So. whatcha been up to?

Holy Smokies it's been a week since I blogged.  That is just bad form!  I've got a goal to write 250 posts this year and posting once a week ain't gonna do it.

Now is it just me or has this been the longest July on record?  I feel like it has been July for about 8 weeks.  Typing that last scentence brings to mind my recent comments on May.  I don't know if I bored you as well as my Facebook friends with my thoughts on how May was the longest month ever.

It seems that I am not feeling as though time is flying by, hmm, could this be because the children are home for summer break?  I don't know.  I suppose that this slowness of time should be seen as a good thing, as well, life is short. 

This week I started running a coffee shop here in Hayesville. It's called Cafe Touche.  Everyone who comes in is quite nice--which is good because I am having major frothing issues.  I can't get my milk to foam up.  My lattes are nottes.

I work from 7AM until 3PM, so this basically will match up with the kids school.  The Man's store Golftopia opens at 10am, so he will be in charge of getting the kids off to school in the morning.
Stop it!  I know you are laughing, I am too.  He is just going to have to figure it out!  Breakfast and lunches and kids wearing clean clothes, it's more work than it appears.

I am betting with the return of a schedule for me, time will speed back up and the next thing you know I"ll be talking about how I can't believe it is Thanksgiving.  If I am lucky, I'll also be sharing how I am busy running around doing Tastefully Simple parties at night and making latte art during the days!

Here is a picture of Anna AKA Trail Mix and Patrick AKA Finn playing Scrabble at Cafe Touche.

It's the middle of July and I feel like Summer is Over

I'm feeling like Fall is right around the corner. This has nothing to do with the current weather. I'm feeling like Fall for several reasons.

1. Because March this year seemed like June--and that was weather related--
2. Football practice has started--we all know Football rhymes with Fall.
3. Tastefully simple's fall product unveiling is just around the corner! National Conference always makes me feel Fallish.

Time sure flies, I hope to get a chance sometime soon to smell the roses.

Has this ever happened to you?

Thursday morning I was up bright and early and I was reaching for my toothbrush when all of a sudden I heard a crunching sound.

A crunching sound that was my neck. It's killing me. Heating pad, cold compress, Advil, all that amounts to is me not getting any sleep.

I hate not being able to find a comfy position to fall asleep. Of course, the last two nights The Man has sleep like a log. Brutal.

Insult to injury, I can't think when I'm in pain. Hopefully tomorrow will dawn and I'll be feeling better.

Monday I'm checking to see if my new medical insurance covers chiropractic visits.

Note: I'm typing this post on blogger mobile, I like that it corrects my typos as I am typing.

On the lighter side here is the street right by a local golf course. Snicker, snort, 8th grade boy humor-- but I has to share!

Ever Heard of Froobi?

Froobi is a daily deal site I ran across via Swagbucks. Everyday, they send me an email and in it there are two deals. That's it. Just two.  They make it very easy for me to go ahead, click on the email and take a quick glance at what they are offering each day. 

Typically they do trend toward offering about 25% jewlery and about 20% baby/toddler related items.  So often the two deals are not of interest to me.  I click and check out my daily Froobi anyway because you never know! 

Now don't quote me on this part, because I could be wrong, but I think they offer free shipping.  Maybe not all the time, but it seems like most of the time.  Alway fun to get a deal and free shipping!

Additionally you get swagbucks for your purchases, so reward points just like a credit card might offer w/o the pain of revolving debt.  You can see my swagbucks on the left.

So there you have it, I recommend Froobi!  Try it and let me know what great deals you grab!

Some stuff is worth doing yourself.

If you want to, you can make pretty much everything yourself, and the instructions for it all are located on Pinterest.

Here are some examples:

40 ways to do shoulder-length hair. pin now, read later.
Mason Jars - Twenty Five Creative Ways to Use Them
Homemade Febreze

See what I mean?  Who knew you could just make your own Febreze and 25 things with Mason Jars.

Well I really need to go pin some more uses for glass jars.  We have tons of pickle and spaghetti sauce jars due to Patrick the Pickle Eater and Bryce who loves Pasta.

In the meantime, I have found for you something very much worth doing yourself!  It's easy! 

From Passion for Savings!

How to make your own Whitening Rinse


All you need to do is mix Hydrogen Peroxide, Baking Soda and a few drops of McCormick Mint Extract.

Too Easy!!!!

#WordlessWednesday Howdy!

Across from the future home of Golftopia, is Stampede a Western Wear & Feed Store.  There Anna found what she has been looking for, and now she says she doesn't have to brush her hair anymore.

Here she is making a goofy face.

It seems like a Sunday but It's #Wordless Wednesday!

Fireworks, Food, the Fouth

I was over on youtube, why was I on youtube?  I don't really remember. I think my brain has been fried by the heat. Earlier today we were out doing errands, and the walk from the air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned store, sapped my will to live.

Now what was the point of this blog post?  Oh yes.  The end of the Fiscal Year for Tastefully Simple has arrived and while it wasn't one of my better sales years, I am still extremely grateful for the flexibility my business  has given me in this crazy year of job loss, house loss and moving.

So July dawns and with it a clean slate and fresh goals for the new Tastefully Simple year. My goal this coming year is to introduce Tastefully Simple to hundreds of people in my new hometown and continue to be the fastest growing team in Western North Carolina!

Back to youtube, below you can see a video from Tastefully Simple with some great easy tips for your July 4th (or any summer) party!

Well, huh, who knew.

I've been busy just doing, what needs doing, dishes, working, sharing the Tastefully Simple love and finding stuff to keep the kids from 'boredom'.  And all the while,  I was very aware that my peeps back in Chicagoland have been having a crazy ton of  triple digit temps.

*side note: reminds me of the major heat wave back in 95.  Crazy hot it was, and I was 24.5 and single.  So my memories are all good.... good times. good times.

Anyway, I just took a look over at the weather.com, and holy CRAP it's gonna be HOT ALL OVER this weekend!

Damn!  That's hot!  We are going to hit 100 here tomorrow.  And the big question is....

Will I turn on the air?  It hasn't been on yet this year, I'm hoping we can get away with not turning it on.  Yes I know, I must be out of my mind.  But hear me out.

1. I've just come to the conclusion, we are going to the beach for the hottest part of the day.

2. It cools off a ton around here at night, so we can muddle thru without the evil money-sucking air conditioning!  Really it does cool off, Look:

Fri Jun 29

100^°F

66^°F

Sunny

Chance of rain:

0%

Wind:

WNW at 6 mph

Sat Jun 30

101^°

69^°

Sunny

Chance of rain:

0%

Wind:

WNW at 5 mph

Sun Jul 1

98^°

68^°

Mostly Sunny

Chance of rain:

0%

Wind:

NW at 5 mph

3. OR I'll drop the kids off at the beach and I'll go to the movies and see Magic Mike in Air-Conditioned Comfort.  I'm Kidding! That would be wrong.





STAY COOL ALL!

The Man take as a turn as Mr. Frugal

Sometime The Man is annoyingly extravagant.  Case in point, he was talking about joining a Country Club. Seriously. Can you say sooooooo not in the budget! I know he means well, he is just dreaming with his words.  Livin' Large.

Thing is, Livin Large talk makes me nervous.  I believe this is because one of my household duties is making sure the bills are paid.  Can you relate?

Frugality, on the other hand, is the way to my heart.  That and a clean kitchen. So recently, The Man did real good and I have to give him his just due.

When we moved into our new place on the shores of Lake Chatuge, the previous owner had left behind a propane tankless, Char-Broil Grill.  Tom cleaned up the grill and then..instead of buying a shiny new propane tank...

He was at the landfill and spied someone throwing away a propane tank.  Right, that isn't protocol for acceptable household waste for sure.  So the fellow working at the dump was OK with The Man taking the dirty, empty propane tank.

The Man brought the tank home and cleaned it up.  Yes, I said cleaned it up.  Personally, I think it's superfluous to clean up an empty propane tank, but he did.  Then we took it to the Bi-Lo where you got a $4.00 off if you exchanged an empty tank for a full one with your Bi-Lo card.

1 new propane tank would have cost $55.00.  1 propane tank exchanged for a full one at Bi-Lo was $16.98.

So we are now grilling at a total OOP (out of pocket) cost of $16.98!

Way to go The Man!

I received a coupon link from My Insite which is a blogging reach-out marketing arm of General Mills/Betty Crocker. This time around they are saying "hey don't forget about our Suddenly Salad when you are looking for a quick BBQ side". 

 I have a secret fondness for the Bacon & Ranch Suddenly Salad, so I'm sharing the coupon link! Enjoy!

 PS often these are part of 10 for $10 deals so a good coupon esp. if you are able to double-coupon !The coupon can really help you get a box of Suddenly Salad for peanuts. Plus they have the Boxtops for Education.

Squeee!!! I figured out how to make pictures linkable, click the picture to grab the Zesty Pasta Salad Recipe!