Cruisin'

Wow am I behind on blogging.  I haven't blogged in so long it is crazy.  Honestly, for me, blogging is like journaling and journaling is like therapy.  So the break in posts isn't a good thing for my heart and soul.  Writing is a a way for me to process my thoughts and feelings and blogging makes me edit and review.

The past few months have been so busy.  We have been traveling, Phil changed jobs, my freelance jobs are keeping me on my toes (and at my computer); it's been busy.  I feel as though I have been out of town more than I have been in town but I love the life adventure I have been experiencing.

Our first trip was a cruise!  I had never been on a cruise before so I was pretty excited.  And we had a great time so I was not disappointed.

Our ship the Carnival Magic.

Cruises are a funny thing though.  They are kind of like summer camp.  Or have you ever seen the movie Dirty Dancing?  It's just like that; a bunch 'wealthy' adults being entertained.  It seemed too cheesy - too fake and people were eating it up (figuratively and literally). So sometimes I had a bit of a hard time with that. I met folks from Indonesia, Philippines, Panama, Australia, England, Nevada - everywhere. Many, perhaps the majority, of the crew on board were from less fortunate countries and lives working hard (very hard - long hours) to make and send money home.  They were away from their homes, families, children for months at a time.   I didn't intend to make this post to have a social commentary but it was something I walked away with in my mind so I thought it was important to at least acknowledge that the dynamics of the boat were strange for me, often humbling as I vacationed in luxury.

So it wouldn't really be vacation without a bunch of fun and that we had.  It felt like we were always on the go, something to do or see.  We went to magic shows, comedy shows, fancy dinners and casual meals.  We laid in the sun, went down the water slides got massages bought watches and perfume and had a marvelous time. The cruise was 7 days with 3 stops to Jamaica, The Cayman Islands, and Cozumel.

In Jamaica, Phil and I floated the river.  The river looked very dirty because it had been raining in the mountains and that was stirring everything up as it came down the mountain.

The river was very still and we were tied to a group of 10ish with a guide that basically paddled us down the river.  He was a really nice guy that liked to go by Shrek.  

These are a few pics of the view up through the mountain.

My favorite part of the cruise was our second stop of the trip at the Cayman Islands where we went on a Stingray excursion.  Originally I thought this excursion would be boring and with too many people and while there were SOOO many people I didn't even care I just loved watching the stingrays.  I even got to hold a couple!!!!

I'm READY!!!! --- see all the people.

snorkle kiss.  haha.

Cayman was the most beautiful place and the day was perfect.

The whole Gang!

Me and my Buddy.

Other than what was your favorite part of the cruise the other main question I am asked is did I get sea sick. Well yes I did!  Not completely sick but off enough to wish I had gotten a prescription.  

I took this video below one day to show how much the boat was moving.  This is our door knocker.  Keep in mind that I completely stopped the sign and just let it pick up speed on it's own.

And here are a few other random photo favs.

So that's it.  As our maitre d' would say, we had "fun fun fun"!

What do you want to know about home schooling?

Hey everyone, I am working on a post about my experience being home schooled.  Since I seem to have a lot of friends thinking and considering home schooling for their children I thought it might be useful for me to share my experience and what I know with whomever is interested.

Before I write what I think you might want to know I thought I would try and find out what you really do want to know.  So I am asking!

Here is a brief outline of what I thought I would share:

• Why we were home schooled.
• The transition from public school to home school.
• Co-ops/Socialization
• Curriculum

Leave a comment and let me know what most interests you.

Chemical Free Cleaning

I think I have fallen in love with white vinegar!  I decided the other day that I wanted to experiment with some DIY natural cleaning products.  So I did a little research and found that white vinegar was an ingredient most commonly referred to.

Here are a few things that I have played around so far.

• Laminate floor cleaner (used it to spot mop and was quite pleased....looking forward to the full floor mop up)
• Kitchen counter cleaner (not for marble!!!)
• Air freshener
• Dog ear cleaning solution (afterward the dogs kept sniffing each others ears which was cracking me up)
• Stainless Steel sink cleaner
• Gnat trapper (worked better than I expected)

I found this site which, as it is aptly titled, has a TON uses for white vinegar!!!

Here are a few fun things I found out while researching.
1. When a recipe calls for alcohol it can be rubbing or drinking like vodka.
2. Lemon is a great ingredient to add it is a fresh smell, degreaser, and whitener.

So I bought a spray bottle at Walmart to mix up my first solution of white vinegar, water, and lemon.

So there you have it.  My potion a la clean!  I have to admit though there is a part of me that has been so {fooled/tricked/taught/reliant} on the harsh chemical cleaners that I don't feel like things are clean and sanitary unless they smell like chemicals, have a label on the bottle shouting antibacterial.  I might need to make a label for my bottle... or become a chemist. hmm.  I mean seriously sometimes I just want to swab the counter after I wipe it down and look under the microscope to see how clean it is.  Needless to say the complete transition to chemical free or perhaps more likely chemical-less in my house will be a slow process as I retrain my brain but I think I'll get there one day.

Next solution to try is white vinegar and baking soda for a good scrub down for the bathroom tub.  oh boy.

Photo a Day Challenge

Well I've tried it once before but to no avail but I am trying again this month to follow a photo a day challenge. Each day already has a pre-assigned topic for you to shoot. I am joining The Idea Room in this challenge and it is really fun because you post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag (# symbol for those who don't know) and then you can look in the category of all the other people's photos who are also participating. I think it is really neat to see how people interpret the topics differently. Also it's neat because several people (my sis and cousin) are also participating so it's like a little daily interaction that we probably wouldn't necessarily have otherwise. So this being the 6th, it's day six of the challenge and so far I have posted a photo every day.

Here is the challenge list and my photos for each day so far.

Kitchen Makeover

Over the past couple of months I have been in the process of having my kitchen undergo a bit of a makeover.  Our house was built in 1963 and I'm fairly sure the counter tops were original. (If not original-pretty close cause they were OLD!)  I have been pretty proud of this project because the money for this project came from my first personal payday from my freelance/side business which I felt was a nice accomplishment for my little "after hours" job.

Have you ever redesigned/remodeled/updated your house?  Well it is harder than you think!  Or at least harder than I thought. Making decisions based on little bitty swatches and samples can make a person crazy.  I think this project turned out okay.  It is growing on me I guess. I honestly don't think the photos do it justice but here is the before and after run down.

Homemade&Save - Lil' more Social - A Hodge Podge

Well I can't really believe how quickly January has flown by.  Not that I mind.  I am always ready for the cold weather to get a move on outta here.  We still have to endure February which generally proves to be cold but I'll happily endure if it kills some of those pesky mosquitoes from last year.

I haven't blogged in awhile I suppose that's because I haven't thought I had much to say other than complaining.

But we did celebrate Phil's birthday by a trip to WinStar Casino and he bought a remote control helicopter to celebrate 32 :)

A Little More Mess

Last weekend I took down the Christmas tree but I just wasn't ready to take down all the decor so I left some up in the name of "winter decor".  Snowflakes, garland and twinkle lights have all remained.  Some ornaments even stayed out because I didn't yet purchase more pine cones to replace them.  I don't really mind them though because they are gold, green and browns as opposed to traditional Christmas colors.

In the process of cleaning up I found myself frustrated with my decor in my living room.  My bookshelves seemed cluttered and my entertainment center felt haphazard so I went to work on restaging.  I saw on someone's Facebook page (I don't even remember who) this picture of them in front of their bookshelves which were adorable, books and little nick knack chotchkies everywhere and instead of looking like a mess it was very visually interesting. So I thought perhaps that my problem with my book shelves and entertainment center was not that it was too messy... it was that it wasn't messy enough.  LOL.  Crazy sounding I know.  But I went to work on them adding and repositioning things for a better visual interest and I feel very pleased with the results.

So the downside here is that I don't have before pictures but here are the after pictures.