Simple RV Decor

simple We just had a great weekend. We mostly stayed off our phones and just spent time with our kids. We did something for this Father’s Day weekend that we do a lot and that is camping.

I LOVE watching all the trailer reno videos on You Tube. You Tube is something I just started doing with an addition to my blog. Go on over and read my You Tube Announcement!

We all need breaks. I talk about that over here on the blog and share my views on this often. Rest is so important.

Simple RV Decor

Something super restful for me to do is making home decor. When it comes to our trailer, I would love to re-do it, but that’s not a project we are into doing. So to help make some personal touches I added some DIY decor.

1: Upcycled Basket

This required some minimal sewing skills. I repurposed an old pillow case for this. Plus spray painted an ice cream container. Our little bathroom in the trailer has some storage. Just nice to have some things easy to grab and in a cute basket.

The full video on how I made it is below.

2: Faux Drying Lavender

I had fun with this one. I just cut off a pick of lavender I had from the dollar store and then took twine and hot glued it together on the back.

I used command hocks to install it in the trailer. Easy to remove and doesn’t leave a mark behind.

Full video on how I made it below.

3: Welcome Sign – FREE Printable

I made this sign and was super happy how it turned out.

It says “Welcome to our cabin (on wheels)”

I also painted the pot for the little faux greenery white, used to be black.

Since this blog post is full of simple decor ideas. I made it a FREE printable.

You can get the FREE Printable Free Welcome Sign

Here’s the full video tutorial

I’ve got lots more camping blog posts on the blog. Be sure to check them out!

Do you have an RV?

Something we love having for our family.

Earth Day 2020

2020 (1) It’s April 21st. I don’t always keep up with all the “days” of the year where there’s something to celebrate. Earth Day seems like an important one to highlight this year.

Am I a big tree huger? Do I love the earth that we live on and thinks it’s important to take care of it, YES.

I’ve been a bit weighed down for a while about our earth and the major changes that are taking place. Truth is, I see technology pushing natures boundaries in the coming years worse then ever for our convenience. Doesn’t take long to do some research and get annoyed at what’s coming in the next few years and even now.

2020

Take care of our Earth

I’ve been on a more ‘Eco’ friendly lifestyle for a while. I’m not fully a granola crunchy person as people like to tease, but I’m close. My husband did a night over camping trip at a local lake in the mountains a few years ago and shared with me when he got back there were some women there that if ‘Carrie let herself go…I would look like that’.

Every small step makes a difference:

For money savings sake a long time ago I started hanging my laundry to dry. In turn I wasn’t running my energy draining dryer.

Another way is hand washing dishes. I’m learning lots of minimalists who don’t have a dishwasher and only just enough plates and such for their families. That would sure make washing dishes a lot faster if there was less.

That’s just an example of 2 small steps. There’s so much more Eco living tips that I haven’t even attempted to try yet. If you look at my living on one income post you can see much more how we save.

I honestly see it as more going back to the old ways and less leaning on the conveniences of our modern ways of life.

“Electronics are expensive and convenience is costly”

Any way you can change the way you look at your everyday living and think more of an earthly mindset you can make a big difference.

How do we take care of our earth?

Making small steps in your home and lifestyle for one. Also, when shopping looking for products that either use environmental practices in their products or fund an organisation that helps the environment.

Most of my clothes is second hand or I bought on clearance. Here’s a shirt I’ve had my eye on for a long time. It’s made by a local clothing company, literally 15 min from where I live. Knowing that the fabric is made in North America and not from a sweat shop makes a difference.

Taking care of our earth is buying local, sourcing out products that have the environment in mind. One of my planters I recently bought is made from recycled plastics collected from my local area.

How are YOU celebrating Earth Day?

This Earth Day we can’t go to any parades or host big celebrations. The kids and I painted a big earth on our window and talked about ways we can help save the earth.

Oh – They requested cupcakes too.

What are some Earth Friendly things you do to help the earth?

Easter Fun

Easter Fun It’s the evening of Good Friday as I write this. I’ve been thinking as we are going into this Easter weekend not being able to be with Family and Friends. There’s no Easter Egg Hunts put on by my mother in law or coloring eggs with Grandma.

Easter 2020? I guess it’s time to get creative and still make some family fun out of it for our family.

Tonight I thought it would be fun to share an Easter from years past. Hopefully it’s help inspire some Easter fun for your home.

Comment Below, “What are your Easter Plans?”

Easter Egg Coloring

I don’t remember many Easter egg hunts as a kid. I remember lots of Good Friday church services at night. What I do remember is coloring eggs!

I found this gem of a photo from a couple of years ago. We did this when our oldest was 4 at my parents house and hosted an international student. Both kids loved it. FYI – the Christmas table clothe is like a “crafting” table clothe. I use an old bed sheet for my kids once the crafting supplies come out.

I was never fooled as a kid about the world view of Easter Eggs and bunnies. My bunny Charlie was in his cage in the backyard and I had to collect eggs from the chickens. Country kid knows those 2 things don’t go together.

If your interested in a natural dye option for eggs check out Shifting Roots blog post. I had a good laugh at all her attempts. Next year I’ll try some and see how they turn out!

Easter Egg Hunts

I think these pictures say it all. I’ll admit I’m “that aunt who always has a camera with her”. I have an Aunt like that that’s always taking pictures with her camera. Let’s say she’s inspired me. I’m glad I took these cute pictures.

The kids running into the yard after we said “GO”.

I couldn’t help but add an Egg being picked up in the garden!

“Son, I think you have some growing to do”. Something tells me my husband was up to this egg placement.

Egg Hunts at our House

Easter Egg hunts happened a couple years at our house too. For Privacy of family it was hard to find a good picture to share without protecting their privacy. These next couple photo’s where taken in our backyard.

Here our middle son is crouched in the yard with his bucket and not sure “what is going on?”

You might have noticed my kids have their Easter Clothes on.

Then there’s me and the camera. Remember our old fence? I couldn’t help myself get a photo op.

Thankfully I could save just a few boards. But having 2 boys this fence got replaced the summer after this photo was taken.

One more…

How we really celebrate Easter

I rarely bring this up, Easter seems like a good time to share.

At our house you won’t find pictures of the kids with the Easter Bunny. Just not something we “celebrate”. Tonight we spent joining our church live for the Good Friday service. It’s good to see familiar faces while being stuck at home.

Our kids colored while we watched and we did communion with fishy crackers and juice. We also took the time to light candles after the kids went to bed and prayed.

Easter is about Jesus and what we He did. I know what I experience having Him in my heart and how much of an impact that’s had on my life. I can encourage you to seek faith in believing in Him but ultimately that’s up to you and where your at in your life. All I can do is be an example.

We celebrate Easter by looking to the cross and most especially leaving our burdens at the feet of the cross. This time of the year I’ve had some very difficult things to go through. One including quitting my job after loosing our second baby. Having an Elder come over after the Good Friday service still is clear as day for me from 6 years ago. Now that I’m building up a business and working from home that’s all changed and I’m thankful for every step that’s brought me to where I am today. I have Jesus to thank for that.

Easter 2020???

Tomorrow – We will be hiding eggs for the kids, coloring eggs, painting rocks, buying more plants (from local vendors of course) and taking a break from anything online, unless there’s family and friends who want to video chat them I’m all in.

Have a great long weekend!

Home School Transformation

how to transform a room for Well, This should be the LAST of my shift from my regular content. BUT, Everyone is going through uncertain times. When I said I cried in my last post. It was because of the school closure announcement here in Canada. It’s been heavy on my heart to home school and now I know why.

As a Home and Garden blogger a big part of my home is my family. I do have an Education background, as I worked as an EA for 5 years. It’s definitely impacted how I do things at home especially for my family.

I have a kid in Grade 2, 4 year old whose registered for kindergarten next year and a almost 2 year old.

I noticed a MASSIVE shift online since the announcement. Everyone is sharing their best at home websites. Lots of FREE content etc.

However, not everyone is set up for helping educate their kids at home!

Zones

Let’s be real here. It’s NOT my goal to enforce what my son would be missing if he was at school. It’s just to keep his mind active with the basics. So yesterday we transformed our spare bedroom into a learning room with “zones”.

I made signs for each zone that my son colored and made with old picture frames. My son LOVES art and was hoping around and singing as he made these. Fully in his happy place.

Here’s the FREE Home School Zones

Homework

My son already has been playing Math games and writing in his Journal. All on his own. Without me prompting him. I hope this little “Homework is Awesome” sign keeps him in a positive place about homework for years to come.

The sign is in a picture frame that stays by our kitchen table. Computer time is done in a public space in our home.

All OTHER activities are SCREEN FREE

Reading

In our Spare Bedroom I pushed the Queen Sized bed into the corner. My boys had a blast yesterday grabbing all the stuffed animals and blankets and books to add to this space.

It’s also a great spot for all my kids to be in while the others are doing art or playing Lego.

Art

This is a BIG part of our home. This is MY art from Grade 8, I used to have all 3 in the kids nursery.

I used to have a “Ready Set Go” Set up that I wrote about in my Spring Break Ideas for Kids last year. BUT my kitchen table was becoming a fight to get it cleaned up all the time.

So I took out the dresser in this room and set up our outdoor camping table. Then I found a shelf in our house we weren’t really using and had installed.

Lego

Yes, an important part of our kids lives, LEGO.

We used to Host International Students for about 7 years. This was once their bedroom. This desk got taken over by Lego in the past year. It has been called “the Lego room” for months now.

I’m still letting my kids have their freedom and treating “Spring Break” as much fun as possible EVEN THOUGH they can’t play with anyone else but family and be at home. We still walk our dog and get outside in our big backyard as much as the weather permits.

Now to go plant my seeds.

I love my kids, but my way of dealing with stress is Gardening!!!

Hope this little home school transformation was helpful!

Living on One Income

One Income I cried today.

I need to pause my regular home/garden content and talk about something important.

Real day in the Life post for you today. Since this outbreak here in Canada and the mad scramble for the grocery store, we’ve been OK.

Store was out of wipes – I told my husband to buy cloth ones.
Store was out of bread – I baked a batch.
Just recently I pulled out and organized my “home school” supplies. No, we don’t home school. BUT my son has missed SO many WEEKS of school this year. Plus homeschooling has been heavy on my heart and mind this year, as of today, now I know why.

Uncertain times have been a reality for my Husband and I. I would be lying if I said life was a breeze. I can share all the cute pictures I want of our home and make my blog seem super attractive but there the real life realities that our family faces ALL the time.

Living on ONE income and how we did it!

We are not alone with the worldly reality of what’s happening and not sure about our financial future. Thing is, I feel like to some degree because of our past experience with uncertain times it’s not hitting us like walking into a brick wall like it used to.

In 2014 we came to the realization I needed to stay home. Prior to this in 2012 BOTH my husband and I dealt with uncertain Job positions and felt the biggest blow when he learned the shop he was working for was closing and the job I had worked at prior to my mat leave didn’t have a position for me to go back to.

We have a saying in our family “God Provides”

I’ll share more about how that situation ended.

I’m not a financial guru, just sharing how we KEEP living on ONE income. Writing this in no particular order. This is my own personal experience.

1: Family Haircuts – YES I cut EVERYONE’S hair in our family of 5. Our guess was saving us $800 a year doing this. That figure is based on the most basic/ cheapest haircut we could all get in town.

2: I DON’T spend money on is my nails done, hair dyed, wax, spray tan…Whatever it is that most women treat themselves on I see as a waste of money and just don’t spend money on it. Remember this is my own personal opinion, comment isn’t meant to offend anyone.

3: Hang Dry laundry – I did the math, $500 in savings on my mat leave (2012) for the entire year.

4: Cloth Diapers – Even if you’re doing this 50% of the time, your still saving money. Worth the time and energy that goes into it.

5: Vegetable Gardening – More to share about this in the coming weeks. Still eating fresh/frozen food from last year.

6: Take a vehicle OFF the road. If one of you can walk or bike to work, sell a vehicle or take the vehicle off the road.

7: Sell stuff – This past Sept we sold over $1,000 of stuff we had laying around our home.

8: Baking – Have you seen how expensive packaged snacks are for school?? Between this and cloth diapering is a HUGE savings on our grocery bill.

9: Accept hand me down clothes. I grew up with this as a kid. I was blessed pretty early on with hand me downs for my kids. I make sure to pay it forward once my kids grow out the clothes. Friends and I do clothing swaps all the time since our kids are close in size. Notice I said “Accept”. I don’t focus on fashion, it’s not worth the cost. From what we get for our kids I think they look pretty good all things considered.

10: Buy Local food. With doing most of the above buying local meat and produce is affordable. We buy a lot more higher quality food. It comes down to healthier choices with what we put in our bodies. I’m someone who struggles with my gut health. Making this switch, not so many flair ups anymore.

11: DIY – This applies to ALL areas of our home. Vehicles – My husband is a mechanic. Home Decor, Plumbing, Drywall, Painting a room for example. Almost all of our construction stuff in our house we do. With the exception of needing professionals when it’s above what we can do.

12: Gardening and Lawn Maintenance. This seems like a common sense item to me. BUT, with the amount of small lawn companies that frequent our neighborhood I know lots of people get their properties cared for.

13: Rent Equipment: If we don’t own the equipment to do a small job, instead of hiring we rent it.

14: Date Night in – PUT THE PHONES DOWN…Play a game, invite another couple over to play a game night for example.

15: Shop clearance, deals, sales or always look second hand. This has saved us tons of money. My husband actually can’t stand that I’m a roadside picker upper. Yup, if it’s worth it, then I stop. FYI – A chunk of my gardening pots I acquired this way.

16: Side Hustles: Direct Sales with Arbonne and THIS BLOG! I recently made the change to have ads.

I could keep going or expand more on any of these topics. I’m not a financial blogger and there’s many great blogs or books to read. This is just a list of how we do it. It is still tight to live on one income.

Seeing as how much people ask me to be a part of stuff that costs money to do, tells me they think we got it figured out.

It takes lots of communication between my husband and I and not giving in to our kids. At the end of the day we lean on our Faith. God Provides. Doesn’t mean we don’t need to spring into action and get creative when your income gets cut in half.

It’s happened a few times to us. Each time we’ve just gotten smarter.

Back to our story: In 2012, my husband legit walked back into his old job. I scrambled to find work in a different school district and found childcare. Our story keeps working out again and again.

Hope seeing our list of what we do with living on one income is helpful.

Share in the comments of other tips that are helpful to you!

Garden/Backyard Planning

Garden_Backyard Planning Today I want to share with you about Garden/Backyard Planning. We bought our home in 2014. This is our journey snapshot of what we started with and where we are now.

If there is something you see that you want me to go deeper into explaining please comment below.

Here I’m going to show you how our gardening/backyard planning took shape. It would be great if we could have changed it all within that first year. BUT that costs A LOT of money.

To create a garden/backyard of your dreams it needs TIME.

When we bought this place we had one kid, now we have 3 and a puppy. Lots of changes. The most reno work we have done has been to the outside.

The previous owner had a GREAT garden already going. However things seemed to be in odd places and we had to re-work the yard how it fit for our dream for the property.

2014

Here’s the LARGE garden box and a side garden. This garden where the trees are was super overgrown and I’m still fighting an aggressive plant in that area.

Here’s the Greenhouse and the worn out old fence. I got to get a LOT of tomatoes out of that greenhouse. Sadly I still have lots of learning to do and how to grow plants in there. So far it’s been a starter house for me.

We redid the fence, it was awful.

Remember I mentioned Garden Planning taking time?

Summer 2019

The Wood was JUST getting weathered.

For our Daughters first birthday last year I tried doing a photo shoot. It shows the new fence and memorial garden that I added.

I really need to print and frame this one!

Here’s the current look at the Green House update we did. My husband broke one of the windows with the lawnmower and we didn’t want to keep replacing the glass so we worked hard to make it more user friendly and to save money.

PLUS everything we did here was re-purposed.

As you can see, we use it more for storage now. It’s tucked behind the house.

We still have more Garden/Backyard Planning to do. It takes time as I mentioned. The kids get right into it as well.

I know I didn’t share any tips on this post, but I hope seeing the before and after it gives you some inspiration to work on your own garden and backyard.

One last photo from last year. There’s a HUGE Reno, that is still happening. I’m hoping we get it DONE within the next 6 weeks and show you the reveal. It’s a huge change for us, We LOVE to entertain. This was when we served guests last year “in the garden”. That gives you a hint.

Have a great day and I would love to hear about your garden projects.

Family trip to Mexico

Mexico If it seems like I was on a Vacation from blogging. That’s because I was just in Mexico with our whole family. This time last week we were heading back to the airport in Cancun to come back home to our very cold northern home in the Fraser Valley in Canada. It so happened to snow the week we got back.

This trip was a big first for me, I was just as nervous and excited as the kids.

So…Traveling with our family to Mexico. Well this actually included my husbands WHOLE family. Yup, it was a big trip. Lots of people.

Our family researched the trip from the beginning. Once the resort was picked out we found travel vloggers videos and watched all what we could find out. We were traveling with our kids and I wanted to be prepared.

The flight there was fine, getting to the resort was really good. No crazy driving or people hounding us at the airport which was surprising. We had lots of people warn us.

Getting to our room was good and even though there was a time difference we settled in pretty quickly. We got there in time for the buffet for dinner. We really tried not to buy the airplane bistro food, knowing we were headed to an all inclusive was worth the wait for food.

It’s pretty easy to fall in love with the atmosphere there. I loved the scenery, the pools and especially the beach. We didn’t clue in to wake up in time to catch the sunrise until our last day there. This was what we caught just before the sun broke through the clouds.

The Gardner in me wants to find out what this plant is? I absolutely LOVE the bright pink. The grounds where something else with all the tropical plants everyone. Plus the resident iguana that lived by our door.

Our second child was quick to comment his friends needed to come to mexico and visit us here. Although at the end of the week he was getting homesick.

Our family loved the ocean. Our boys were in and out of the water. We got our oldest for his birthday an underwater camera and we got some neat video of the fish in the ocean. My husband went snorkeling and got some video of the fish at the reef.

Our youngest didn’t know any different. It was challenging to deal with naps. She lived off watermelon and french fries at the buffet. I was excited to get this sweet picture with her by the ocean.

I learned a lot about going on a trip like this. My husband and I haven’t ever saved to go on one like this. We have focused and worked hard at buying a good family home in the Fraser Valley. Luxury trips like this weren’t an option.

IMG_0557 (1) There’s many stories and much more that I would share. There’s a more important post I will be doing about this trip once we get closer to summer.

Hope you enjoyed some of these shots of our trip. The resort was definitely nice. For me, it’s the scenery and the ocean that got me more excited then the luxury lifestyle the resort offered to give.

Yes, no cooking, cleaning, making beds for a week was nice, but it’s also great to be home.

Any suggestions as to where my husband and I should go for our 15th Wedding Anniversary?

Picking a Puppy

notefull living Blog

It’s happened! We officially own a puppy. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen her in my stories.

My husband and I have wanted a dog for many years. We thought about having one before we had kids and then decided against it. We had a cat before kids and she just attacked all our company. So once we got pregnant we had to re-home her.

Here’s our experience of Picking a Puppy.

1: Research

I can’t stress this enough. We spent close to a year spending time researching different breeds and watching lots of videos of dog trainers and their advice online about picking a puppy and what to expect.

I grew up with a dog, where my husband didn’t. So I have some experience with having a dog. Difference is, I grew up in the country. Living in town with a dog is a bit different.

We chatted with lots of friends who had dogs and chatted with lots of dog owners in our neighborhood or whenever it was possible in public. Most dog owners love chatting about their dogs.

Don’t buy a dog on a whim, take your time.

2: Preparing the Family

We have 3 kids, ages 7, 4 and 20 months. Something my husband and I do as parents when we are introducing something new to our kids is talk about it a lot. Give lots of info about whatever adventure we plan to go on and the expectations when we are there.

60BF3F2E-C36D-4EC8-BE11-84FC4B6BC1E1 We let our kids know a year ahead of time this was going to happen. My husband and I had agreed 2020 was the year to get a dog.

Our kids aren’t exactly used to pets as they aren’t around them a lot. Plus most of our friends over the years didn’t have any pets.

We got them around dogs a LOT. The more comfortable they got around them we started searching for a local breeder.

3: Finding a Breeder

This part was interesting. We were given lots of suggestions of places where people bought their dogs. Most them were out of town. These were dogs that we met and loved their temperament. The other thing we noticed…$$$ very expensive.

We did find a breeder in our neighborhood, again her price was more then we wanted to spend. My husband and I agreed we would feel more comfortable with getting a mixed breed and if possible from someone we knew.

We happened to go hiking with a friend and her dog was along. Remember I talked about introducing our kids to lots of dogs. With my friends dog our kids were super calm and not scared around. It just so happened her dog had a litter that next week.

The mom is a Shepherd/Lab.

4: Picking a Puppy

For us lots needed to happen before we even got to pick the puppy. Which means we are near the end of our journey of picking one and bringing one home.

We are an active family, we get out whenever we can. The yearly planning I talked about in my last blog post about scheduling plays into that. We knew we wanted a puppy that would be both calm and well mannered yet want to keep up with our busy family.

One of the best advice we got was to get out and meet the litter and just see them first. Plus, we got to meet each puppy one on one and that helped us narrow it down. Our boys each had a favorite which made the process a bit interesting. Thankful our boys are maturing and we were able to talk them through it.

We happened to find the runt of the litter, she was calm, listened super well and was well tempered. Plus her markings were super adorable, that made picking her extra helpful.

5: Picking a Name

Since we had talked about getting a puppy for so long we had a running list of boy and girls names going. One of our names was “techie”, picked out by the boys.

We ended up going off popular dog name websites and just running down the list of names.

The name we picked is “Kona”. This way the family she was with could start calling her by her name.

6: Taking her Home:

Kona has been with us for a few days now. It’s been a bit of an adjustment, mostly for the kids.

Night time has been challenging as most people warned us and we read up about that fact. Our oldest admitted putting his pillow over his head the first night.

It’s a learning curve for everyone. I’m liking watching our kids adjust to her and play with her.

A tired dog is a good dog. Here’s she’s chilling on the DIY Dog Bed I made for her. The boys sure have fun taking her outside and playing in the backyard with her. Right now we have snow, makes for it being extra fun.

We can’t wait for summer when we go camping and most of the “puppy” stage will be passed and she will be we will all be well adjusted to each other.

Hope sharing our experience was helpful. Do you have a dog?

Are you planning on getting one?

If you came just for the puppy spam, your welcome.

Schedules, and staying Organized

how to schdeule (1) Living a scheduled life is something I’ve learned the hard way is something we can all improve on and be better at.

I’ve always considered myself an organized person. Along comes our 3 kids and technology explosion and I was pulling my hair out. I wasn’t as organized as I thought I was. I was missing IMPORTANT doctor appointments and missing key scheduled things in our kids life and so forth.

I looked back and had to ask myself where am I going wrong. Why am I messing up so bad, what was working and what wasn’t?

I’ve written some basic tips that helped me, bonus I added a DIY!

There’s a TON of organization gurus out there. They offer great advice. Yet, we are all made differently and have to figure out what works best for us.

I tried for over a year to keep up with switching to the free google calendar. It’s free right, boy was a wrong. I guess the writer in me needs to write it down. I had a bit of a meltdown last year realizing my loath for technology wasn’t helping trying to stay organized using something online.

1: Get a GOOD planner:

After posting a desperate outcry to friends on Facebook I was reminded of my other writing friends to use a teacher planner.

I got one and it’s made a big difference.

Having this cute spot in our kitchen with the writing desk makes it easy to layout. The planner fits so perfectly. As much as I love beautiful detailed planners and paper products, I got mine from staples and it’s made by Emily Ley

My Husbands work uses the Google Calender so I still sometimes add things or he adds them. It’s still kinda used, I’m still trying to adapt. But for my sanity I went back to a paper planner.

2: DIY a Picture frame for Days of the Week:

Ready for an upcycle and a DIY? I love a good repurpose project that’s fast and easy.

I originally made this for meal planning. The paper planner I bought already has a slot for meal planning. This DIY became a “week at a glance” for the whole family and it’s been hugely helpful.

What you need:

Paper (larger needed if you have a bigger frame)
Permanent Marker
Ruler
Picture Frame
Paint

Paint the frame with 2 coats. Let it fully dry. Measure out your day slots and an extra space to write the month on top. Use your marker to mark out your lines. Then put the frame back together. Hang and use dry erase markers and your done!

I use different color dry erase for different members of the family. Or different events we have going on. I update this every Saturday night.

I have it hanging in a central part of our home so we see it everyday.

3: Use a 12 month Calendar

I got this idea from Jordan Page at Fun Cheap or Free. She uses google calendar, however I’ve already established that doesn’t work for me. Since I’m a visual person, we opted to buy a bigger white erase 12 month calendar. We hung it up in our bedroom.

This huge visual aid has all our core things that need to be on here. All my husbands work schedule, on call and paydays. Our holidays are on this calendar and most importantly birthdays. Kids school breaks and so forth. I think you get the drift.

We seem to get caught off guard when birthdays come around or holidays sneak up and we didn’t budget. Sharing that to let you know we aren’t perfect.

Having a visual aid like this is already helping us budget and plan better. Now we can plan those “last minute” camping trips or what weekends are best to hammer out a much needed reno.

Here’s to a better planned, scheduled and organized 2020.

Hope these tips are helpful, they are for our family.

What are things you do to keep organized?

Ending 2019 on a High Note

It’s almost 2020, Here’s my last blog post for the year! Thanks for you support and have a great night!

I love writing these posts. I’m starting to enjoy this side of blogging where I can look back and see which posts were my top posts. Having an overview look at how much things have changed, mostly for the better.

How was 2019 for YOU?

This year has been intense. That’s how I can describe it. To only give a small look at the intensity it had to do with the following: 2 Family Deaths, 2 Plumbing issues, unexpected electrical inspection, Financial tests like we have never experienced and much much more.

My husband and I both lost Grandparents. Truth is both Grandparents had long lost their spouses and have suffered with physical pain and I’m thankful they are relieved of that now.

There’s no amount of pictures or special videos that you can make in today’s day to capture the last moment I had with my Grandfather and my daughter as he was in Hospice. He turned with the little strength he had left and gave his youngest family member the biggest grin and she smiled back.

What a legacy both of these people leave behind for my husband and I.

I don’t believe in coincidences, my BIGGEST blog post of the year had to do with my own personal Grief.

Read it here: Surviving my Pregnancy Loss

I guess there’s something about sharing a testimony of a difficult part of my life to give YOU who read my blog a real “Heart to Heart”.

You all LOVED it. I suppose my approach to not be a “selling” blog means something still.

This biggest thing I’ve learned from being knocked down is to just get right back up.

Remember, I said this year was intense.

I will confess I was up to 4 cups of coffee a day and pretty much consumed a full Costco bag of chocolate chips in a month this past fall. Not ashamed to share my stressful glutenous outbursts.

This all still didn’t stop me for writing and creating content for here on the blog. I had big blog posts planned relating to our house for 2019. Considering a big water leak was involved in that area of our home…that post is still yet to come.

Instead I began a journey in our home to be more “Homemade and Local”. These were some of my favorite posts to write.

Oh! I almost forgot I started adding FREE printable for you! Check out: Creating a Homemade Home to get yours. Yes, the plates are something from my Grandparents. There is something “home style” about hanging old plates.

How am I ending 2019 on a High Note. My husband and I suspected at the beginning of the year that one of us would possibly loose a grandparent. We didn’t expect us both.

Our BIG RENO project is still in “Reno mode”, and the storage room reveal needed to get re-opened again.

Here’s what I told myself…

“No matter what hurdles keep me from doing what I need to get done,

I’ll not let that slow me down”.

I had hoped 2019 was the year I launched my piano tuning business officially. N.O.P.E. But, I’m playing my nicely tuned piano again as I finally overcame all this years DRAMA FEST, which I didn’t add on my list from above.

Since November, I’m down to one cup of coffee a day (not 4). Today I’m removing sugar from my day to day food that I consume. Our boys actually passed swimming lessons recently and our youngest finally started walking last week. I actually did a workout today, been trying to fit that in also since November.

Me and 3 kids doing a workout video with Jillian Micheal is a site to see. I personally don’t post my kids for their privacy. If you have kids and have tried fitting a workout into your day and are too cheap to bother going to the gym it’s entertaining.

One last High Note (aside from a nicely tuned piano in my home), my most liked Instagram post was my wedding photo.

Wedding Sept 12 374

Love this Man and the life we have, it is worth all the storms that we face together.

If 2019 was intense for you, especially if it comes an important thing like your marriage. I don’t know your story but know this, whatever storm your facing you can overcome it.

Just like the example set before my husband and I with our grandparents and our parents, it’s not worth holding grudges or being bitter, but forgiveness and working together that counts.

Our marriage is built around our relationship with Jesus Christ. Not everyone agrees with that choice that we made. Not sure what life would look like without that important relationship that my husband and I hold with HIM.

Simple RV Decor

1: Upcycled Basket

2: Faux Drying Lavender

3: Welcome Sign – FREE Printable

Here’s the full video tutorial

Do you have an RV?

Something we love having for our family.

Take care of our Earth

How do we take care of our earth?

What are some Earth Friendly things you do to help the earth?

Easter Egg Coloring

Easter Egg Hunts

Egg Hunts at our House

How we really celebrate Easter

Easter 2020???

Have a great long weekend!

Zones

Homework

Reading

Art

Lego

Hope this little home school transformation was helpful!

Living on ONE income and how we did it!

Hope seeing our list of what we do with living on one income is helpful.

Share in the comments of other tips that are helpful to you!

2014

Summer 2019

1: Research

2: Preparing the Family

3: Finding a Breeder

4: Picking a Puppy

5: Picking a Name

6: Taking her Home:

Hope sharing our experience was helpful. Do you have a dog?

Are you planning on getting one?

If you came just for the puppy spam, your welcome.

1: Get a GOOD planner:

2: DIY a Picture frame for Days of the Week:

3: Use a 12 month Calendar

Here’s to a better planned, scheduled and organized 2020.

Hope these tips are helpful, they are for our family.

What are things you do to keep organized?

Thanks for your support this year and taking time to read and comment on my blog.