Fun End Of The Year Teacher Gifts

It is that time of year again...

What to get give the teacher?

Another mug?
Starbucks gift card?
Bath and Body Works?

All useful gifts...

I stumbled across this idea from a friend.
Loved it.

Useful,
fun,
personal,
creative...

What do you think?

Pick out a fun beach towel...

A magazine specific to you teacher...
Travel, Oprah, Bride, Family

Pick out a fun ribbon to pull it all together.
You can even add a monogram as another personal touch.

Don't forget the sunscreen!

Pull it all together...

And voila!

Would love to hear how you make teacher gift giving personal and creative!

As always, thanks for visiting...

Miss Frugality Shares Her tips

Do you ever run out of money
before you run out of month?

Requested by a Simply Brookes fan
(yeah for fans!)

I decided to post some of my personal favorite
money saving tips when the budget gets tight.

Here are a few things I do when I don't want to zip the credit card,
but use what limited budget is actually in the bank account, however small.

1. Rather than head to the mall, head to the walking trail.
This will kill time, it's good for you and it's free!
Free workout...no membership fees
$0

2. Rent a movie.
Rather than take your family to a movie theater and
pay exorbitant prices for tickets and snacks. Stay home,
order a movie OnDemand, watch in the comfort of your own home and
eat your favorite pantry snacks.
Entertainment at home.
$5

3. Eat in.
Pack your lunch when you leave for the day.
If you are running errands, come home to eat!
This one is a slippery slope.
Simply put...EAT AT HOME.
Hello PB&J.
$0

4. Clean a closet.
Take the time to sort through that utility closet you've been telling yourself
you need to go through. Better yet, actually MAKE MONEY by setting aside items
you can sell on craigslist or clothing you could sell at your local consignment shop.
Potential to actually make $$!

5. Catch up on your reading list.
Relax in your favorite reading nook and read that book you've been meaning to get to.
(Hopefully you even got it at the library...another money saver).
More entertainment at home.
$0

6. Take the family out for ice cream instead of dinner.
That's right. Eat at home (Top Roman, anyone?) and for a "treat" pack the kids in the car
and trek down to your nearest and dearest local Golden Arches. You can get sundaes or ice cream cones for less than $1.50...and that is all without even getting out of the car.
Cheap Treats.

7. Go to a FREE museum or monument.
Walk around, eat your sack lunch, go home.
Perfect day of no spending.
Entertainment for free.
$0

8. Wash the car.
No, I don't mean the kind you drive thru and let the guys hand dry.
Heck, you will burn calories doing this yourself.
Put some elbow grease into it.
Get out the vacuum and don't forget the Armor All.
$0

Hopefully that gave you some ideas or revived some oldies but goodies.
Tell me ways YOU stretch your budget at the end of the month.

I love this stuff...

As always, thanks for visiting.

Lovely Laundry Lounges

Some of today's Laundry Rooms, when redone, could actually be considered

Lovely Laundry Lounges

Well done
beautiful
Downright relaxing

What do YOU think?

HGTV

stacksandstacks

inspireddiy.typepad.com

Love this industrial look
oh so sleek

Domino

Two washers, one dryer...nice

materialgirlsblog.com

My darling husband actually does all the house laundry. I know.
He's divine, too.

As always, thanks for visiting

Selling New York---New Fav Show

Have you seen the latest eye candy on HGTV?

Okay, maybe it's not eye candy for all, but for me, for sure.

SELLING NEW YORK
is my new favorite show to drool over.

It's all about uber expensive apartments for sale in New York

It's decadent
Not always my taste
Fun
Dreamy

Maybe I love it because of my new East Coast transplant status?
Maybe I live vicariously through these New York apartment seeking kazillionaires?
Maybe I just look adoringly at city living?

What more could a TV show offer an interior junky like myself?

If you haven't checked it out already, please do so.

Thanks for visiting...

New Twist on an Entertainer's Necessity

Goodbye Wine Tags...
Hello Numbers

What to do when having a dinner party with
stemless wine glasses?
How do you keep track of who's glass is whose?

Here is a new twist
on an old idea

Voila!

Now you can mix and match
Stemware, stemless
doesn't matter

Here is the easy peesy how to:

Get your favorite scrapbook number stickers
according to size, color or whatever you have on hand

(or you could personalize your soiree by monogramming
each individual glass per guests initials...)

How's that for personal touches?

Here are my "naked" wine glasses



Here is after I applied my first sticker
LOVE!

Final Product...

You could also be bold and go more permanent.
You could etch the number directly onto your stemware.
Materials can be found at your local craft store.

This is simply a temporary solution.
Oh, and don't put these bad boys in the dishwasher...
or bye bye sticker.

What do you think?
As always, thanks for visiting

how to make a family strong

One easy solution to uniting your family and making strong connections

Eat...

Yes, that's right.
How to make a family strong?
eat together, daily
No TV's
No answering phones
No texting
Nothing but each other and the meal in front of you

Whether it is breakfast or dinner or something in between
make it happen.

In our busy lives
with taxi-like habits toting kids from one practice to the next

it is essential to ground them with a meal, any meal
together daily!

One way I open my family up for discussion at the table is asking
"what was the best part of your day"

This simple question usually stirs up more detail than the usual
"how was your day?"

The kids now expect this question..

So much so, they now have been known to withhold information after school
waiting for dinner table talk, so the whole family can discuss the days juice.

You'll notice all my flickr photos are of round tables.
Love the round table
No one is on the "end"
Everyone faces one another
great for table talk

Would love to hear YOUR ideas on how you
stay connected

As always, thanks for visiting...