Today I wanted to give you a glimpse into our home!
We moved into our home (our first!) 7 1/2 years ago. We'd only planned on staying here five years, but well...life doesn't always go as planned, right? It's all good though, because we love our home and our neighborhood!
Our home was built in 1986 and it had pretty much the original EVERYTHING when we moved in! So we've been slowly, but surely, updating it over the years.
Today, I'm going to show you our deck remodel. We actually remodeled it last year and we love it so, so much! It's much bigger than the old one and is so much more functional! We hired a contractor to lay the frame and build the benches and steps. Then Matt finished laying the flooring of the deck. Doing it this way saved us quite a bit of money!
We just love spending time out on the deck. We added a nice table and chairs so we can eat dinner outside. We're fortunate that there are a lot of nice weather days where we live, so we get a lot of use out of the deck! This is just one of the many, many DIY projects we've taken on since moving in! Do you DIY when it comes to home improvement?
Thankfully, we're kicking off the first day of spring with temps in the 70's today! I love it!
Starting Monday, I'm going to be embarking on a Get Clean for Spring series that will hopefully help you (and me!) get your homes cleaned and organized! I can't wait!
But first, we all need our arsenal of safe, nontoxic cleaning products, right?
I get asked all the time what I clean my house with to keep it both clean and toxin-free! Well this is it, and to celebrate spring, I'm having a special!
Box up all those chemical cleaners and replace ALL of your household cleaners, including laundry and dish soaps, with these green, non-toxic cleaners that are cost effective and really work!
Bonus: Purchasing this kit qualifies you for a FREE Shaklee membership and a FREE canister of Cafe Latte smoothie mix! Your membership gets you 15% off all products!!
I'm so thankful for you and for everyone who has joined my Member Team! Together, we're making a great difference in the health and happiness of our families!!
Here are a few blog posts I'm loving this week! I hope you like them as well! And I'd love for you to share your favorites...I'm always on the hunt for new reading material!
My friend and colleague, Amber, shared her wonderful story about how she and her husband were able to get their daughter off prescription allergy and asthma medications! Their journey is awesome and not only is their daughter so much healthier, but they saved over $100 per month just by switching to natural supplements! Annnnddd... she is being flown out to New York this week by Shaklee to share her story! I LOVE testimonials like this! Read it here: Asthma....7 months later
Lil Blue Boo...one of my favorite blogs ever. I've been reading Ashley's blog since 2009! Wow! She recently posted a fun tutorial for personalized burlap bags. I think these would be super cute teacher gifts this spring! Read about it here: Personalized Burlap Bags
My friend, Jenny, shared how to clean your stainless steel water bottles using lemon essential oils. This was timely for me...since you're not supposed to put the water bottles in the dishwasher, I've always wondered how clean I'm actually getting them! Read about how to do it here: Sanitizing Your Reusable Water Bottle
Lastly, I just recently discovered this blog, Walking in Memphis High Heels. I'm so loving Laura's style and I wish I had more places to wear her super cute ideas! I'm a workout clothes type of girl during the week, but I LOVE getting dressed up when I can! I really, really love this maxi dress! Read about it here: Maxi
Happy Friday! It's been a LONG time since I've done a Friday Favorites post! I've had some big time writers block lately, but really want to get back in the swing of things. I thought a Friday Favorites would be a great way to kick off the first Friday of the month!
Enjoy!
1. Finding selfies from my five year old on my phone. These types of pictures always make me smile...what a goof! Love this boy!
2. Almond Joy Granola from The Lemon Bowl blog. This is has become a staple in our home...I love it! I eat it with plain Greek yogurt for breakfast, or a snack, or dinner...
3. Homemade chocolate banana 'ice cream.' Easy peasy and really tasty! Take a few frozen bananas, a dash of vanilla, and a scoop of chocolate protein powder, then turn on the food processor until it has the consistency of soft serve ice cream. My boys ate.it.up (and so did I)!! Note: frozen bananas and food processor blades are LOUD
4. Green smoothies. Matt and I are becoming totally addicted to these yummy smoothies! We make one for breakfast almost every morning. The one in the picture had spinach, strawberries, mango, blueberries, Greek yogurt, unflavored protein powder(you can put this in SO MANY recipes), and chia seeds. Yum! Did you see how I didn't clear out a space and make my kitchen look spotless?? :)
5. New hair! It had been awhile since I'd had my hair highlighted, and I wanted to do something a little different. The ombre look is in now, but my stylist and I decided that having a very dark (almost brown) up against my face would just depress me...I'm used to lighter blonde, especially now that the weather is supposed to be warming up! So she did an awesome dark brown, light blonde highlight panel-style all over. I love it! Don't you just love having your hair cut, colored, and styled??
If you know me in person, you know that I just rave about Shaklee's Get Clean line. We love it! It has completely replaced all of our toxic, caustic, harmful cleaners. No fumes, no worries about calling Poison Control...it's a fantastic cleaning line!
I wanted to give you some details about our Get Clean Kits. I've had some excellent questions about them and a few people say they probably wouldn't use everything in the kits. I get it; trust me I get it.
If you're like me, the word 'kit' can be a turn off. I don't know how many times I've purchased a kit because of the supposed value and was pretty disappointed that there were a few products in said kit that I really had no use for. Money down the drain, right?
The Shaklee Get Clean kits are definitely something you will be using. Every last product. Every last drop.
Check out what comes in the Get Clean Starter Kit. (And see all my comments in red next to the descriptions!):
Basic H Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate - We've had our Basic H concentrate for almost two years and we are just halfway through the bottle! We make a new bottle of cleaner every week to clean the kitchen; that's how concentrated it is!
Germ Off Disinfecting Wipes - These belong in the car, in the bathroom, or in the baby's room!
Nature Bright Laundry Booster and Stain Remover - Awesome stuff! Compare it to OxiClean! It gets stains out and helps whiten your clothes! You can also use it to clean your toilets to get the gunk off.
Dish Washer Automatic Concentrate - Ya'll, this dish detergent is amazing! Just a little scoop cleans your dishes! It lasts FOREVER...for us, it lasts an average of 10 weeks!
Fresh Laundry Concentrate HE Compatible Liquid - Wonderful laundry detergent...fragrance free...and you don't even need as much as the directions call for!
Soft Fabric Dryer Sheets - Yes!
Dish Washer Automatic Concentrate Dispenser - this comes in handy for scooping out the dish detergent!
Nature Bright Dispenser - this is also handy for scooping out the Nature Bright.
Including all the accessories you need to get really clean:
Organizer Caddy - holds all the spray bottles and cleaning cloths
Spray Bottles - mix up your Basic H solutions in each of these bottles. One each for all purpose, glass, and degreasing
Dropper Pipette - helps when you're mixing your Basic H solutions.
1/4 oz. Dispenser Pump for 32 oz. Bottle - this is for the laundry detergent
Laundry Measuring cup - don't think this needs explaining! :)
Cleaning Accessories - these clothes and sponges are wonderful! You get a microfiber cleaning cloth, microfiber window cloths, microfiber dish sponge and a scrubber pad
Now, out of all of those items in the Get Clean Starter Kit, what WOULDN'T you use? In fact, in all of our kits, you're going to use every single product. Every single one!
Shaklee is all about health, wellness, keeping our Earth safe and healthy. Every product that goes into every Shaklee bottle is designed to improve health, work without compromise, and be gentle on the planet! Find out more about the Shaklee Difference here.
**This month only, I've extended my FREE membership and FREE smoothie promotion! When you purchase 50PV in products (this includes the Starter Kit!)**
Is the Starter Kit not for you? Not to worry...I have three other amazing Get Clean Kits that are sure to work for your home and your budget!
Questions? Comment below or email me directly...my passion is helping other moms get their homes and lives healthy and happy again!
Recently, I had someone comment on a photo I posted about how my home is so clean and tidy. She wanted to know how a work at home mom with two young boys kept her house so clean. Read on to see my post about it on Facebook.
Many bloggers seem to prefer to only show photos of their homes when their clean and organized and I think that's fantastic. But I don't want anyone to assume my entire home is always clean and well organized just from viewing a tiny photo of my counter. Trust me, it's not!
I want to keep it real for ya'll, so from here on out, you might see more pictures of my real life home...not as many of my 'quickly sweep everything off the counters and angle the camera so that it doesn't get the view of the trashed out playroom' type of photos!
So tell me, do you like seeing the 'keeping it real' photos?
I wanted to share with you a sermon from one of my friends, Amanda. This is a sermon she spoke at her church a few weeks back about learning to be free from body image issues and learning to love who God made us to be.
I've known Amanda for a little over two years. We met at MOPS back in the day where she was the discussion group leader of our table. She is the type of person you want to be around...she's kind, generous, hilarious, never, ever hesitates to speak truth into people's lives...she's the real deal!
When Amanda and I saw each other regularly, she was really into clean eating and working out...I totally admired her dedication and determination. I didn't realize, however, that it ended up being really unhealthy for her in her thought life, spiritual life, family life, etc.
This sermon is how Amanda broke free from the power of food and body image.
If you're a woman, then it's most likely you have struggled with poor body image at some point in your life.
I always have. I still struggle with it, sometimes on a daily basis. Sometimes to the point where I get obsessive about it. I keep a lot of it inside, but it's not healthy for me, it's not healthy for my family.
It's funny how things work out...I'd actually been feeling myself getting back into the negative talk, the negative self image, when her sermon was posted online. I watched it last night; it was the right time for me! And I just knew I had to share it with my own community! This isn't just for women and girls...this is for the guys too.
Watch Amanda's fantastic sermon about overcoming self image issues and learning to love yourself the way God loves you!
Lil Blue Boo...one of my favorite blogs ever. I've been reading Ashley's blog since 2009! Wow! She recently posted a fun tutorial for personalized burlap bags. I think these would be super cute teacher gifts this spring! Read about it here: Personalized Burlap Bags
Lastly, I just recently discovered this blog, Walking in Memphis High Heels. I'm so loving Laura's style and I wish I had more places to wear her super cute ideas! I'm a workout clothes type of girl during the week, but I LOVE getting dressed up when I can! I really, really love this maxi dress! Read about it here: Maxi
1. Finding selfies from my five year old on my phone. These types of pictures always make me smile...what a goof! Love this boy!
2. Almond Joy Granola from The Lemon Bowl blog. This is has become a staple in our home...I love it! I eat it with plain Greek yogurt for breakfast, or a snack, or dinner...
5. New hair! It had been awhile since I'd had my hair highlighted, and I wanted to do something a little different. The ombre look is in now, but my stylist and I decided that having a very dark (almost brown) up against my face would just depress me...I'm used to lighter blonde, especially now that the weather is 
