Happy 4th of July!

The Fourth of July is probably my favorite holiday. I say probably, because it's hard to decide which excuse to dress up, decorate, etc is truly my favorite, but I've always loved it because it is A) in the summer B) My hometown made a big deal out of it C) It means my birthday is less than a week away D) Fireworks...ok, I could probably go on and on but I'll stop. :)

Today we headed over to Newton, J's hometown, to watch their parade. It's a long parade, but it's usually a lot of fun even if it is hotter than Hades. They start it off at 9:30 and I think today we left at 11ish, just as it was finishing. We hang out with J's mom's side of the family and just have fun. The kids love the candy and the little flags that Grandma brings for them to wave. It starts off with a tribute to the veterans. Every year it makes me a little misty eyed. I personally know a lot of veterans and I just don't think they always get the recognition they deserve. When they march through the town though, every stands and claps. The pride on the veterans' faces gets me. It's hot, the parade is long and they just keep marching. They even have floats for the ones that can't/don't want to walk. Some have what war they were a part of on the floats, others just march together, but, goosebumps and tears every time. This year I could blame it on my contacts ;) Anyway, the boys got some candy and they each ended up with a die cast car from the speedway and overall, had a great time. 

The rest of the day has been kinda lazy, the heat wore us out. While the boys were napping I spent a little time sunbathing (like 15 minutes...it was too hot!) and then took a nap. After that, I took a shower and decided to make a DIY workout shirt that I found on pinterest from here. Turned out pretty cute, not too bad for a first timer! 

I think we're going to find something to fix for dinner and then maybe early to bed for all of us. Feels weird to be off in the middle of the week, but back to the grind tomorrow.

Hope everyone else has had a happy and safe 4th!

Oh, for the love of...vinegar?

Lately I have been OBSESSED with using vinegar for so many things.

First, it started with cleaning the dishwasher. It seemed to help make it run better, dry faster and even degrease it some. (You know, the filter in the bottom gets "gunky" it helps clean it).

Then I read it works great in the laundry. First thing I did was use it to clean my washer. Our fabric softener thing in the middle was kinda gunky as well. I poured some in the softener hole and ran an empty load. It was still kinda gross, so I figured out how to tear it apart,  scrub it and put it back together. Now every load I wash, I pour a bunch in the fabric softener holder. I don't actually measure, I just pour until its full, and sometimes, I even pour until it's overflowing. Doesn't hurt anything, in fact, it's pretty good for the laundry! I know some people wonder, does it stink afterwards? Because face it, vinegar doesn't smell the best. Well, when you first open the washer, there's a very good chance you will smell it. HOWEVER, by the time the laundry is dry, either in the dryer OR hung to dry, there is no trace of vinegar smell. I will say the first couple times I used it on my towels, they seemed more scratchy than normal. I did some research (ok fine, I just googled it) and apparently that is very very normal. It's because it's breaking down the softener residue that's been left over from the other softeners and dryer sheets. A couple runs thru and they stopped, or you can keep using the dryer sheets with it. (I use them for the static stuff more than anything).

I recently have determined what a wonderful stain remover it is! Of course you would believe me better if I had before and after pictures, but I don't have any so you'll have to wait until next time I get a good stain. HOWEVER. For father's day, J got a light gray shirt with Darth Vader on it. Then for dinner we had ribs. and Emerson had red jello cake. Emerson's Jello cake ended up all over J's gray shirt. I thought for sure it was ruined after one wear, and I think that J believed it as well. But I made him take it off as soon as we got in the house. I took it upstairs to the laundry area (Seriously, I hope to never have to have my laundry anywhere but on the same floor as the bedrooms again...sorry, side tracked...) and poured a tiny bit of laundry detergent on it and scrubbed. All that it was doing was making a bigger mess so I kinda panicked.  I then put a towel under the shirt and poured some vinegar on as a last ditch effort and tossed it in the washer with some towels. Because honestly, if that Jello is gonna end up all over everything, it better be my towels and not my clothes!!!  But...low and behold, I pulled it out of the washer and it's GONE! I even hung it up to dry because I was worried it would magically reappear, but it did not. I also got some mystery grease stain on my favorite t shirt (it's my 5k shirt the Court to Court...It's American Apparel, so super soft). It had most likely been washed and dried on there so I was bummed, but thought, well, you never know, it might get rid of it. I put a little laundry detergent on again, just in case, then poured vinegar over then washed it. Also hung to dry and sure enough, no more mystery stains! I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to try it out with two little boys, so I'll see if I can find some pictures for us.

It also works great as an air fresher, and I include it in all of my homemade cleaners, like the Shower Magic, Homemade 409 and the magical shower head cleaner. You can also use it to clean your garbage disposal (freeze it in ice cubes then chop them up) and all kinds of other things. Recently, I even used it on the kitchen floor, by the door was pretty dingy, so thought I'd try it. Sprayed it on straight from the bottle and let it sit and it is VISIBLY cleaner with only a small amount of scrubbing. Overall, it's my new miracle product. The best part is, it's super cheap, and no harsh chemicals, so I feel safe using it around the pets and children.

What do you use vinegar for?

Busy Busy!

Summer is in full swing here at the Duggan household. Boys have been enjoying their time with Daddy. So far they've been to a few parks, visited Papa Leo, Grandma Jean, Nana and Papa, gone bowling, fishing, learning some school stuff, played with lots of toys, frisbee...the list goes on and on.

Last weekend Grandma Rory (Lori) and Aunt Sissy came to visit. We went to the farmer's market, the sculpture park and just spent time together. We also made supercool "acid" washed shirts using my Silhouette and some bleach. I found a couple links from Pinterest and they were super easy.

 I think overall we had a great time. I know the boys enjoyed spending time with them. They were pretty bummed out when they woke up from their nap on Sunday and they were gone. Daddy was at a card tournament and got 2nd place and had a lot of fun hanging out with his Iowa City friends he doesn't get to see very often.

Last week pretty much flew by and we spent the weekend being pretty low key. Farmer's Market on Saturday, followed by lunch. The boys then took a nap and I ran and got groceries and some last minute purchases for the father's day gifts for Daddy. We spent the evening playing, watching tv and then after the boys went to bed I went for a run and then played with my Silhouette some more. Really digging it!

I read a lot of reviews about what interfacing to get and decided to go with HeatNBond. My first cuts turned out great!! Unfortunately, I haven't put the pictures on my computer yet, but they are on my facebook if you are interested. I can't wait to actually work on a project I'm making for Kim.

I need to get off of here and get some stuff done around the house and get some actual work-work done, but hope everything is well for the rest of you :)

Sunday Evening

Busy weekend here in Dugganville.

Quick Recap:

 

Friday night I picked up the boys from their last day at daycare. They've been going there this time since January, however before J took last summer off, they had been there for years. Emerson since he was 6 weeks old and Spenny since he was about 8 months old. It was bittersweet, as the boys love their friends and it's always hard to say goodbye, but overall, it's the right decision for our family right now.  Afterwards we ran some errands, got some groceries and did a swing through Dollar Tree to see if they had anything worth crafting (I didn't see much, but of course left with two bags of stuff...funny how that works!)

Saturday we got up and around early enough to head to the farmer's market downtown. We love it...lots of people watching, food and just time out of the house and around a different atmosphere, music, food, smells...you know, typical farmer's market stuff. Unfortunately, we didn't actually make it. The Dam to Dam was winding down when we got there and we literally spent 30 minutes just trying to turn around to come back home. I had checked the roads the day before and everything to my ramp was supposed to be open, buuuuuut....it wasn't. Oh well. We ended up at the baseball fields and the park instead, followed by a trip to Dahl's and home for an early lunch. After the boys napped, we got around to go to Nana's surprise birthday party. She will be 50 next week, and Carrie did a wonderful job at the party. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and we got to visit with some people we don't see often. 

Today we went to my dad's for an impromptu birthday party for my younger brother. We were going to try to get with my dad last weekend, but we all ended up with different plans and it didn't work out so we rescheduled for today. My brother had also made plans with Dad and needed to resched, so it worked out best for all of us to be there at the same time. My brother brought along his girlfriend Ashley and our Grandpa Larry, who we don't see very often at all. The boys had a great time running around in the yard, playing Frisbee and kickball and just being crazy maniacs. Emerson learned he doesn't like flies and tries to scare them off with a Super Sonic Screech (It doesn't work, but it seems to make him feel better.) Spenny enjoyed spending time with Uncle Cody, climbing on him, playing with him and just overall having a great time. We got home a couple hours ago and have just been relaxing.

I started working on a new craft project and left it outside to dry while we were gone, however when we got home, it was gone. If anyone sees a Gum Drop colored cookie sheet around, lemme know as it probably came from here! I don't know if it blew away or if a neighbor kid now has a lavender shield, but the Diet Coke box I used as my drop cloth was still where I left it, so who knows. 

I'm going to fix a light dinner for the kids and then bath time. Tonight is the AGOT season finale, so hopefully the boys will be ready for a decent bed time so we can enjoy it without having to pause a million times to break up fights and lay them back down. 

Have a good week!

Random Acts of Kindness

A couple weeks ago I was shopping at Walmart. An older gentleman was in line a head of me and kept looking at the gum, trying to decide if he wanted any, and eventually gave up, paid and started to leave when he saw what he was looking for on the rack in the aisle next to us. By this time, I was in the middle of my cart full of groceries and there was at least one other person behind me in line. He patiently got to the end of the line, with his son waiting with the cart full of the already purchased groceries (I wold like to point out that I was smiling while I saw what he had chosen earlier, the usual...veggies, fruits, vitamins, meat, some juice, a box of Good and Plenty's and some Skittles.) I waved him up to where I was and told him I would get his gum for him. He thanked me and then tried to pay me. I told him a couple times that no, I just wanted to get the gum for him and he was like, but I haven't paid for it yet. Finally I said, "Sir, I'm just trying to do something nice, can I please pay for your gum?" He took a step back, blinked a few times and gave me a stiff old man hug.

His son also offered to pay me, and shooed him away as well. He asked me why, and I said, honestly, I wanted to do something nice, he reminds me of my grandpa and I understand the importance of gum (I actually had 4 different packages of it on the belt at the time). He thanked me and while they were walking away, I heard the old man tell his son, Can you believe that? She didn't want ANYTHING for it!

It kind of made me sad that people find it so shocking that someone wants to do something nice for someone else. Here, I paid $1 to save a man waiting in line for 10 minutes and to let him have a treat. I have also paid for coffee for the person behind me a few times (in the drive through at Starbucks, in line at Friedrich's). Tonight I helped a couple of women that were lost in the skywalk find their way to their hotel. They said they were going to be in town for a conference for a few days so I also showed them a few places to eat and to get coffee/drinks along the way as well.

A friend of mine had a birthday earlier this year and what she asked for from her friends and family was to do a Random Act of Kindness. I believe she found the information somewhere in reference to The Birthday Project online. She had everyone put on her FB event's page as to what the RAOK was. I don't know how many she got, but mine that day was to jump start someone's car in the parking garage at work that day.

I think that we should all try to do at least one RAOK a week. It doesn't have to cost anything...It may just be holding the door for someone, offering to take a cart back, smiling at someone you meet on the sidewalk, or in my case, the skywalk. Buying a glass of lemonade from the girl on the corner (Side note: Our neighbor girl put up a stand this past weekend. At some point, she had made enough money that she had to go to the store, get more lemonade and was even able to upgrade from a pitcher to a Thermos with a spout at the bottom AND top. She's so stinkin' cute and it's only a quarter. Her chalkboard sign in front says "Zoe's Pink Lemonade Stand 25 cents per cup! :)" How can you walk away from that!). Sometimes I think we are so caught up in ourselves, our phones, our lives, that we don't take a moment to just live.

IN other non-related news, Spenny declared to me last week that he has a girlfriend. Her name is Tessa, she is beautiful and she has fast shoes. He really loves the frisbee and tonight told me that cousins are the very best friends ever and that you should love your cousins and tell them. He's super sweet, has a great smile and is honestly a really good kid. He always puts others first, especially his little brother and best friend. He likes Frisbee's right now and is getting more perceptive all the time.

Emerson is adorable. Mouthy. getting a deep voice already. He loves his fish (We're on Doug #3 and I gave up on Rock for now...he's on vacation if anyone asks). He loves morning cuddles, bed time hugs and to eat all of my salad. He loves playing with my camera on my phone and sending pictures to instagram. He told me the other day he is Duffenswirtz (or whatever hsi name is...the bad guy from Phineas and Ferb).

With that being said, I'm going to bed. Good night all :)

Post from Last Sunday

Apparently I forgot to hit "publish" so here's last week's post.

It's been a while, so I'll try to update.

First off, I had a wonderful Mother's day. J told the boys that it was Mommy's Day, which means that Mommy got to do whatever she wanted. We picked up some plants I've been looking for, had some lunch, relaxed and just spent time together as a family. I also did some crafting. I got some stainless steel measuring cups that I have been eyeing and then J got me the motherload (no pun intended) of crafter's delight.

He got me my very own Silhouette Cameo. (Insert "Oooohs" and "Ahhhs" here.) Ok, I know most of you probably don't even know what that is, but it is similar to a Cricut cutting machine, but does a little bit more (it not only cuts paper/cardstock, but fabric, heat transfer paper, vinyl and apparently rhinestone paper...which I wasn't even aware existed until earlier this week). It also has an advantage over the Cricut in that I don't have to buy cartridges for things to cut. I can either design something on my own, download files online or purchase things in the Silhouette store.

So far, I've only cut one page. I put several things on the same page just to see how it worked and LOVE it. The lines are crisp, the curves are smooth and it was great! I've been playing with the design program quite a bit and just really love it.

J's been out of town this weekend, he's on his way home currently from the Twin Cities. He participated in a card tournament and won first place. Gratz, dood!  The boys and I had a great weekend together, we hung out at home yesterday morning, they watched TV and played while I did the dishes, some laundry and worked on the basement. We then headed to Kohl's where we got some super cool lawn chairs for the boys at a great price ($10 each instead of $20 each) and some new sandals for mommy (I even threw away two pairs in exchange for this one!). We then took our pop cans back and grabbed some groceries. While Spenny was laying in bed with me yesterday morning, he again asked me for a pet. [This has been an ongoing thing lately, he wants a pet. "Mom, can I have a pet for me?" What kind of pet? "You know, like a dog." We have a dog, her name is Lola. "Mooo-oom, I want a REAL dog, you know, a BIG one!"  Sorry, Lollers, apparently you're not big enough for an almost 5 year old looking for a pet.] I suggested a fish. He was SO excited and asked if he could name him Rock. Sure thing, buddy.

We picked up a tank, some supplies and a couple fish (Popcans paid for most of it even!) and they are now swimming happily in their new home on our kitchen counter. Emerson also got a fish. His name is Doug. Pictures to follow later.

We spent the evening in Huxley, we had a picnic and spent over an hour playing at the park with our friends Julia and Murddoch. Fun times were had by all.

Today I got up, made muffins, did more dishes (I miss our dishwasher!) and did some more cleaning (I'm going through things, getting rid of clutter) and more laundry. The boys picked up the living room as part of their chores and Spenny volunteered to vacuum. He did a decent job for his first time, and I think he was proud knowing that he did something new and that he was helping. I'm sure he'll be hitting me up for money for his piggy bank soon enough.

Have a wonderful week!

Storm Season

I love your typical Iowa thunderstorm just as much as the next person. I love how it cools everything down, the thunder and lightning is relaxing, everything smells so fresh. It's great for sleeping, and gives everything a clean slate. However, when the storm turns into more than just your average storm, I start to get nervous and usually want to bunker down in the basement.

Last night my hometown was hit by a tornado. Thankfully, everyone is safe. Some people lost their homes, some farm buildings and although they haven't really said on the news, I'm sure there was some livestock/poultry that was lost.

My mom and youngest sister still live there, but they were safe and had no damage. They went to the basement, which is a scary little place, so I know it had to have been bad. We weren't able to get in touch with them right away, something about no power and dead cell phones, but my grandma, uncle and cousin drove over to make sure they were ok, and let them call me.

I've been looking at pictures on the different news sites like here, here, here and here (and of course, facebook) and it warms my heart to see the community come together to clean up. The school gave the high school kids the day off for volunteer work. People were helping load turkeys after a shed was destroyed, they made lunches for the volunteers, offered prayer, gave donations and overall, I'm just impressed. 

I can't imagine having my home/farm/livelihood being literally ripped from me, and my thoughts are with those that suffered the damages. 

Let this be a reminder to us all to get our emergency kits ready (Flashlights, batteries, water, first aid kits, etc) because you just never know when you may need it.