With all the fun of the season, it’s also that time again to start Spring Cleaning!  Every home needs it, and it makes such a big difference when everything is said and done.  I love decluttering my home, personally.  When this year’s spring season began, I turned my house upside-down so it would be nice and fresh for the new season!   I got to work as quickly as I could on things that had been neglected all winter.  Fridge, inside of oven, microwave – you name it! There wasn’t a spot in this house that was safe from my super-mom cleaning frenzy!! All the boxes and countless stacks of papers that were littering our kitchen and living areas were finally put away.  I had unopened mail sitting in a pile for who knows how long.  Nice to finally be rid of the mounting piles of junk that managed to migrate into our house over the cold season.

Along with the cleaning frenzy I started, came an organizing frenzy as well!  Our living room felt closed off, so I rearranged all our furniture.  Our living space is now bright, sunny, and open.  It looks amazing with the windows wide open and the sun coming in to all the right areas.  We don’t even have to use lights during the day now.  It’s so refreshing to finally have our home just the way I envisioned it when we moved in over the Winter period.  Don’t forget that companies like musicMagpie.com can help with your Spring cleaning and organizing by also selling your items that you no longer need.

Now I’d love to hear from you – what is your favorite part of Spring?  Do you enjoy Spring cleaning?

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post, however, my thoughts are my own.

Life in Illinois is different, but it’s alright.  I miss my southern weather!  Everyone complains about the heat, but I’d love to have it up here.  I am not a snow person one bit.  I like having two seasons – hot and hotter.  lol.  I am definitely a southern girl at heart, having grown up in Georgia.  Even though I was born in North Dakota I cannot claim the north as my home.  I might not like sweet tea or biscuits, but I sure do miss that weather! I am an honorary southern girl, at the very least.

As life is coming at me fast, I am looking at returning to blogging more often!  It’s been a whirlwind with the girls growing so quickly along with Scentsy and other things going on.  I plan to set aside more blogging time so I can keep up with the virtual world here on these interwebs.  Cassie is becoming mobile, so it’s harder for me to tear away from having to chase after her and her sister.

Life may be crazy right now, but I enjoy it.  I love that my girls are getting bigger and will be having tea parties together soon along with sleepovers and movie nights! I might already have their lives planned, ssh don’t tell them.  ;) I just look forward to the new milestones, as much as they are bittersweet for me because my babies won’t be my babies forever.  I just have to keep pushing forward.

So, until we meet again blogging world! I’ll be back! *insert other movie cliché here*.

Thanks for reading!

I went everywhere I possibly could in my Cavalier, sometimes just to drive it in general.  It was such a smooth ride, and I learned I could fit quite a lot in it.  Once I moved out of my parents home into an apartment, I moved an entire apartment in my car in about two trips.  The back seats laid down, which gave me plenty of room.  I had the four door, so I never had to feel cramped or fold seats down to get to what I wanted to.  The trunk was quite large as well, and extends quite a bit that you don’t notice from the outside since the car appears to be so compact.  Being 5’11″I also worried about leg room, but the Cavalier had more than enough leg room for me with some extra space as well.

After my mother saw my luck with my Cavalier, she decided she was interested in a Chevrolet also, and ended up purchasing a Chevy SSR and Chevy Camaro.   The SSR was so unusual to see around our small town that people would often stop and take pictures of it.  The SSR was truly my mother’s dream car.  She was like a little kid on Christmas day (much like me) when she got her Camaro.  She bought a yellow Camaro with black stripes, and even named it Bumblebee.

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.

Currently, he drives a red Dodge pickup truck.  His Dakota was one of my absolute favorites.  I remember going on long family trips in his Dakota to and from New York where he was located.  There are a lot of fond memories I have of listening to polka music, traveling across the east coast, and enjoying the sights and most random restaurants we could find.  We not once had an issue traveling as far as we did (I was located in Georgia at the time) in any of his Dodge vehicles.  When my mom was in the market for a new vehicle, he instantly suggested several Dodge brands.  My mother ended up going with a different brand, and the results were not very good.  My mother bought a mini-van at the same time my grandfather bought a mini-van from Dodge, and his lasted so much longer, the functionality and look of the Dodge was so much better.  My mother’s car had so many problems right off the get-go.  I think we both know that Dodge is a brand that we can now stand behind.  Parents know what’s best, as often as we don’t like to admit it.  She definitely thinks differently about making vehicle purchases now, and I hope one day to own a Dodge myself.

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post, however my thoughts are my own.

Along with being a useful tool for remembering items you want to keep close by, a lanyard can also help brand a company by providing the logo of a company.  Often, during things like conventions, they hand out lanyards so that you know who is from what company.  I have even been to social conventions that used lanyards to promote the convention itself.  The lanyards I have worn have always been bright in color so that they are eye catching, and have a name boldly printed on it as well, so that it not only catches your eye, but helps you remember the company itself.  For instance, I mentioned working in a mall, they used bright yellow lanyards so that customers could easily find us if they needed assistance.  For the convention, they used bright green lanyards with words printed in black or vice versa.  The easier you can make it for a customer to remember you, the higher chance you have of customers returning to you should they need your services in the future.  Sometimes you don’t even realize it, but after seeing a lanyard you remember the company name afterwards.  There have been countless times of working around medical staff, that I would see their lanyards and remember their hospital or office name without even thinking about it.  Branding truly is a great idea if you want to be remembered.

Now I would love to hear from you.  Have you ever worked in a place that used lanyards?  Do you remember seeing a company name on a lanyard?

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.

Our most embarrassing situation yet, was when we had a new roommate move into our apartment with us.  Our new roommate was not aware that you do NOT (in any situation) flush baby wipes.  Baby wipes even say on the labels now that they are not flush-able  so I am not sure why, but that is exactly what happened.  He did not tell us, but this had been occurring for some time.  Finally, our toilets started backing up, and eventually we had to call a plumber out to save us.  They arrived within the hour, and went under the house to find the pipe to the particular bathroom that was flooding over.  Once he pulled the pipe apart, there was nothing but baby wipes in the pipes and had cause one pipe to actually burst.  We could not believe it, until our roommate confessed that he had been flushing them for some time and we did not know about it.

I did not know what to say to our poor plumber, but thanked him for coming out to “rescue” us once again.  I guess we all learned a valuable lesson.  When a product says “not intended for certain use” – definitely pay attention to that fact.  Our roommate was very apologetic and helped us cover the cost of the plumbing fix and pipe patch they were able to do to save our pipes from bursting any further.  I have always had good personal experiences with Roto-Rooter, and they have saved us from a multitude of bad situations.  I highly recommend Roto-Rooter as a stand-up company as far as charges, service, and customer service.  Not many companies are able to offer all three, but Roto-Rooter is one company I will continue to stand behind for that reason alone.

Now I would like to hear from you.  Have you ever had to deal with an embarrassing plumbing situation?

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.

Personally, I use several types of marketing along with online search engine marketing.  I have used signs, brochures, fliers, business cards, magnets, and so much more.  I believe branding a business is one of the most important things you can do.  Having a brand people remember and can easily associate your business with can help a business tremendously.  A name that is fitting and easy to remember is also important when starting your business venture.  I have found that the less you complicate things, the better.  Names that are short, sweet, and to-the-point help people remember you even easier.  Appearances can be everything when it comes to someone approaching your business for more information.  Always being presentable, along with having information that is easy to find for the public is a huge help.  If you have ever been to a convention and you see two booths that are similar, but one has a very attractive setup and branding, you usually go for the one with the attractive setup vs. the one that has their items scattered and doesn’t seem to care.  It’s important to appreciate the customers or readers that you do have vs. making things hard to find or for them to remember.

I intend to go back to school to major in Business Marketing, and that is how much I believe marketing can help a business grow and become successful.  I would one day like to, one day, be there to spread the word for up-and-coming companies or bloggers just getting their feet wet.

Now I would like to hear from you.  Do you have a small business or blog?  How has marketing helped you?

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.

After waking up and coming to, I ran to see if my family was home, and my grandfather was outside staring at the top of the house.  I ran outside in the rain to see what was going on, and a tree had fallen length-wise the length of our entire home onto the top of it.  As I walked back inside to see the damage, I could see the sky around our attic door (the type that you pull down), and I knew things were bad.  I went back into my room and there was a tree limb hanging through my closet – which was feet away from where I was sleeping.  No one was hurt, and we were very lucky, but our house definitely took a beating.  Our home suffered $17,000 in damage.  Trees went through all of the bedroom closets and the attic was completely crushed.  The tree was a healthy tree that happened to have shallow roots, and had to be removed piece by piece by our very helpful roofers (that I am ever-grateful) for coming to save us in the rain, and ensure our home did not suffer further damage.  It was one of the scariest experiences I have ever had, but I am thankful that the roofers were there nearly immediately, and were there to help us cover the hole while they made adjustments to the roof.

Now I’d like to hear from you.  Has your home ever suffered a massive amount of damage?  Tell me your story in the comments below.

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.

Let me also say, that I am not a “girly-girl” by any means.  I do not need to have someone do my makeup and hair, but I did make myself presentable.  My husband told me that I looked great before our wedding, which was so nice to hear.  It might not have been the typical wedding scenario, but it helped to hear that.  We were married by a Judge, and it took maybe all of ten minutes.  My dad tried his best to get pictures of our special occasion, and only one came out at all.  The only picture I have of our wedding is one after we said our vows and you can’t see my husband other than the back of his head.  I cannot tell you how much I regret not hiring a professional photographer for our special day.  I do not have any pictures to put up of us getting married, and as much as I remember that day, I would still like to have pictures to look at as well.  I can’t stress how much I wish I could go back time and change this situation if I possibly could.  There are no pictures of our wedding guests, and no actual pictures of us getting married.  It is just something I hold in my memories now.

Now I’d like to hear from you.  Did you ever have an experience where you wish you had hired a professional photographer?

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own

The first thing to keep in mind, that spanking an animal will detract from them learning.  Animals that have been abused take more time to work with.  It’s important to keep a lot of patience and a positive attitude.  Animals, much like children, learn through repetition, and practice makes perfect! They might not get it the first day, but they do get there.

One of the first things I learned was how to train a dog that has shown past fits of aggression (towards the owner or other animals).  Some dogs get, what I call, the Napoleon complex.  Chihuahuas have been the worst for this in my personal experiences, so I will start with some tips for small breed aggression.  I found that once a dog snips or tries to assert dominance over their owner – the first thing to do is roll them onto their back and speak sternly to them.  Do not yell at the dog, but keep a stern tone.  Dogs tend to take control if they have the opportunity to do so, so they assume they are in charge.  Rolling them over lets them know that they are not the one in charge.  Speaking sternly lets them know that you are the dominant one, and takes away their idea that they run things.  It’s a simple and effective trick to practice each time this happens, and eventually the dog will roll over on their own vs. snipping or becoming aggressive.

The important thing to remember, never get in the middle of two dogs showing aggression towards one another.  You can become easily hurt, and you will not stop the dog fight should there be one.  It’s important to keep pets on a leash for this reason.  Even if your dog knows his way home or walks right beside you, you can never trust another dog out there.  You do not know how that dog will react or what another dog will do – so please keep pets leashed, and teach children not to pet dogs without first asking the owner.

I hope these few tips can help someone in need with beginning dog training, and I would happy to share more.  Leave a comment below if you have ever trained a dog, or are struggling with an unruly pet.

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post however, all the points and views are my own.