Real record player for my daughter….score Amazon lightening deal

 

I just scored this record player for my daughters birthday.  She’ll be 18 soon and mentioned asking for one for Christmas because our budget is too low for a birthday.  But at just under $40 I could sneak it in. She will be so surprised and excited!

If you see this during Prime Deals 2023 get it while you can. Link below 

Lightening deal record player

High deductible health plans and your adult children on your insurance (you need to know)

 What you don’t know could get you audited.

Luckily I had came upon this a few years ago when my oldest went out on his own. But I was disappointed to find that our congress and most HR staff didn’t know that when congress allowed parents to keep their children on their health insurance until age 26 and high deductible health plans (HDHP) came along they didn’t fix tax code to match up to the change and make it make sense.

So yep you can keep them on there but you cannot pay their medical bills with your HSA (health savings account) finds unless you are able to legally claim as a dependent. That’s really only possible with student adult or disabled children. Publication 969 explains all of this.

When I tell HR this they say well just have said child open their own HSA? That does work if your child also has their own employer sponsored HDHP. If not, the employer won’t set up an HSA so the child would have to get their own through a bank and most local banks will charge fees AND they’re no longer getting the tax savings of having it deducted from their paycheck. You’re better off putting it anywhere else at that point.

In my middle sons case, he got a job with the same large organization I happen to work for, so they don’t allow him to have his own and be on mine. So he’s only going to be on mine so at least he gets the benefit of meeting the family deductible until later, when he turns 26. And if he decides to return to grad school this will be better in the long run.  In my middle sons case, he got a job with the same large organization I happen to work for, so they don’t allow him to have his own and be on mine. So he’s only going to be on mine so at least he gets the benefit of meeting the family deductible until later, when he turns 26. And if he decides to return to grad school this will be better in the long run.

Fortune, when they turn 18 in my house I made them open a Roth IRA. They all work at age 16, so they all can legally contribute. They just open it with $2k to start and that starts the clock ticking on the 5 year rule.

That’s another topic for another day!  #healthinsurance #healthinsuranceadultchildren #adultchildinsurance #claimingdependents

Sweet little kitten

 

We love our sweet little kitten so much. He’s not such a kitten anymore. He’s  over a year. His sleeping positions, in the summer heat, crack us up. He lies on the floor, in various chairs and hangs off the zero gravity lounger.  He always makes us laugh and is so sweet. 

Our sweet Loki is growing up. 

We waited….I waited…a long time

 

I have wanted a pool since I was a kid. I LOVE the water. I was born to be near the water. When the older kids were little we had a couple of framed pools for several years. $100 was all we could afford but they had fun in it. It was worth it. I still wanted a pool I could float in but couldn’t make sense of the expense.  

THEN…. The mortgage rates dropped and the interest we saved refinancing down to 2.375 and 15 years was about $100k in interest. We cashed the house some money (while keeping in range by plenty so as not to pay PMI) and found someone to put in a pool. This is of course, more  than 10 years after all those small pools but it was worth the wait. It was never for them. It was for us to enjoy. We will be here even after they fly. And we use it almost every day. And the biggest reward is having friends and family over to enjoy with us AND the pool completely eliminates my husbands nerve pain from his spinal cord injury. Wait for what you really want. 

Keep dreaming and keep trying and working. 

#waitfordreams #patience #nervepainrelief #refinanceforpool #worthit

Samsung electric stove review

 

Out with our old broken Maytag. Good riddance. I hate aqua clean ovens. They DON’T clean!  But the electronics quit working so we decided to sell this one super cheap to someone who could fix it themselves. It was going to cost us too much and we needed a stove asap as we cook every single day!

Enter 

Our Samsung with air fryer. I was not specifically looking for an airfryer oven because I love our Ninja Foodie. And I was skeptical. But this one had a bigger oven capacity than our old one so I can actually fit more in there without the cost of a double oven and it was on sale. I guess the perk of breaking down right before Memorial Day weekend. We read the reviews while we were at the store and they did sell us on the credit card to get an extra $100 off. I never take those but figured $100 was worth it and I won’t use the card again. The only negative reviews really were about the glass top scratching easily.  My old Maytag didn’t look too bad. I’ve seen worse but we were careful to clean it. However I feel like my carbon steel pans were hard on it so we will not be using them on this one. We have a side burner we use on the cast iron anyways. I did brush up on making my old stainless steel set of pans non stick so we could use them on the stove and sure enough it works!  

After one month of constant use, there’s nothing not one slightly hazy spot. 

Otherwise we’ve been keeping it in good condition. 

The air fryer genuinely impressed me. With our Ninja we have to do quite a few batches when we’re all here. With the Samsung oven we can do everything at one time. And the fries turn out pretty much the same as the Ninja air fryer but not quite as good a oil frying. The oven has a lot of settings and things that we will likely never use but it has the old style of heat cleaning and I’ve already used that and it’s awesome!  My husband does want to try the dehydrator. It does link up to Alexa but have yet to figure out how to turn it on to preheat. I can turn it off though. 

I LOVE THE LOOK of it. It’s very streamlined and goes nicely with my counters. I love the typical Samsung music when anything changes like preheating etc.  Something we became very accustomed to in Korea.  

All in all, we’re loving it!

How to avoid handprints near light switches

 

Voila!

Lutron motion switch here!

I installed these in the walk through pantry and laundry room shortly after moving in. I noticed handprints near the switches and was having to wash the walls.  This has saved me a lot of anxiety and cleaning time and breakdown of paint.  Worth it!

Had to share!!! Cool children’s book

 

Get the Dude Perfect children’s book here

We have watched a LOT of Dude Perfect over the years. My 23 year old watched it a bit when they first started and my 14 year old grabbed on. He loves watching them. He even asks for the merchandise. He has a hat and some shirts and even got a new one this year when he outgrew the old. 

The thing is I like him watching them. They’re clean fun and pretty funny when we watch with him. I was literally seeing this book while he was watching them this morning and if he was his younger self I would buy it for him. Such a cute book with a $3 coupon. 

#affiliate #amazonfind #dudeperfect #dudeperfectbook

Great Etsy jewelry find

 

Link to this Etsy jewelry store 👉 https://www.etsy.com/shop/mysignaturejwl

I’m it one to wear much jewelry. Mostly because in the past anything that’s not solid gold turns and discolors on me. But I really wanted a necklace with my kids names on it in Hangul. I’m took a chance and ordered this this Spring. I worked it to sweaty track meets and all the way through our Florida vacation with sunscreen and saltwater. To my EXTREME surprise it hasn’t turned yet and has held up well. It’s also adjustable in length from 16”-18” for $30. 

I love this necklace so much!  Check out her store. And she was retry quick to ship. 

My favorite sale of the year!

 

I used to love Black Friday. Don’t get me wrong. I still find some great deals on things we need or Christmas requests….and streaming deals.  But Prime Days Deals have quickly become a favorite. It’s 3 months prior to any Black Friday deals and I ALWAYS have items saved in my Amazon cart for things I like or need but don’t like the price yet. You can start watching the prices drop on them days leading to and through Prime Day. 

By the way, when is Prime Days you ask?  July 11th and 12th for 2023. They’re coming soon so if you don’t have a Prime Membership get one. If you’ve never had one you can get a 30 day free trial with all the benefits below

 👇🏼👇🏼

Amazon Prime Free Trial

https://amzn.to/46eFZMu

If you’re a student try the 6 month trial membership just for students 

👇🏼👇🏼

Amazon Prime Student 6-Month Trial
https://amzn.to/46f5kpz

It’s going to be fun!!

#affiliate #amazonfinds #primedaydeals #amazonprimeday #loadyourcarts

Motion sensor switches? Why not?

 

I LOVE these Lutron motion switches. They keep the kids’ dirty hands off both the switches and walls. These are great for closets, pantries and other pass through rooms. We even have it in our laundry room. You can set the time to varying increments of which the lights will stay on before turning off.  They’re also super easy to install.  I did ours myself several years ago. 

Lutron motion detecting indoor light switch

Why faux flowers are awesome?

 

This is why.  

We’ve been in a drought since last year and the grass is brown and probably dying again but my flowers by the door are great. Admittedly, I’m not very good about remembering to water things. I have my arborvitaes on a drip system I put together last year because they’re WAY too expensive to lose. But anything in the front kinda always gets forgotten. 

Still looking good!

Link to post on putting together pot of faux plants

Stainless steel straws?

 

Comparable stainless steel straw pack

I’ve had these for 6 years. The kids use them, I use them they stay super clean and no discarding straws uselessly. These are definitely worth the money you save and you’re being good to the planet!

Collect sea shells from the beach?

 

I keep sea shells from different beaches. I usually put them in small glass dishes or vases and label them on the bottom. I didn’t have any from Shell Key already so I wanted to keep them from the last trip but wanted a unique display. My husband and I found this little lantern at Home Goods.  And it has a door on it so I put all the shells inside and placed it right next to my faux palm (another video) where it could share the fairy lights without anyone seeing. It’s adorable, unique and I love it!  

What do you think? 

 #seashells #seashelldisplay #cutevacationdecor #uniquedecor

New series for Amazon products

 Im going to spend the next several posts highlighting different items that I, likely, haven’t already shared. These will be pitches made 2019 or prior that I still have and use. It’s hard to find anything that lasts more than a year anymore so I’m going to share with things that have definitely been worth my money!

#moneysavingtips #mindfulfrugalista #amazonfinds

Yes, I actually have curly hair

 Not straight. 

I’ve been with my husband for over 30 years. I think it’s funny that my mother in law still thinks my hair is straight because, in all these years, she’s never seen it anything but straight or up with a hat.  I guess I’ve never actually swam in front of her because that’s how it dries.  But this ⬆️⬆️ is my normal hair. 

Midwest to beach in just several hours!

 

We have decided we LOVE that we can leave our house and be to the Clearwater/St Petersburg area in 6 hours including a 2 hour drive to the airport one way. And once you’re in Tampa it’s only 30 minutes to the beach from the airport.  And Southwest Air offers so many non stop flights and affordable. The joys of leaving your vacation condo at 8am and being home by 2pm including baggage and driving. 

And as a follow up on Alamo car rental they were great at turn in. They asked how we liked the van and we politely told them that the back up camera rarely worked and it already had damage on it at pick up. They knocked $20 off for that without us asking, not that I had planned to.  We ended up paying under $450 for one week of a van rental with unlimited miles. Thanks to my employee discount hub and the extra discount we came below budget on this part of the vacation plan. Great deal and easy pick up and delivery at the Tampa Airport!  Check them out. 

#alamocarental #southwestair #beachtraveleasy

Packing for family trip light mode

 

Belkin surge protector/power strip  this is perfect for traveling to protect your small devices and laptops and it also has a couple of usb ports its just you or a couple of people 

Anker 5 port charger this is what I always take for family travel  it has enough to charge all of our devices and I can have each port designated to a different type of charger so it’s ready to go when someone needs it

Malirona travel bag  this bag has traveled with us to Korea and Florida twice each  it’s cute and it is extremely durable with lots of pockets and a strap to keep it attached to your wheeled luggage  

Large collapsible travel duffle this duffle isn’t as good of quality but folds down to almost nothing and still has made it through multiple trips including road trips

Compression packing cubes these are perfect for packing and really do reduce the luggage space needed

Reusable travel luggage tags I can stretch these and remove them multiple times  they hold up through so much

Do you need to get your family to your destination lightly?  We are pretty good at that. And we didn’t end up needing anything when we got there. I even found out they wouldn’t provide enough paper towels and toilet paper at the condo so I packed some of that too. I got all of the floaties, tp, paper towels, beach towels, and toiletries for the whole family as well as our shoes and clothes between the three bags. Then coming back was lighter since we left some of the floaties and used our other paper towels and tp. 

The girls shared one small carry on roller, J had me to himself and C had his own. We each had a backpack personal bag with our chargers, stainless steel water bottles and snacks which meant they were almost empty on their or way back. And we all it all bottles in the checked luggage for the way back so nothing to deal with at TSA. Though 4 of us had pre check from previous trips. As a side note TSA NO LONGER tags other tickets on the same purchase trip as pre check so my husband and older son had to do regular TSA. The other kids and I took all of the bags through pre check so they would only have to deal with shoes and belts. With my husbands spinal cord injury that is hard enough. 

When we check bags to fly as a family the airlines are always amazed at how little we travel with but we are never short of anything. So it’s all in organization. 

Another little tip is that if you’re flying buy a roll of distinct ribbon at Walmart and tie it to each piece of luggage to make it easily identifiable at baggage claim  it has made this process so stress free.  

#ttavellight #usepackingcubes #tsaprecheck #organizedtravel

Don’t buy without a discount or cashback!

 

It’s only a couple bucks they say…..NOOOOOO

I always find SOME discount !

My 14 year of needed shoes so I shopped around and found good prices at Shoe Carnival. I’m a Perks member (it’s free) so I get free shipping to my home.  Btw, I know stores are changing a lot of policies so free shipping is getting harder to come by but I won’t but unless I can get it. Think about it. If the apparel you buy didn’t fit or the quality is lesser than you expect you just paid money to look at it. Nope!

Next, I always check coupon codes. RetailMeNot etc is a place to start. Nothing worked so I needed to decide if they were worth it. Well he needs them and with inflation a pair of tennis shoes at that price is good (sadly). Onto next step. 

Check out Rakuten for cash back.  Always!  They were only 2% so I checked out my Capital One  app for my Quicksilver card since I’d be paying with it anyways for the extra 1.5% cashback. And when I went to their offers they had 4% to shop through their app. So I doubled my credit card credit they will issue, later, to almost $3. 

$3.  Y’all need to learn to get a little more exited. $3 adds up. With inflation that’s what the cost of two loaves of bread went up and we eat that at least every week with 4 older kids in the house. 

👉👉👉get Capital One Quicksilver referral link  

#everydollarcounts  #moneysavingtips #capitolonesavings #finddiscounts

Sometimes procrastination pays off!

 

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. We paid $67.99 per ticket at the end of May 2023. We weren’t sure if we were going to go while we were there. I had already researched and found tickets on the website (a month prior) to be over $100/ticket for the timeframe. Then I checked my employee discount hub and they were around $95 each.  I was very much on the fence for that much for an amusement park.  

But the day we decided to go there was rain in the forecast, solid, for the rest of our trip and I didn’t want to get to do nothing. We had already spent 2 days solely on the beach. So I checked the Busch Gardens website once again that morning and the prices were down to $67.99. 

I will say it wasn’t really our cup of tea (mine and my husbands) but the kids had a good time and had been begging to go to Six Flags for a few years, so that’s out of their system. And it was different rides for them. I did enjoy the animals sprinkled throughout the park. 

And we had read about the free beer this summer so take advantage of that if you’re 21+. They do require a license so I didn’t get one. Even though I’m almost 50 they require a license. But my son and husband got theirs. It was a nice perk on a hot day. 

And the kids that rode the Iron Gwazi said it was the best ride. Outside of that the older kids rerode the Sheikra and the younger kids Tigris. 

Have fun this summer and keep this in mind to save money, possibly. 

#moneysavingtips #tampabayfun ##buschgardenstampabay

Best beachside eatery near Tampa

 

Went to eat @paradisegrille_fl  in Pass a Grille FL and got so much more than good food. FYI the buffalo shrimp is AWESOME!! The town is old seaside and extremely quaint.  The end of the island is just across the pass from Shell Key but the shells here were better and easier to find than Shell Key. Perfectly clear water and a beautiful sunset that people come for.  Go to this location and grab a great drink or some food and drinks and sit on a bench or picnic table to just people watch, watch the sunset, walk the beach or just enjoy the ambiance.  And the prices don’t bust a budget. Great place!! 

#paradisegrill #passagrille #floridasunsets #seashelllhuntjng #greatfoodinflorida #moneysavingtips

Great flight to Tampa so so car rental from Alamo

We had to fly out at 5:10. The Southwest Air staff were all super nice and the plane was clean. The flight was comfortable with the customary bag of snack mix and a drink on the flight to Tampa.  

The airfare was only $360 rountrip including Southwest’s early bird and Wanna Getaway Plus so we could get a credit to cancel and upgrade or change anytime. 

 We arrived on time and had our car from Alamo and out of the the airport in maybe 30 minutes including baggage claim.  We will see how the return of the Pacifica we rented goes on returning in the next several hours, but while pick up was smooth the vans all had damage and it makes you wonder if they’ll blame you for it. 

I used an employee discount program to rent for less than $500 for one week including unlimited miles. I used my Chase Freedom card to pay for the rental because it has automatic rental coverage and my auto owners covers us as well. Why pay extra?

Some were worse, as in plastic hanging.  But this one beeps at everything, slams on it’s brakes and the rear camera worked about 1/8 of the time. Good thing it was inexpensive. 

All in all inexpensive travel for a family of 6 adult priced anything!

All State Track kid #2

 

She got to stand on the first place podium her freshman year as an alternate for the girls 4x400 and as the 2nd place team in state. Her sister was a first place medalist in the girls 4x400 that year.  All the girls did so great that year and after the Covid break the year before it was tough for everyone. 

This year, now a junior, she was back in 8th place medaling in the girls 4x800 in the state.  She ran great and had a great time for herself and she’s hoping her senior year will be even better. We will be trying some incoming freshman out on the team as two left as seniors.  This team has gone to state for the past several years and only not placed one year. So we hope to keep that up. So proud of the grit!

The little things in life are the best

 I love these notes the kids have written over the years. Tooth fairy notes beat all. Literally her tooth fell in the heat vent under her window and she was was so upset. And J did. It like it when the tooth fairy missed his tooth for a little bit. And the toilet paper?  What mom doesn’t like leaving work to find a wad of toilet paper under her windshield wiper saying her kid had come by?  These are some of my favorite things. 

#favoritethings #goodmemories #lovemykids #itsthelittlethingsinlife

Not my style. Do you like it?

 

I wasn’t a fan of the fit on me.  Its a cute top but probably better suited for someone with a longer torso. Loved the buttons on the sleeves. And it was a very pretty color.

Get the top here

 #affiliate #amazonfinds #buttoncuff #springtop

Cutest summer top!

 I got a few new shirts from Amazon, for the summer, since I haven’t found anything locally.  And this top is one I love so much I’m going to order another in a different print and color. Great fit. Versatile. So cute! 

Buy this too here

 #amazonfinds #cutesttop #summerstyle #bringonsummer #affiliate

Last day of school yet?

 Little by little they’re growing up. And people ask if  I’m sad to have my last one go to high school.  I am not. He’s the last of 5. I’ve had kids in school since 2003. That’s 20 years of kindergarten through high school and I still have a ways to go with the remaining 2 in high school and then post high school.  

I’m proud of the 5 kids.  My heavy equipment operator, my wildlife biology grad, my college kid and now my two high schoolers.  As long as they strive to be hard working, decent, unselfish people that pay their way in life and do what makes them happy without trying to keep up with society I’m a happy mom. They make me happy but I’m also learning my time with them is shrinking and I’m trying to find who I am now.  I’m not who I used to be. I hope I’ve grown but it’s time for mom to be Lisa. 

#schoolsout #lastdayofschool #momlife #findmyself #lovemykids

The best wok I’ve ever had!

 

Do you ever worry about the chemicals non stick pans leach into your food and into your body?  I do?  And I did research and found carbon steel is a great solution.  After a couple of good seasonings this thing is NON STICK!  I even got the utensils. It’s been awesome to stir fry and fry on really high heat without worry about the chemicals or the food sticking to the pan. I love this thing. I’ve been using it for almost 6 months now and it’s fantastic.  Find the links on Pinterest  

Or

Carbon steel wok and Wok utensils

#woksrock #nonstickwok #carbonsteelcookware

The BEST battery pack out there!

 Get your battery pack here

I can’t believe I haven’t shared this here.  I have had this battery pack since 2019. 

I loved it so much I bought some for the older kids when they needed them. I can usually get at least 3 full charges off of this one fully charged pack.  And it charges faster than the car or an outlet does. It’s the first thing I grab when I need a little more juice.  You’ve got to have one of these for everyone that needs their devices charges. 

#affiliate #bestbatterypack #keepthephoneon

My mom is the best…no really

 

These ladies are the reason, for better or worse, I’m the mom I am.  But, my mom is the best. 

She was always there to nag us when we needed to do something that made us better humans. She was there for us to lean on when our lives were falling apart.  She was the person who single handedly taught us financial frugality and that even if we had the money for something doesn’t mean we needed the item. She set expectations and boundaries and we learned to to exceed them when we wanted something. She said no and wasn’t our best friend so we learned what life was really about and as adults is now there in a best friend capacity. She made my childhood fun as we learned fun was coloring on rocks and playing tag in the dark and rolling down the hill and made adulthood better as she is still teaching us and there for us when we need it and steps back when we need it. She always knows.  Not that we always agree.  We’re still her kids and follow our own paths but we know she’s there.   

Best mom ever!  We are lucky adults. 

#greatmoms #mymomrocks #growinguphappy #thankfulmom 

Parents of athletes and the long days

 This is what parents do with kids in sports. This IS track and in this case even the college kids drove 1.5 hours to watch little sister run and little brother tagged along to cheer the track team on with other track siblings his age.  But 8 hours of actual track on a HOT day took its toll and mom and big sis took a nap on the bleachers.  Yes we put on sunscreen and reapplied multiple times.  We pack lots of sandwiches and snack and water.  There wasn’t enough water in the world for how hot we were.  But our girls relay took first in both events so we were super happy.     

Anyone else have track and field kids?  What do you do to pass the time when none of the kids running are your kids let alone even from your school?  We walked around, stretched, napped and watched other events.  

11 hour day and that shower was amazing!   Hope everyone’s track kids are doing great!  

#tracklife #trackparents #trackandfield #moneysavingtips #packalunch

Best produce storage ever!!!

 

This is the last storage container you’ll need for salads, spinach etc.  Seriously!  Don’t waste money letting your produce go bad quickly ever again!  You can either get the link in Pinterest or below. The Amazon one is slightly smaller than the Walmart one but the Walmart keeper is pretty big for our large family.  

Amazon link to produce keeper

Walmart link to produce keeper

 #smartmoneyspend #amazonfinds #affiliate #moneysavings #producestorage

Work hard…sometimes means work more

 There’s the saying of work smarter not harder and that is VERY true.  You can do thinks that make your money work for you. For instance, if I have my money locked up in a CD making 4% and we need a new car and the loan is .9% (true story) then why would I cash out money from making 4% when I can just borrow .9% and then pay off when the CD comes due or it financially makes more sense?  That’s an example of making my money work for me. 

But sometimes you have to work harder too. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, you don’t have money to work for you yet. You have to get there. The marathon has just begun. 

@rachelcruze has a great reel explaining working extra jobs  and putting in the budging effort. Young adults need to do this even if not in debt. We weren’t in debt when we got married by much. A home loan and one car loan but I was always afraid of the next appliance breaking down or car repair bill so we always tried to stay ahead of the game. My husband also got paid every two weeks which meant two months in the year he got one extra paycheck. That always was earmarked for savings.  Most of our vacations were inexpensively planned and we’re using rebates, cashback from credit cards etc but never did we carry credit card debt or medical debt. I have another reel on the medical debt scenario and will eventually make a better video explaining that.  But yes. Work your butt off. The peace of mind I’m having a savings is amazing. 

Check out and follow @rachelcruze and my Instagram @mindful_frugalista for more financial ideas.

#peacefulsavings #moneysavingtips #workextra #sidegigs #putintheeffort

Cash back links fixed!

 I fixed the credit card referral links and Upside gas cashback links.  These are apps/credit cards we live by (of course all credit cards are paid off monthly).  They really do incentivize. My husband alone can bring in $50 from Upside for gas!  We have to buy it anyways and it’s at plenty of convenient locations and super easy to do. Check them out!

Get Upside app

Almost done!

 Middle school track is done for J.  He missed a couple of the last meets between walking pneumonia and then a strained hamstring from the triple jump. He got back just in time for conference but the first event was the triple jump and he found out his muscle was not better as he’d hoped and had to scratch from the 4x100 and his 2 jumps. But he PRd in the one he got in so maybe that made the pain a little better. It was a rough night of decisions for him.

Now, he has to fight through the pain and try to recover as he gears up for football so we’ve armed him with a little massage gun and inexpensive stretching strap from Amazon.  All for $30. When you’re weightlifting in the morning and running in the afternoon you really have to stretch those muscles that are compacting in weights. He learned it the hard way. I sadly have no pics of him running. It was finally warning up enough to chase him with a camera and then he got hurt. 

Stretch by yourself with this stretching strap

Massage all your sore muscles away with this massage gun

High school track is almost over. Hopefully it’s all the way to state again. We shall see.  As any parent in track knows, a lot can happen to prevent a team or individual from making it to state. She’s doing well, just needs to find a little more push now. 

Her boyfriend is always at a corner to encourage her if he’s not busy throwing. 

Best fire for me outdoor tables!

 

We bought both items from @target.  The table was around $130 and the table top fire pit was $70.  My husband cut out some of the aluminum table top so we could insert the attachment to secure the table top fire pit to it.  We bought some fire glass and replaced the rock it came with for some pretty color.  It works perfect and is the perfect height to put your feet up and enjoy being outside.  

#targetfinds #outdoordecor #outdoordecoronabudget  #readyforsummer

The perfect candle ambience for any room!

 

These candles are what I was looking for. Ambience that’s safe, rechargeable and on a timer with other settings.  The remote let’s you set various timers. Once you select 2, 4 hours etc they come back on at the same time every day.  They do have a red glow when in charging mode but as soon as they’re charged that fades. The candles look so realistic. The flames are amazing. And they’re a nice warm glow. I previously had other candles but I like them in every evening and they ate through batteries. These are the solution!

Get the perfect candle set here

 #rechargeablecandles #electriccandles #candlelightambience #tvcandlelight

Conflicted…. We feel this so often don’t we moms?

 No pictures or recs tonight. Just alone with my thoughts since hubby went to sleep early to get one more morning of hunting in before season closes. 

This year has been such a harsh commitment to the feelings we, moms, get as we parent our kids through life.  The conflicted feelings because we’re proud of a kid for something and because they’re kids they make a mistake and maybe get in trouble at school or something and so we’re disappointed all at the same time. Or maybe it’s one kid seems to be in a healthy relationship while another just ended one and they’re broken hearted?  When these times come, and there seems to be many times this year, I feel so confused.  Not literally. I mean I know what’s going on and with who but I think it’s hard for my nervous system to gauge my feelings and regulate me. Almost like you feel frozen because you don’t know exactly what to do or where to go next.  Not even sure that makes sense but it’s the best I can describe.  

I know as they all grow into adults I’m going to have so many more times like this. I’m going to have to find a better way to deal so I don’t have the emotional drain of the fear and pain I feel for them.  I mean who doesn’t. When your child has another one break their heart it’s like it’s yours.  They are my heart.  I can feel their sadness through my heart and my whole being and I’m having to learn to separate myself from it so they can encounter and experience life and get through the same that we did but what you want is to reach out and hug them. But what I’ve found, especially with boys, is that they don’t really want you to. 

So I’ll do the one thing I know a mom can do. I’ll pray!

The best healthy fat

 

We have really embraced the avocado in this house. We love them on almost any sandwich we eat among other things. They’re so creamy you can, at the very least, minimize how much mayo you use. We also eat them on sushi bake and fish tacos etc. So so good and so healthy.  We also are starting to add flax seed (more than we were), chia seeds and turmeric to more dishes. Watching what we eat so we can keep at healthy weights and cholesterol.  Getting my numbers down is a like a game for me. I’m trying to NOT have to go on meds one day, if at all possible. 

#rocktheavacado #healthybudget #eatrich

Best laptop case EVAH!

 Get case now

This laptop sleeve literally last 5 years through my college kid. Not a lot survives his hard usage. Great buy!

Best brand for affordable sound!

 

Soundcore and Anker….two of my favorite brands and now they’ve merged for this awesome product. I have so many products by these companies and when I do shop I ALWAYS give them a buy. 

Check these out

#affiliate

Epsolay!

 Stay tuned for the progress I try to make when I get back on Epsolay next week. 

This way , we can see if the previous improvement was a fluke or not. I was seeing real results or what felt like them on Epsolay. When I go back on it I’ll be able to see if it was just coincidence since the azelaic acid was not kind to my rosacea. 

#rosaceatreatment #epsolay #azelaicacid #clearface

Great employment opportunity for teen

 

Your kid needs some extra money?  You want a house cleaner but don’t want to commit to all year cleanings and fees?  Pay the kid?  You will be able to more easily speak to your teen about what they don’t do or do well. They’ll learn even more responsibility while earning money and no one has to drive them anywhere.  Win win! #moneysavingtips #collegesavings #summeremployment