Wait a minute.. You said WHAT???

As any good wife does, I reluctantly moved my expedit desk and bookcase to our empty dining area, and set up shop there. We used to keep our long dining room table here, until I realized JP needed to eat in an area where it could easily be cleaned. The tiled kitchen as opposed to our wall to wall carpet is much easier to clean off things like ketchup and spilled milk.

Since I don’t get alot of undisturbed time to do anything, so I found out I kinda like being out in the open while I do things at my desk. Alot of times, when I used to be set up inside a room – the door would remain shut to conceal the disaster within. I’ve learned to be better about that, now that my creative spot is part of our house!

So here’s what I had, pre-lighting makeover: A small IKEA desk lamp and natural lighting from the window.

The result? The world’s worst mish-mash!

A green wall, the old rug from JP’s nursery, 2 chairs from our dining room because we don’t need to seat 8 people, my desk and bookcase, oodles of craft junk and stuff related to my etsy shop. *whew*

That’s alot of crap for one tiny little corner!!

One big challenge I face with having an office with no door, is pile-ups occur on top of bookshelves when random objects fall into little hands. But buying storage furniture is for another time – this post is about a budget makeover!

This video from GE Lighting best expresses what i’d love to see happen around my house with respect to using energy saving bulbs! So far, i’m into this makeover for about 25 bucks and alot of elbow grease.

One of the things that remained from my once dining room, is the dining room light fixture that I loved so much when my dining room was a dining room. It takes 18 candelabra style bulbs! Eeek!

Either way, I love the light – but it’s not what I would have picked out for my office. So instead of using the overhead lighting, I decided to find a couple of lamps to keep the room lit. I took JP out shopping one evening, in hopes it would tire him out for bed time! All that happened from that experience was having to buy a spongebob light projector for bedtime. So cute, I couldn’t say no – especially because he sometimes wakes up at night crying from his bedroom that he’s scared of the dark. Awwww!

I got these for my office lamps, to brighten things up a little! They even had energy saving bulbs for outdoor lights! I didn’t know those existed!

I came home with some GE Reveal energy saving lightbulbs, enough for 3 sockets. I put one in the lamp next to my printer and 2 in another floorlamp with attached reading lamp that I resurrected from the garage.

I put out the old nursing chair I had from JP’s nursery, 1 of 2 pillows from our sofa and old lamp we might have thrown away. I even have enough room to keep my sewing machines where I will USE them!! I love sitting here now!

You may follow GE Lighting on Twitter and Facebook

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias. All opinions are 100% my own.

My hubby asked me if I wanted to go on any family roadtrips this summer. If we weren't the parents of a three year old, I would have said yes before he finished his sentence, but no. Instead I looked at him as if he were out of his mind.

"Are you insane!?" I asked him in disbelief.

There's just no way we could keep JP in a car seat and drive somewhere for 8 hours. The thought of it sounds like pure torture – for both him and us! 

We both became silent for a long moment before mutually agreeing on on finding somewhere to go within 3 hours worth of driving. I'm sure we are not the first people to be faced with this problem, but I did wish I knew more about cool new places to see in our very own state.

I really wish we lived closer to Pennsylvania, because I know exactly what we'd do! I just recently discovered pa-roadtrips where they have a bunch of pre-made road trips already mapped out for you! Choose from one of the many different road trip themes, from kid friendly to a shop-a-holic's dream and visit the best tourist attractions they recommend along the way.

It's such a toss up as to which road trip I love the most. Of course, I always gravitate towards the stuff designed for the kiddos – for obvious reasons. But as long as we're dreaming here – a romantic getaway or scenic tour of haunted destinations are also some great choices too!

There is something for everyone at pa-roadtrips. If you plan on visiting Pennsylvania this year, I highly recommend checking it out, you WON'T be disappointed!

It gets tiresome… and stressful!

I never really looked into a solution – it didn’t really occur to me that I could do something about it until I heard about unroll.me‘s cool new service. Basically, it  works for those of us that have gmail, yahoo or aol mail, and it’s as simple as installing an app to your account. It helps minimize the amount of emails that filter into your inbox on a daily basis. Love getting your groupon alerts but don’t want to be beat up with emails? Add it to your rollup and only hear from them once a day instead of more.

I was skeptical at first – I’m not very good at change when it comes to how I like to read my email. I decided to give it a try and see what a difference it would make.

I entered in my details..

Installed the app…

…And then let it analyze my junky inbox!

It has ALOT of suggestions as to what I should put in my daily rollup. I’d still love to hear from macy’s every day, but I’ll put that one in  my rollup because it’s not that terribly important for me to hear about more than once a day. I was also able to unsubscribe from newsletters I don’t really read anymore. Yes, I am guilty of being too lazy to unsubscribe!

So this morning when I got up to check my email – I had ONE email.. from my sister! The nice part is, I still see every single email that goes by via my phone, so I don’t miss a thing.

Sign up to check it out! It’s free and it’s been a big help so far!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias. All opinions are 100% my own.

This week, we were lucky enough to be the recipients of a large box of goodies courtesy of Crayola™! We took it to the back patio because even though Crayola™ stuff is said to be easy on the mess – it was nice to get to do our craft time while listening to birds chirping in the trees and the breeze blowing in our hair.

We love our arts and crafts around here – JP loves playing with markers, glue, crayons and basically anything that will leave a mark or make a mess! His eyes became wide like saucers when he saw me pull all this stuff out and told him we could play with it…

He didn’t know where to start!

Usually I like to have some type of finished product at the end of craft time, but instead this we just played..

Crayola Mess-Free Marker Paper

And played…

My First Crayola Self-Inking Stamps (made for little hands)

….And played some more!

My First Crayola Crayons

I really loved how the crayons and markers were perfectly designed for little hands to hold on to. I always wondered why they made those fat triangular shaped crayons – it helps train little fingers how to hold a pencil!

This box came chock full of great thing for small children to get acquainted with arts and crafts. Here’s what came in the box:

Your My First Crayola™ gift pack will contain:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As for any messes? Well he got a little carried away while I was watering plants… No worries – it was easy cleanup!

The information, products, coupon, video and additional My First CrayolaTM gift pack was provided by Crayola® and Cheerios through MyBlogSpark.”

"DING DONG"

Loud barking erupts from Cookie and JP springs off the sofa screaming "A box, mommy, A BOX!"  he squeals with delight. He runs to the front door and peers out the side window to see what arrived. I open the door, and Cookie growls while simultaneously trying to attack the box laying on the doorstep. Her 8 lbs of wrath gets shooed away and told to go lay down.

This scenario happens at-least 2 to 3 times a week around here! Yes, It's entirely my fault – between running a home business, blogging and online shopping we have become on a first name basis with our UPS driver.  

Much to JP's delight, today we received something fun… Something any little boy would would go insane for…

Something like cars… AND dinosaurs!

I opened the box, and pulled out two brand-new Switch & Go Dinos.

He could not WAIT for me to open them! Unfortunately, a 3 year old does not understand why we have to photograph everything before we tear it open. Luckily for us, it wasn't too painful of a process to free the toys. All it took was a simple snip of the plastic zip ties.

And then I got at-least a solid hour of engrossed playtime! 

He was thrilled with his new cars, but you should have seen how excited he was when his little blue car transformed into a triceratops dinosaur!

Not only does it act as 2 toys in 1, but it also makes the appropriate sounds according to what transformation it is. The LCD screen even changes to a set of eyes as opposed to a race car driver when it's in dino mode!

Vroooommmm! says the car mode and Rwwrraaaahhhrrrr! says the dino while enlightening you with random dinosaur facts as you play with them. JP was in heaven! And I was in heaven too – he played quietly in the living room for over an HOUR by himself!

I couldn't ask for more

They have more to the collection other than Horns the Triceratops and Silver the T-Rex. Check them out and Buy today on Amazon!

Which one would YOU get??

I’ve talked before about how much I love spring and summer and all the warm weather that goes with it. One thing I’ve never talked about is the allergies I suffer from that come with spring. For this time of the year, mornings suck - here’s a snapshot of my everyday wakeup experience:

I wake up…

I fix JP’s breakfast…

I sneeze…

I blow my nose…

…and I suffer with my allergies until I can get it together!

So I visited my local CVS to get some stuff to help me go from drab to fab! I like to try and put makeup on every day – even if I am not going anywhere. There’s something about fixing up and making yourself feel pretty that just makes your day better. Besides, it only takes 10 minutes!

I picked up a few beauty goodies…

and of course, that much needed Allegra!

Oh, and did you know that for the month of May you can get a 30 count of Allegra for $17.99 with your CVS card? I thought that was a pretty awesome deal!!

I started using it, knocking back a pill every morning with a glass of water…

After a few days using it regularly, my mornings aren’t as harsh anymore!

As for that mascara? It’s awesome too!

Allegra was a HUGE help in allowing me to go from drab…

To Fab!! It was so nice to have my own little allergy makeover!

You may follow Allegra on Twitter and Facebook

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias. All opinions are 100% my own.

I’m not one to be chatty on the phone for hours. It’s not that I’m snooty or anything, but free time in my world is hard to come by. Myself personally, I like to text because It’s simple, straight and to the point. Some would argue that it’s impersonal – yeah, it is – but then again, the telephone as a whole can be impersonal too! Besides, I usually have JP competing for my attention when I’m on the phone anyway, so that brings me back to why I’m a texter.

I found out about the coolest new app that adds some really nice features to any android smart phone. It’s called  POWOW Messenger for Android and it’s free to download!

“Why is it cool?” you ask? Well, for starters, you can communicate with a group of friends – much like blackberry messenger, only it dosen’t  restrict you. You may have a group discussion with any circle of friends matter what device your friends are using! I was able to divide up my contacts into different groups – my playdate-mommy friends from my family and work contacts.

I added my closest buddies to a test group – we were able to chat (or call) freely with each other. Awesome!

Another neat feature is that you can also mute someone with their “zip it” feature or ignore them altogether with “blacklist”. Cute

There’s a long list of  modern features, but here are a few of  my favorites:

• Voice Text input capability: Utilize Google’s voice input technology to speak your texts rather than typing.
• Contact Pics: Import Facebook, Twitter, Google Contacts, and/or LinkedIn pics for use in your text conversations.
• Favorites: Easily set your favorite contacts and filter messages without having to scroll through your entire history
• PopUp Notifications: Instead of exiting an app or browser to see your new message, have it pop up right on your screen where you can decide whether to respond, ignore, delete, or call.

Best of all.. Did I say this app was FREE? Check it out here: POWOW Messenger for Android

For this mother’s day, I’m going to share a quick and easy way to make delicious deviled eggs as shown in Hellmann’s Recipes online. They were super easy to make! Granted, I used store bought hard-boiled eggs because I’m not very good at getting the eggs not to oxidize after cooking them. I’m talking about that gross green ring you get around the yolk if you don’t immediately submerge them in cold water after cooking them.

Anyway, that’s our little secret –  store bought ones turned out just fine! It’s the perfect take along dish to pot lucks or family picnics.

There are soooo many delectable looking dishes found within Hellmann’s Recipes, and I’ll be trying alot of them this summer. Who dosen’t LOVE Hellmann’s mayo? They not only have recipes tailor made for mayo, but also great ways of utilizing Ragu Old World Style tomato sauce and Lipton Gallon – for creating more deliciousness for summer get togethers.

Wanna know how I made the deviled eggs? Well since you know I started with store bought hard boiled eggs, so I skipped a HUGE step in boiling and shelling the eggs. If you do decide to use your own hard boiled eggs, try to use older eggs because the shells are easier to remove than fresh eggs.

I used 6 eggs, and cut them each in half

Then I popped each yolk out into a bowl. They slid out pretty easily – just like ice cubes!

Then I used the back of a spoon to mash up the yolks in the bowl. I added all the rest of the ingredients – 1/4 cup of Hellmann’s mayo, a teaspoon of Hellmann’s Creamy Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

All mixed up and ready to fill back in the empty eggs whites!

Now, time for the fun part – filling them with a pastry bag! I folded it over, as if I was putting in icing and it worked perfectly!

Now time to enjoy it!!

When my husband asked me what I would like for mother’s day, I looked at him point blank and told him I wanted peace and quiet for an afternoon. {Peace and quiet} is a rare commodity with a 3 year old around the house. Don’t get me wrong, my son is the center of my universe – but sometimes this mommy needs a time out!

So, his treat was taking me on a date (alone, no less!) for a refreshing CoronaRita at Chili’s while JP got babysat. It was so nice to remember what it was like when we used to date!

Pretty awesome looking, huh!?

So when I was perusing the menu, I came across the new CoronaRita Margarita. To be honest, I wasn’t sure about ordering it at first because I really don’t like beer very much. I was surprised at how much it tasted like like limeade! Cold, tart and as refreshing as you could possibly imagine (also packs a punch too, so make sure you’re not driving!)

Then I ordered it…. and it arrived, in all it’s glory!

I thought it had the coolest looking presentation with the corona sticking up out of the drink. It’s almost like ordering one of those huge pineapples with umbrellas and flowers when it arrives at your table! It felt very special

Since it was practically 2 drinks in 1, My hubby and I shared it and we both loved it! I really loved the fact that it arrived WITHOUT salt around the rim of the glass too. Usually, salt always seems to trickle into my margarita and makes it taste too salty – not my favorite.

We decided to pair it with some yummy chicken fajitas! I highly recommend

I have to say, a fun afternoon out on a date with my hubby with {Peace and Quiet} at our side was just what we needed. Sometimes it’s nice to stop and remember why your spouse IS your spouse in the first place! We came home relaxed and happy (no thanks to the CoronaRita though!!) *wink*

*You must be 21 or older to drink alcoholic beverages and as always, please remember to drink responsibly* 

I talked about my garden a little while ago, and I thought I’d share yet another update I have made recently. Now that I got everything planted, fertilized and thriving – I realized I needed some garden markers to know what was what because the little plastic printed ones that came with the plant wasn’t cutting it.

I decided it would be the perfect project for none other than the brand new Painters Paint Markers by Elmer’s.

I found these Elmer’s Painters Paint Markers in the craft department for a bargain 1.97$ when I was out shopping, they had a bunch of different colors!

…And the paint stir sticks were a whopping 28 cents!

All you really need to create this craft is:

Here’s my spray paint setup – a plastic drop cloth held into the ground with garden lights and bounce house stakes!

Then I masked off the bottom of each one so I could add another color.

I had such fun painting these, i did it all while JP was at preschool during the day while I sat on the back patio listening to birds chirping. It was pure therapy, I tell you!!

I wanted a fun, whimsical touch with lots of color for these markers – I am so in love with how they turned out!! Now it’s time to add to the collection becauseI still have a little bit of garden space left…

….I’m thinking pumpkins are next!

Here’s where my garden was before the planting begun:

And here it is now with my garden and garden markers!

I even have a couple of little green strawberries growing!

I can’t wait to finish making more of them!

You may follow Elmer’s on twitter and facebook

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias. All opinions are 100% my own.