are you prepared?

For the past 4 years I have been putting together GOOD 72-hour kits, you know, just in case of an emergency like Hurricane Katrina. I've got most of the stuff we need need, but still need the food and water (kind of important things to have to survive).

The whole time I'm putting these kits together, I'm also trying to put together a bigger and better, a more comprehensive emergency preparedness kit for longer term. We had flashlights, but what about when the batteries run out? Yikes. 

Pinterest saves me yet again! And I found out how to make my own candles out of soy wax. Check the post out here.

I friend of mine and I tried it out on just a couple of jars (what if something happened like the wax over-heating and exploding everywhere?) and it worked perfectly!!

I still have about 4 pounds of soy wax. So I'm gonna buy more jars, or eat all the strawberry jam in my other jam bottles, and make more candles for my emergency preparedness kits!

What do you do for emergency preparedness?

sight words

I honestly don't know why sight words are important, I just know that they are. I finally jumped on the "sight word" band wagon on Pinterest and found a list that I liked. Find that pin here.

Anyhoo, I typed up the lists and printed them off on some construction paper we had around the house. I'm positive card stock would work well too. 

I whipped out my trusty laminator--my MIL gave us this a while back for one Christmas. At the time, I was wondering what on Earth would I need a laminator for! I've used that sucker for A LOT of things. It is probably one of the most used gifts I have EVER used.

And laminated about 12 sheets of words!

I then adhered the full-sized page and all the words to magnets.

I liked this method because of this format.

 I liked how you see the word and say it, you build it with whatever letters you have (we have the colorful magnetic letters that the original poster has), and then you write it!

The entire project took less time than I thought. And, if you don't want to type up the documents yourself, shoot me your email address and I'll send them to you right away!

vacay

After 9 months in Arizona, we're FINALLY making a trip back to Utah to visit family and friends!! See all y'all next week.

curl up and dye ... or bleach

I cannot stop raving about Dressing Your Truth! I realized when I get excited about something I get a little jittery and can't explain it properly. So, here goes nothing. 

Dressing Your Truth is the study of movement as it expresses itself through us. Beauty is more than skin deep. It is created from the four elements in our DNA:, nitrogen -1, oxygen-2, hydrogen-3, and carbon-4. These elements create an innate movement that expresses itself in every aspect of our lives. These elements are the basis of the four Types in Dressing Your Truth. We have all four elements in us but we lead with just one.

The 4 Types are:

Type 1) Nitrogen/Air: You have an light energy so you are naturally inspiring, fun loving, and hopeful. 

Type 2) Oxygen/Water: You’re naturally calming, inviting, subdued and sensitive. 

Type 3) Hydrogen/Fire: You’re naturally dynamic, sure and purposeful.

Type 4) Carbon/Earth: More constant and still. You keep things structured and purposeful.

If you want to learn more, check out Dressing Your Truth:

http://ambofirstblood.dressingyourtruth.com/

The first time I heard about energy and elements and such, I thought it was hocus. Really? I learned more about it and read a couple books by Carol Tuttle and IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE! I was never in to makeup, or jewelry, or clothes. I never knew what to wear and kind of felt horrible in my own skin. This energy profiling system has opened my eyes to what looks and feels good on me, not a skinnier version of me, but me. Curves and all. And I feel fantastic!

I determined that my energy Type is 3: dynamic, sure and purposeful; although, I may act more like my secondary Type 2: calming, inviting, subdued and sensitive. I bought the online course and found out what colors and other factors look good for my energy type, which did not include navy, black, or gray. Crap. That's 75% of my wardrobe.

But do not fear! 

These used to be navy.

These used to be gray.

These used to be black.

Now most of these clothes fit in my chroma and I can wear all of them but 3! Amazing, considering I was going to donate all of them to the consignment store!

This was a rather long, long, LONG post. I apologize. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll try not to get so excited and actually answer some of your questions.

crafts: dress & blocks bag

I've been trying to find clothes for Jovi that aren't the typical pink, purple, red color pallet for baby girls. I had a shirt that wasn't doing my body justice, so I made a skirt for Jovi! Also, notice the blocks bag in the corner of the picture. Yep. I made that too!

Shirt Skirt

Seriously, the EASIEST sewing project out there. I got my inspiration here. All I did was cut off the top part of the shirt and added an elastic. I ended up making her another skirt out of a pillow case in a similar fashion.

Blocks Bag

We bought Corban these blocks when he was 2. The bag finally split its seem just a couple of weeks ago after we tried to stuff it with more blocks we got from a friend. I knew I wanted/needed a bag for those blocks or I would have them all over my house all of the time. So, I pieced together a ginormous bag from random canvas pieces I already had. I even repurposed the zipper from the original bag! I'm just that amazing.

recipes: cake brownies & freezer jam

I found this beauty, thanks to Pinterest, from eHow.com. They're not bad for coming from a cake mix. TIP: do not let them sit overnight. The leftovers aren't that great. And even better, you have an excuse to eat the entire pan!

Cake Mix Brownies

1 stick butter

Cake Mix

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 TBSP water

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

3. Pour mixture in a greased 9x13 baking pan.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a dry crust forms on top.

IMPORTANT: Follow this last step! I tried to wait until the inserted toothpick came out clean and it made the brownies kind of hard. 

Enjoy!

***

I love the simplicity of freezer jam. Our favorites are strawberry and raspberry freezer jam! This recipe comes from Betty Crocker's Bridal Edition Cookbook.

Strawberry Freezer Jam
4 cups strawberries, cut in half
4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 pkg powdered fruit pectin

1. Mix strawberries and sugar in a blender. (I like my jam smooth, with ZERO chunks.)
2. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
3. Mix water and pectin in saucepan. Stir constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute.
4. Pour pectin mixture into strawberry mixture.
5. Stir constantly for 3 minutes.
6. Immediately pour mixture into freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
7. Clean up any spills on container.
8. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
9. Store in freezer up to 6 months or fridge up to 3 weeks.

My kids love this stuff on pancakes and waffles and their PB&J sandwiches.

RAOK

Random Acts of Kindness, not to be confused with ROUS-es. I love receiving them, but love giving them as well--the RAOK not the rodents.

The fam went to one of my most despised stores last night to exchange some flip-flops and get a Redbox. I had a free code so we got our movie and were about to leave when I decided to give the lady searching for a movie next to us the free code. You would have thought I had just given her $100 cash, she was so happy and so grateful! I loved how excited she was and I couldn't stop talking about it.

Free codes, you said? Because I am feeling so kind I'm gonna share my secret: http://www.insideredbox.com/redbox-codes/. It is hit and miss whether the codes work, but we haven't had a problem yet!

The second RAOK was directed toward me and Joe, but mostly Joe. We recently bought a new bed and played musical chairs with our old mattresses: Corban got our old mattress and Jovi got Corban's mattress. We had a waterproof mattress protector for Jovi's mattress but not for Corban's. At said despised store again, we got another waterproof mattress protector. This time, for our old mattress. Corban had been sleeping on this mattress for about 2 days before we got the protector on. And good thing we did! Last night Corban woke up and couldn't get his underwear off and peed all over my bedroom and bathroom. And then at about 1 o'clock, he pooped in his bed! Joe woke up with Corban (Corban doesn't even try to wake me up any more) and cleaned up everything and said how much easier it was to clean because we had barely put on that mattress protector!!

What RAOK have you done or had done to you?