Saturday, July 1, 2023

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

Thursday, June 29, 2023

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!


Tuesday, June 27, 2023

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!


Saturday, June 24, 2023

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

Friday, June 23, 2023

Great Etsy jewelry find

 

Link to this Etsy jewelry store πŸ‘‰ 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. 

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

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

 πŸ‘‡πŸΌπŸ‘‡πŸΌ

Amazon Prime Free Trial

https://amzn.to/46eFZMu

If you’re a student try the 6 month trial membership just for students 
πŸ‘‡πŸΌπŸ‘‡πŸΌ
Amazon Prime Student 6-Month Trial
https://amzn.to/46f5kpz

It’s going to be fun!!

#affiliate #amazonfinds #primedaydeals #amazonprimeday #loadyourcarts

Monday, June 19, 2023

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