15 Things I am Not Going to Do This Christmas

It amazes me how some folks use Christmas time to make others feel horrible because they have different holiday thoughts, traditions, or celebrate (or not) a different December holiday.

Sadly, I internalize their criticism of the way we do things as not green enough, too generous, too stingy, too religious, not religious enough, too secular, or too fill in the blank.  I always let them make me feel sad, angry, and depressed for several days during my favorite time of the year.

This Christmas, I am going to try not to fall into that trap.  I can’t change others but I can change how I let others make me feel about myself and how we like to celebrate the holidays.






I will also try to keep my attitude about others in check because fair is fair.

15 Things I am Not Going to Do for Christmas 

How to Hide an Emergency Tool Box in Your Hair

Husband saw personalized Swiss Army type knives in a shop when we were on vacation one year. In a rare impulse buy we ended up with His and Hers Swiss Army knives. Husband got silly giddy and said I HAD to have the knife with Handyman engraved on it. Husband bought a matching one with his name on it to replace the knife he lost. 

We changed Handyman to Handyma’am with my wood burning tool when we got home.

Husband uses the screwdriver on his Swiss Army knife all the time so yeah, of course, I’m all for him getting a replacement.

Me? I didn’t think I’d use it but if at all but if all it takes to make Husband happy is to carry a Handyma’am Swiss Army knife in the bottom of my purse I get off easy don’t I?

Thing is, the guy knows how handy those little emergency tool kit knives are. He was right and I was wrong. Those little tools have gotten me out of a jam time and time again. For example, if you follow @condoblues on Instagram (click and follow pretty please?) you might have already seen this Doomsday scenario the corkscrew on my Swiss Army knife helped my sister and I avoid on a Saturday night.

Seven Tools to Remove Shower Tile Grout

The grout in between the tiles in the Master Bathroom is cracking and pitting.  I patched the tile grout when I found an issue, knowing that eventually, I would have to remove all of the shower caulk and tile grout and regrout the shower.

I wasn’t looking forward to removing all of the grout in my bathroom and replacing it. Not because removing grout is hard but because removing bathroom grout is time consuming and messy.   Putting grout in between the tiles is easy and the clean up is well, as difficult as cleaning up usually is after a big project – better if you can get someone else to do it. If you can’t rope someone else into cleaning up your mess for you, a wet/dry vaccum makes the job easier. I mentioned dust flying everywhere, yes?

Two Recommended Power Tools for Removing Tile Grout and Three that Aren’t so Great

Green #Brita BacktoCollege Shopping

This post brought to you by Brita. All opinions are 100% mine.

Mr. 2 of 10 is going to be a college freshman this fall.

A freshman!

In college!

*faints*

How to Decorate a School or Gym Locker

My tween niece asked me for some design help. Even though it is the middle of summer, she is already looking ahead and planning on how she will decorate her first school locker. I remember how much planning I put into designing and decorating my school lockers to make sure everything was just. right. So I poked around for locker decorating ideas and came up with LLZ by LockerLookz. (I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)

LLZ is the original brand of high fashion locker decorations developed by two moms who started making decorations for their daughters, and later their friends, with the highest quality products.

How to Decorate a Gym Locker with LLZ by LockerLookz

20 Super Fun Super Sized Outdoor Games

I played a lot of board games as a kid. Between my friends and I, we had and played all of the major games from Candyland to Ants in the Pants to Stratego. (Disclosure: I am included big bold affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

That’s why I love this trend of super sizing childhood games and playing them outside.  If you want ideas on what outdoor games to play at your next cookout or BBQ, think back to the board games you loved to play as a kid and make it giant size!

 Pin these backyard game ideas to your Pinterest boards for later! Share them with your friends!

20 Big Backyard Games

Duluth Trading Co. Gift Card Giveaway! Closed

I never thought that one of my favorite DIY tools would be a purse.

 

Last summer Duluth Trading Co. provided me with an Oil Cloth Tote Bag for review. While the bag is a little more rugged looking than what I typically go with, I quickly got over it once I used it. 

The tote holds a ton including my DSLR with room to spare so I don’t have to lug a “HEY THIS IS A CAMERA BAG WITH AN EXPENSIVE CAMERA IN IT” bag around and has more thoughtful and useful features than any purse I own. 

It is also large enough to carry a bottle of wine. I found that out by accident after a friend needed a little wine and sympathy after a big breakup.

I carried that bad boy all summer and as far into fall and winter as I could until I had to switch to a purse that wouldn’t get wet in the snow. It looks the same when I switched purses this year for summer. It makes a great Dog Mommy purse for the dog park.

See the leather key strap? That thing is GOLD. Can we make it a law that all purses should have a car key strap?

A Fun and Frugal Summer Table with Dollar Tree #DTSummerFun #ad

 I’m thrilled to be partnering with Dollar Tree to share their Summer Fun products with you. This did not influence my opinion in any way because all opinions are 100% my own. 

Summer is my favorite season of the year. We have lots of impromptu gatherings with friends and family. The warm weather and sunny days allow Husband and I to host some of the events with his large family because we can move the party outside. To make sure our guests can tell which house is ours in a neighborhood of small lookalike houses, I hang something cute, like paper lanterns, on the front porch.

 Striped LED hanging paper lanterns? Yes Please! 

Craft Supply Wall Storage and Room Tour

My craft room is starting to look like a real studio!

I painted the craft room/guest room last summer. Then I lost steam on this room and let DIY fear take over when it came to making  over the current furniture. That fear stalled the project until I got a little help from a friend.

 Pin these craft room storage ideas on your Pinterest boards for later!

$500 Spring Cash Giveaway! *closeed*

This weekend I spent quality time at my home away from home - the home improvement store. I needed supplies to start the projects I planned to do when it was warm to get me through the Cabin Fever Winter of  Our Discontent.

Besides supplies, time, and warm weather to work outside, you do know what else helps when you want to start a project?

MONEY.

And I hope to give it TO YOU.

Decoupage Bed Makeover

I’m decorating and making over the Room Where Old Furniture Goes to Die. Some people call it the guest/craft room but not many.

I made over an old bed frame with Mod Page and paint!

The guest bed frame was a freebie from my old boss. It needed a little DIY love. Scratch that. The bed needed A LOT of DIY love. I knew the stain was chipped and scratched but I didn’t realize there were small cracks in the head and foot boards. The side rails were pretty beat up too.

14 Basic Things to Have in Your Car in Winter

Growing up near the Cleveland snow belt on Lake Erie has its advantages. Starting with the first snowfall of the year, the local weather people constantly remind you what emergency items to carry in your car for winter in case you got stuck in the snow (or more likely, get stuck in the mud after the snow melts.)

Prompted by the latest snow storm and my car accident last week, I’m spreading the word on what to have your car during winter snow emergencies.

 Pin this list of ideas to your Pinterest boards! Share it with your friends!

You probably already have most of the items on the list. The basic items don’t cost a ton of money and are things you can use year round. I’ll do a Part 2 later this week with the more advanced/prepared items for winter driving. If I don’t this post will be way too long!

14 Things to Carry in Your Car for Snow Emergencies

How to Make Dog Boots

Poor Lacey. Snow and ice get in between her toes when she goes outside during winter. It hurts so much, my snow dog stomps romping and digging and crumbles into a little ball from the pain.

You try playing in the snow with bare feet. I bet it hurts too.

I scoop her up and carry her home. Often we have to go back outside after Lacey's toes are warm to finish what she didn't get to do outside in the snow. Rinse. Repeat.

As much as I hate putting clothes on dogs for the sake of putting clothes on dogs, I bought Lacey a pair of dog boots for Christmas. I'm all for protective dog clothing if the dog needs it but I still felt like one of those people while in the store buying shoes for my dog.

I didn't feel that way last weekend when I tried to exchange the boots for a size that fit Lacey. All of the pet stores had a run on dog boots to prepare for the Polar Vortex Storm That's Colder Than Antarctica (for real. It is summer in Antarctica and 45 degrees warmer in Iceland (36 F) than in Columbus, Ohio today (-9 F. )  It looks like I am not the only crazy pet parent in Columbus putting boots on my dog. Good to know.

Seriously?

The only thing left in Lacey's size in Store Number Three were a set of disposable dog booties made from recycled plastic bottle fabric. I was less than thrilled with the disposable part, but any port in a storm. I hoped Lacey could wear them several times and see us through the cold snap. No such luck. Lacey's dachshund claws started to poke through the second time out.

Time to make fleece dog booties!

How to Make Fleece Dog Booties

10 Holiday Gift Guides including Food Gifts, Homemade Gifts, and Meaningful Gifts to Give Everyone on Your Shopping List

One of the things I enjoy about the holidays is selecting the perfect gift for my friends and family. I need a few ideas for my hard to shop for people on my gift list and figure since I'm combing through Christmas gift guides for ideas, you might be interested in what I found too.

4 Ways for Small Families Can Save Money at a Warehouse Club

I have this preconceived notion that the only way to save money at a warehouse club is to buy giant sizes I don’t have room to store of products full of stuff I won’t buy due to additives, etc. that won’t save money for our small family of two people and the most cuddly dog that ever lived. I got almost an equal number of yeses and noes when I asked Can Small Families Shop At Warehouse Clubs and Save Money? I figure I’ll never know for certain unless I shop at a wholesale club and find out myself.

I accepted an invitation to a holiday blogger event at BJ’s Wholesale Club. I didn’t think there would be much I would want to buy there, but tried to go with an open mind about what I’d find. If nothing else, I figured I’d find things that are useful for The Most Fabulous Readers on the Planet (that’s you!) which is the point of inviting me to this event in the first place.

Four Ways to Save Money at a Warehouse Club

Topsy Turvey Bookcases

I was beyond happy when we bought our house and replaced our mish mosh of overflowing bookshelves with one wall of matching bookshelves in our computer room.  Seeing all of our books in one place made me giddy.

Then we bought more books.

And a few more.

And a few more.

We could use more shelves.

I started poking around for arty book shelves because it is way more fun than sorting through and donating our old and outdated books. Yes, yes. I’ll get to it. It is on the punch list for our computer room revamp project.

In the meantime, let’s have some fun and check out some crazy fun bookshelves. For what they don’t hold in the amount of stuff, they make up for in the amount of whimsy they add to a room.

I can’t help but look at the Woodcurve Curved Bookshelf  and smile. This piece was inspired by the Dr. Seuss books as are several of the pieces in Woodcurve’s Etsy shop.

Warning: Curves Ahead!

One Eco Dress, Three Looks, and a $75 Giveaway!

Happy news! I met my weight loss goal! I am now back into what is considered the healthy range of my Body Mass Index (BMI.) I realize BMI measurements and numbers aren’t a perfect indication of health because there are other factors in play such as muscle mass that can skew BMI numbers to the overweight range of a perfectly healthy and fit person.

I’m using BMI as a healthier target range for my height instead of  picking an arbitrary weight or saying that I want be a size 2 like I was in high school. Not realistic and probably unhealthy skinny for my only slightly older than high school body. (I may not lie about my weight but age is fair game!)

Eating a whole foods, no trans fat, no hydrogenated oil, no processed food from a box diet to lose the weight wasn’t difficult. In fact, I’m following the same no bad stuff diet that made me gain the extra 25 pounds I had to lose. I’m proof that if you eat too much of anything, even very good for you things, and get little to no exercise you will gain weight.

Thanks to my trainer and high energy exercise buddy Lacey, I lost the last of those 25 extra pounds. I feel better (especially now that my waist is no longer larger than Husband’s.) I also have a new problem. My clothes don’t fit! I need new duds.

How to Buy a Dishwasher: What I Bought and Why I Bought It

Long time readers know I am a fix it instead of replace it kind of gal. It is cheaper, it is greener, and it allows me to have a little more money leftover to sometimes spoil Lacey.


I want Lisa to use her smart shopping skillz to keep me rolling in grass fed T bone steaks!

Except when it comes to my High Efficiency (HE) dishwasher. At first, I liked the idea of saving water while it cleaned our dishes.  Later a plumber told us since HE dishwashers use less water, the water heat up cycle is shorter than a standard dishwasher, and we have to jack the heat on the water heater to remove the grit on my clean dishes problem.

Husband wryly observed, “We can save water, or natural gas but not both.”

Can Small Families Save Money at Warehouse Clubs?

Bulk buying is usually the greener choice because it reduces the amount of individual packaging for the item but will bulk buying at a warehouse club save a small family like mine money?





Once upon a time Husband and I had a warehouse club membership. That particular club leans more toward small businesses than families but we regularly purchased items we needed when we performed at the renaissance festival like vats of sports drink mix (90 degree F in 3 layers of brocade yo) and an industrial bag of flour to bake the many loaves of bread we needed for The Queen’s Feast. We knew after careful tracking, that some things cost the same as in a regular grocery store but were easier to buy them at the Sam’s Club if we needed a large quantity of say, soda,  for an event.

We eventually quit Sam’s Club after we stopped performing at the renaissance festival. We didn’t need the super giant size quantities since we weren’t feeding fellow performers. We lived in a small duplex with almost no food storage space to hold giant quantities of well priced baking ingredients before they expire. It stopped making sense for us.

I’ve been thinking on and off about joining a warehouse club to cut down on our packaging waste, especially after My Zero Waste’s Zero Waste Week and the discussions of buying in bulk. I’m sure we will cut down on packaging waste if we join but will it save us money or should be keep on keeping on with our fairly low waste ways?

11 Pretty Summer Things to Inspire Your Home Decor

While running errands and being otherwise frazzled during one of those weeks, I needed a little Me Time to recharge my creative brain. One way I do that is to look at pretty home decor eye candy. 

That's how I found myself in Homegoods after buying dog food for Lacey. This isn't a sponsored post or ad or anything. It just so happens we buy Lacey's human grade ingredient and only full of good stuff  dog food at a regional pet store that just so happens to share a shopping center with a Marshall's/Homegoods and  sometimes eye candy drive bys happen.

Let's "shop" for home decor and DIY ideas and inspiration!

First up, are mint green shabby chic, pretend antique candle holders. One thing I like about this particular store (other than it is close to home) is they put together some since shelf displays in the dinnerware section. It is hard to tell from my cell phone photos, that the candleholders are displayed with the pseudo jadeite light green dishware and decor. The light green color is what makes this mismatch of items into a pretty display that works. This is something anyone can do to make what you already have look less of a hodge podge of stuff you have and like and more like a purposeful and spendy display of stuff you have and like for zero dollars. Not to mention the whole the greenest thing is to use what you already own thing.

I laugh to myself when I see a ready made knock off made to look like something a DIYer did or found in a antique/junk shop. Although I realize not that everyone has access to those real goodies or  time to redo them. A few fake goodies somehow have found their way into my house for the same reason.