Tips & Tricks Link Party #33

It's that time again, friends!  Things are really turning toward fall around here and the party is no different.  Glad you could join us this week!

1) Kathleen & Heather - Fearlessly Creative Mammas

2) Karissa - A Fresh Start

3) Krysta - KrystaSteen.com

4) Heather - Stringtown Home

5) Gabby - Not Too Shabby Gabby

6) Jessica - My Life By Jess

Here's a quick recap of last week's party.

Most Clicked:

Harvest Home Tour from Fearlessly Creative Mammas

Features:

Kathleen and Heather: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie from Krysta Steen

Gabby: Caramel Apple Crisp Pie from Angels Homestead

Krysta: Pumpkin Spiced Muffins from Eat Drink and Save Money

Heather: Fall Home Tour from Lilac Drive Designs

Jessica: How to Make a Burlap Wreath from Logan Can


Now it's your turn to link up and share your latest project, recipe, tip, or anything else you want!  Can't wait to see what shows up this week!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Easy Way to Bag Rose Bush Clippings

Fall is just around the corner. I can feel it .... even though it's been above 90 degrees so far all this week. So the temperature hasn't cooled off much yet, it's still the beginning of September. Getting a head start on the outside clean up work seems appropriate, so I hit the front flowerbeds. (Either that or I'm just looking for something different than cleaning another bathroom... again!)

The flower beds have really gotted out of hand this summer. Both Knockout rose bushes I have LOVE where they are and grow like crazy. Big bonus since they fill the space and give us color all summer long. Downside?  It's always a challenge getting all the clippings in the yard bags and ready for trash day pickup. Those thorns hurt, friends!

Yesterday I had an 'aha' moment! 

Here's what I did:

Take one yard waste bag and open it up with some scissors. 

Lay it out close to where the clippings will be cut.

Start piling up the clippings within the bounds of the bag. 

Now you can roll one edge over the thorn filled clippings and really squish it all down. 

This step can be done several times until you feel like you have as much in the bag as possible.  The layers of paper the bag is made of helped add some much needed protection from thorns.

Next and final step will more than likely require an assistant. 

Gather up your nicely rolled up full bundle of stickery clippings and slide it into another (intact) yard waste bag. It was a little tricky getting it all tucked in and started- kinda like getting tights on a toddler.  But, once started, the rest of it just slides right in. 

No one to help lend a hand? Have some twine on hand and tie the bundle at both ends. This would hold it all together. Then lay it on the ground and work the second bag around one end and up the bundle of clippings. 

Try it out and let me know how it works for you! 

Getting Organized for School: Part 3

In Part 1, I covered some lessons I've learned that will hopefully help anyone who has kids in school to some degree.

In Part 2, I shared the calendar methods that have been working out best for our family.

Today I'm sharing a few miscellaneous tricks we've implemented around the house to keep me on top of school things.

Posted Notes

I used to use Post Its on the front door for little reminders to myself.  The idea had merit, but there were just a couple of things that limited it:  they fell off the door every once in a while,  I was going through a lot of Post Its, and the kids could easily remove them.

I had this really cute Roommates Dry Erase Calendar for another project, and had yet to use it.

I still have the calendar waiting for me to get to that other project, but the little word bubbles and circles have taken the place of my Post It notes.  

I purposely put them up higher than what the kids can reach.  Since I'm tall, it's no problem for me to write on them.  (For those of you vertically challenged, arrange yours accordingly.)  

Since there are five kids in our family, one circle is used for each kid/grade with one circle devoted to school wide events.  

This is such a small thing, but it's saved my bacon more than a few times.  The quick reminder that a permission slip needs to be turned in or a lunch made in a paper bag for a field trip or that it's pajama day keeps me looking like a rockstar mom and keeps the tears off my kids' faces (and mine).  There have been lots of tears in the past, too, people!

Email

This has been a HUGE game changer for me!  Not about just getting emails from the teachers and school - we all probably have this happening.  It's the fact that I devoted a single email account to school stuff and nothing but school stuff.  

It takes only minutes to set a new account up.  I decided to use Gmail, since that's what I'm used to, it's easy to use, and I can receive the mail on my phone app.  

Now, if you decide to do this, which I highly recommend, don't use it for anything other than school.  That would completely defeat the purpose of this email account.  Keep it for school, and only school communications: teachers, school district news, and other parents.  That way the important stuff doesn't get buried under junk emails.  Also, make sure to clean out the older emails periodically to avoid clutter.

All of these organizing tips that I've shared are easy to implement at any stage in the game.  My oldest is in middle school and I just started most of these things in the past two years.  I'm hoping that my stumbling along all these years will help all of you be able to get a handle on school organization long before your oldest gets to middle school or beyond!

Share any ideas you have with the rest of us at My Life by Jess on Facebook!  

Have a great weekend!!

Getting Organized for School: Part 2

I laid the ground work for this series Monday with Part 1.  Go take a look at that if you haven't, yet.

Today is all about the calendar!

It's taken a few years to figure out a good system for me, but here are a couple of things that have consistently helped me the most.

Wall Calendar

I'm such a visual person that I have to have a wall calendar in a very obvious, in your face spot.  And, since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, that's become the calendar's home.

It has morphed a bit over the years that we've been here, though.

 These white board calendars were purchased from Walmart a few years ago.  I'm sure I didn't spend more than $12 per board. {I'm pretty cheap when it comes to things like this.}  I have LOVED having two boards!  My original intent was to switch the boards back and forth as the months changed.  I even put them up on the wall with the Velcro Command Strips so it would be very easy to rotate them.  And it was.  But, I got tired of doing that and now every other month the months are backward.  No big deal to me.

Why two months?  Well, I was constantly not prepared for the start of the next month.  It really bugged me!  I would make overlapping plans or I would procrastinate on getting the next month written up and miss an appointment.  Having two calendars allows me to start planning for the next month and keep it visual.

Ok.  So, having two months up has worked well.  The clutter at the bottom was starting to really get on all our nerves.  I thought the Rust-Oleum Magnetic Paint would be the help I was looking for.  Sadly, it wasn't.

While technically the paint works, it's not worth the money or the time.  Yes, it will hold magnets on the wall, but even the stronger magnets won't hold an appointment post card to it.  I also had to put several more layers of paint up than what were recommended.  Now I have a ridge where the black paint is.  Lesson learned, though.

When I figure out my alternative method, I'll be sure to share.

This is what I now have on my wall.

It's not a complete Command Center, but what I have is working nicely.

I also added this little dry erase board in between the larger boards.

It has really helped to have a place to quickly glance at and see the highlights for the current week.

Now that we have the wall calendar covered, let's move on to electronic.

Electronic Calendar

Having an IPhone, I was using the calendar app that came with it.  It was fine.  Had all the features I needed - calendar, location, multiple alarms, and so forth.

What it lacked was being able to connect with my husband and others.  Maybe I didn't know how to use it to it's fullest potential, though.

Now we use Google Calendar.

The set up definitely works for me.  Our local church group is able to post different activities on the calendar and it automatically goes to my phone.  Whenever Kevin adds an event or appointment to his phone it automatically goes on mine and vise a versa.  I get to color code the events so I can glance and quickly know if an event pertains to family, church, school or work.  (Visual, remember)  It has made things so much easier for me to keep and stay on top of my life and my family's.  It also keeps Kevin and I from double scheduling our life.  

These are all very simple, inexpensive fixes to such a big part of life!  While the family Command Center is still a bit of a work in progress, what I have is working.  Working so well I rarely miss an appointment or special event.  The older kids are able to add school activities as they come up and help keep our life a little less stressful with fewer last minute surprises, too.

Now that you see what I do, I'm curious what everyone else has come up with to keep your events organized.  Do you keep a calendar or two (or three!) on your wall?  Which app do you use on your phone?  Or are you one of those people who can keep it all tucked away in your mind and never miss a beat?  Share and let us all know what you do!  Hop on over to My Life on Facebook and comment or post a picture.

Look for the next on Friday!

Creating Extra Drying Space for Laundry Day

I'm pretty inconsistent around here when it comes to laundry.  I'm either doing load after load in one day (because I've put it all off waaaayyyy too long) or I'm doing a couple loads a day (because I've vowed to never again let it get out of control again..... um..... again).   One thing that is always consistent is I never have enough space to hang the clothes to let them dry.

I got this little contraption from Costco last year and it has helped - especially for all those pants I need to dry but don't want to put on hangers.

All the overflow inevitably goes in doorways.  While that works nicely, all the doorways that have trim around them are to rooms that require privacy multiple times during the day.

 And I have to fix this multiple times a day.....

I stumbled upon such an easy and low cost solution it's crazy!

Tension rods!

You know the ones you used for a shower curtain?  We actually had two in our house not being used. (I'm beginning to think I'm on the edge of hoarding.)  When I stumbled upon them one laundry day, the light bulb went off.  I found a couple of areas that were mostly out of the way, put the rods up, and proceeded to hang clothes.

No more having to pick clothes up off the floor {as much} for me.  Plus, these are very easily relocated if needed.

Laundry day just got a little easier! (And that's always a good thing!)

What do you do to help you on laundry day?

Recycling Made (A Little) Easier

Do you recycle?  I'll be honest and tell you I don't normally think to.  I'm so used to just lobbing anything and everything in the trash.

Several months (a year?) ago, I was visiting a friend and saw a brown paper bag sitting out.  Guess what was in it.  Yep - all the family's recycling.  We've now implemented the same (genius) plan.

If you don't want the bag just sitting out, it's small enough to fit under a sink or such.  The biggest things I like about this?

-My 5 year old can now 'take out' the recycling without damaging the walls or door frame with the clunky recycle bin.

-No more individual trips to the outside bin for small items.

-The whole bag can go in the outside bin and we just start filling another bag as needed.

So, how do you gather your recycling?  Do you have another way you could share with us all?  Feel free to comment below!

Also, if you haven't liked my Facebook page, come on over and do that!  That way you can keep up with all my antics and projects I don't blog about - just remember to check the 'Get Notifications' so you won't miss anything!

Graham Cracker Crust Made Easy

We had company this weekend.  Great company.

The menu for the night?  Potato Soup, 2 Bean Chicken Chili, all the fixin's, Fresh Fruit, Blackberry Cobbler and Cherry Delight.

All easy enough and super yummy.

It was the first time I used my food processor to make a homemade pie crust.  My kids that were standing around watching were quick to let me know that Nonnie (my mother) does this better.  Even though they were right, I still felt very accomplished once finished.

Next on my to-do list was making the Cherry Delight which has a graham cracker crust.  This is my least favorite crust to make because it's time consuming and messy.  You know - putting the crackers in a gallon size bag and pounding away with either my fists or rolling pin.  But, since it's one of our family's favorite recipes - guess that make's it a labor of love.

So, after making one dessert, I was dreading moving on to the next dessert.  Until I had an 'AHA!' moment while cleaning up my food processor.  If I could make pie crust dough in it, why couldn't I make my graham cracker crust with the help of the food processor?

And it worked!!!  Yay!

Just add your graham crackers to your food processor.

Pulse for a couple of seconds.

Add your melted butter.

Pulse for a couple more seconds until well blended.

Now all you have to do is spread the mixture in a pie pan of your choice.

EASY!!

So, is this something everyone else has been doing for years and I'm just late to the party?  Or do you have another way to make crushing the graham crackers super easy?

Owl Themed Birthday Party

We recently had a little girl turn 8 in our family.  {Wow!}  And, it's the policy in our home to have a birthday party when an eighth birthday rolls around.

Now, you would think at this age a little girl would go for Frozen, Princess or any other number of girly themes.  Not this one.  She has been obsessed with OWLS since she got this hat over two years ago,

 and her mind was set.

So, here's how we do Owl....

Decor:

We also had several stuffed owls on table tops to help decorate.

Food:
Owl Fruit Tray-

Owl S'mores

Owl Cupcakes

Craft:

Corner Bookmark

We really had a lot of fun with it all.  These were all super simple things to do.  Because of that, I was able to have a lot of help from the kids.

My 10 year old Caroline was in charge of finishing the smores after I split the marshmallows.

Madi took care of separating the Oreo cookies for the cupcakes.

Once I got the kids all started on the craft, they were able to be turned loose to create.

Even our almost 5 year old was able to make his own bookmark.  Googly eyes are a must.

Head on over to Pinterest and see all the sources and places of inspiration for the things we did for the party on Madi's Owl Bday Board.  You'll see several ideas we didn't do and all my pictures pinned there, too.

Have a GREAT weekend!!

Happy New Year!!

Okay.  Yes..... I know we are already several days into 2015.  However, my kids just went back to school today, so this is the real start of my year.  ;)

I'm really excited about all the possibilities 2015 has to offer.  It's been a while since we haven't had some major medical event scheduled the first week of January, everyone is currently healthy, and the weather is only cold at this point and not nasty.

There are some great ideas buzzing around in my head.  (Well, great to me.)  Ideas I hope to share with you all as the year goes on.  I have so many goals - for me, my family and our health, my home, and my business.  I'm so ready to start working in all these areas and excited to share some wonderful things with all my friends and family!

Right off the bat, Kevin and I are working on bettering our health.  Today we started a 5 Day Mini-Cleans/Detox with Shaklee.  It's going to help us both get started on the right foot this year.  And, it's especially needed after all the holiday heavy foods, sweets and eating out due to travel.

Both of us are feeling great so far!  It's going to be interesting to see how well I do not reaching for my usual foods.  So far, so good, though, and I have high hopes for the rest of the week.  We'll keep you posted on our progress and results.

Something else I've decided to do to help get healthy this year is adding exercise.  I'd love to tell you I want to add more or increase weight or shoot for a higher milage than I accomplished in 2014.  Sadly, 2014 was full of very little to no exercise - unless you can count moving furniture around the house.

I may have a problem....

This year I hope to change that!  (Well, not the moving furniture part.)  I have a great supporter in my husband {one might even call him a little pushy}, but I thought it would be fun to get more people together in a group.  A place were we can cheer each other on, share ideas and recipes, and even do a little bragging when a goal is reached.  Most of all, a place for us all to have fun!  If you want to join me in a healthier 2015, join my new Facebook group Operation: Get it Movin'.  I would love to have you!

Okay.  So there's a quick overview of what I would like to get accomplished.  I'll be doing a lot more sharing in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!  2015 is looking like a great year!