe without any rips or stains. I have a robe, I’m just not using it so it’s going in the donate pile.

I’m pretty sure this project is going to take a while and it won’t all get done in one day. I think I’ll start with one closet at a time and go from there.  I don’t want to overwhelm myself.

 

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10 Budget Friendly Potluck Ideas

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It’s potluck time again.  This weekend we celebrate the service of our military and in doing so many of us attend or host a potluck.  Many people are on limited budget and can’t afford to spend upwards of $40 and $50 to go to a potluck.  I’ve put together a list of ideas that will feed a crowd and won’t rob your pocket book.

  1. Big pot of chili – toss some inexpensive beans in the crock pot with some tomato sauce and chili seasoning, add a pound of ground beef and you’re all set.  You can even be fancy and get some corn bread mix and serve it along side.
  2. Pasta Bake  – pasta can be bought for pennies. Get a few pounds of your favorite shape, cook till al dente and toss with your favorite sauce.  Pour it into a big casserole dish and sprinkle it with cheese. Easy Peasy.
  3. Baked Bean Casserole – again beans are cheap.  Toss them together with onions, celery, brown sugar, dried mustard, tomato sauce and a bit of barbecue sauce and you’re all set.
  4. Delived Eggs – a dozen will usually run you under $2. Add your favorite mayonnaise and seasonings.
  5. Homemade Bread – fresh baked bread is always a hit anywhere and you can make a loaf for under $1!
  6. Corn Chowder – buy your favorite creamy potato soup mix (Bear Creek makes an excellent one) and add frozen corn.  Everyone will think it’s made from scratch.  Simple, cheap and easy.
  7. Cupcakes –  are cheap and easy to make look impressive.
  8. Hummus – beans again… garbanzo beans, a little tahini , olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and you have a winner.
  9. Melon Skewers – some honey dew and cantaloupe scooped into perfect spheres served on a stick are a nice light choice.
  10. Baked Potato Bar  – a big bag of russets goes a long way with a dollop of sour cream and chives.