This post is written through a partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market. I've made this confession before, but I don't always buy organic foods. Shopping organically can be expensive and most families just can't afford the extra expense to buy only organic foods. While we could probably afford more than what we spend on groceries, it's very hard to commit to spending THAT much more every time we shop. I'm very excited to see all the money saving options that Sprouts is bringing to the Tampa area for organic, natural, and non-GMO groceries. Grand Opening Specials The Grand Opening of Sprouts in Carrollwood is next week and shoppers have several options to save money. Sprouts will be opening at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, February 22nd and the first 200 shoppers in line will get a coupon for 20 percent off their entire purchase. That's a huge savings for anyone who's up early enough to stand in line that morning. Sprouts will be serving coffee and muffins to everyone in line before the ... [ Read More ]
Tips for Simplifying Your Holiday
This post is sponsored by Good Food Made Simple #SimplifyTheHolidays Is holiday stress getting to you? Too much family drama? Too many things to mark off your list? Too many gifts to buy and ship? If there is one thing that my parents taught me, it's that the holiday's shouldn't be about "things" and shouldn't stress you out. Here are some tips that help our family enjoy the holidays and reduces our stress level. Give the Gift of Experiences. Christmas presents don't always have to be "things," they could be special experiences like a day at the park with mommy, or a special weekend getaway to see some holiday lights, or a full day unplugged from distractions. Your kids will love their special time doing things with you and making memories. Limit the Gift Count. Don't feel like you have to indulge your children with every gift on their wish list. If they are like my kids, that wish list will keep growing and growing and growing. We stick with 1-2 big gifts and a few ... [ Read More ]
Bathroom Life Hacks with a Green Twist
A few weeks ago I was contacted by the local news channel to help out with a segment on life hacks. The second part of the series was Life Hacks for Cleaning the Bathroom. I do not enjoy cleaning the bathroom, no one does, but these tips will make this daunting task a little easier. Watch this video on WFLA News Channel 8: Life Hacks for Mom - Cleaning the Bathroom Tips included in the segment: Use e-cloths (affiliate link) for a chemical-free mirror and glass cleaner. Use vinegar, water, and essential oils for a natural cleaning solution. Use lemon essential oils (or real lemon juice) to remove hard water stains. Use denture cleaning tablets to clean your toilet. Just drop them in the toilet and let them site for 10-15 minutes. Prop the toilet brush between the toilet seat and the bowl and let it drip dry before placing back in the storage container. Use lemon essential oils to deodorize the toilet brush and trash can. To create the DIY spray bottle ... [ Read More ]
Kitchen Life Hacks with a Green Twist
A few weeks ago I was asked by Lindsey Mastis of WFLA News Channel 8 to help with a series on Life Hacks for Mom. It was fun to try a few new hacks in my own kitchen to see how well they worked. For me, cleaning the kitchen is something that needs to be done daily. The deep cleaning tips are only used every few weeks, about 1-2 times a year on the oven cleaning. To see the full segment on WFLA: Life Hacks for Mom - Kitchen Cleaning For the tips shown in the video: DIY oven cleaner: Mix baking soda, water, and vinegar. Dab onto oven grime. Turn oven to 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 Celsius) and bake for 45 minutes. Wipe clean. (Source: http://bit.ly/1Px0KcN) DIY Kitchen Cleaning Solution: Mix one part vinegar with four parts water and add a few drops of lemon essential oils. Put it in a spray bottle. To create the DIY spray bottle shown in the video I used a mason jar and a reCAP Mason Jar Sprayer attachment (affiliate link). Olive oil for shiny stainless sinks! Rub ... [ Read More ]
Tips for Managing and Avoiding Lines at Disney World
We've been enjoying our passes to Disney World and some of you have asked me to share some tips to make visiting Disney with kids more fun - and less stressful. Admit it, the one thing that you dread is standing in line for hours on end with kids who are bored. One of the advantages of living in Florida and having passes is that we don't have to do everything in one trip. Enjoy this short video with some of our tips for avoiding lines, skipping lines, and entertain your little one's while waiting in lines. You can view this video on YouTube here: Tips for Managing and Avoiding Lines at Disney World Avoid lines! Pick the popular rides that you want to see before you get to Disney. Do those popular rides early in the day, late in the day, or during a slow time (like during parades and fireworks). Get a Fast Pass for popular rides to avoid standing in lines. Things to do with no (or little lines): Every park has a few rides that aren't as popular ... [ Read More ]
Our Holiday Photo Outtakes
After school today I decided to take the kids outside and attempt to capture the perfect holiday photo for our Christmas cards. Mind you my children had been in school ALL day. I was hoping that I could harness some of their energy and get some really cute shots. Instead I ended up with two kids who did not want to take orders from some crazy mama with a camera. Here are just a few of the 55 photos that I took today that show just how uncooperative my kids were... He was doing flips instead of cooperating with me. This last one was the best of the bunch and after a little bit of editing (not shown edited here) it ended up looking pretty nice. Lessons learned: Don't attempt to take photos after school. Don't attempt to take photos when your kids are hungry. Don't assume you'll get a good holiday photo on the first try. Don't try to stage your photos too much. Do have a camera that takes really fast pictures (mine is slow). Do try to ... [ Read More ]
Diapering in a Disaster
It looks like Hurricane Sandy is being nicknamed Frankenstorm since it's looking pretty frightening to everyone along the NE United States. Thankfully Sandy skirted past Florida with very little damage (although it was pretty windy this weekend and the temperature has dropped) but I know that many of my readers may be in her path. I pray that you are all safe and that Sandy spares you and your families. If you use cloth diapers I wanted to share an old post with you about how to prepare an emergency kit when you use cloth diapers. In addition, here are a few other posts I've found around the internet with useful tips. My friend Amanda at The Eco-Friendly Family wrote a funny (yet helpful) post about the 10 Things to Do BEFORE a Power Outage. Tonight while on Facebook this post appeared in my stream from Human Milk News on how to protect your freezer stash of breastmilk. I pray that you won't have to use any of these tips and pray for your safety. Have any tips to share or ... [ Read More ]
Collection of Cloth Diapering Tips – on Pinterest!
It's not a secret that I'm a huge fan of Pinterest! I have however learned how to deal with my addiction and try to only pin for about an hour a day and only a few times a week. If I were on there every day I would accomplish absolutely NOTHING the rest of the week. I've had to pleasure of working with DiaperShops.com to bring you a pretty extensive collection of Cloth Diapering Tips via one of their Pinterest boards. Included in the collection of tips on their board are: 7 Tips for the Cloth Diapering Newbie Source: kitchenstewardship.com via DiaperShops on Pinterest Tips on how to keep your GroVia hook&loop looking fresh. Source: adventures-in-fluff.blogspot.com via DiaperShops on Pinterest Best Budget Cloth Diapers Source: blog.diapershops.com via DiaperShops on Pinterest Tutorial on how to repair elastic on your diaper covers or shells. Source: makermama.com via DiaperShops on ... [ Read More ]
Blog Conference Survival Tips
Are you attending your first (or fifth) blog conference soon? In 2010 I packed my bags and headed off to my first blog conference. I had never met any other bloggers. I didn't really even know a lot of bloggers. I showed up in New York City and just about left in tears after the first hour. Yes, really I did...you can reread my post, What BlogHer Meant to Me, to hear the full story. That was nearly three years ago and I still get intimidated at blogging conferences. I've been to 2 BlogHer's and 2 Blissdom conferences and I still get butterflies in my tummy at the thought of this trip. Why? There will be over 4500 women (and a few men) in attendance at this year's BlogHer. That's a LOT of women. Women have been known for our catty attitudes. We've been know to be clique-ish. We've been known to be rude and well...just plain mean! So how do avoid all the nasty stuff and not go home crying on the first day? Blog Conference Survival Tips Follow the #blogher12, ... [ Read More ]
5 Tips to Successfully Cloth Diaper at Night
One of the reasons parents use cloth diapers is to reduce their babies exposure to toxins that are found in disposable diapers. Even though parents know the health benefits to using cloth diapers many parents admit to struggle with finding a system that works well overnight and end up using disposables at night. Why is nighttime such a struggle? Babies are often nursed (or fed a bottle of milk) before they fall asleep leaving them with very full bellies. If you are fortunate to have a baby who sleeps through the night they can sleep for as many as 7-10 hours at a time. Since cloth diapers don't contain absorbent crystals like disposable diaper they can only hold so much liquid. Most parents find that 2-4 hours is about the longest a cloth diaper can last before it becomes too full and starts to leak. While a pocket diaper with 2 microfiber inserts can work successfully for some babies overnight - others soak right through that and leak all over their beds ... [ Read More ]