SUNDAY MORNING THOUGTHS

My family is tucked away in their beds snoozing away the morning.  I'm sipping my coffee to the quiet hum of the dishwasher and reading one of my favorite bloggers and soaking up her sweet words.  It's a beautiful morning and I'm so thankful for this moment.  Soon the quiet with give way to our Sunday morning breakfast routine and I will be thankful again for my family and this life we are making together.

As you can imagine the weeks since our move have been full ones.  Our list of projects seems to be never ending but I am reminding myself that things don't have to get done right away and it's ok that I don't have curtains hung on all the windows and my walls have not been painted.  I'm remembering to be thankful and reminding myself that the older I get the more I've come to appreciate keeping things simple.  I've learned that the less pressure I put on myself to be perfect and to constantly be busy doing something, the more I've learned that simple is best.

Last night we took a break from all the moving projects and had family and friends over for a sweet summer cookout in celebration of my sister's upcoming birthday.  The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, and the temperature was just right.  The sound of laugher filled the air as a few of the kids splashed around in our kiddie pool, while others played on the swing set. Grace made snow cones for the other kids which was a big hit.  The adults mingled on the deck, played corn hole, and everyone enjoyed some delicious food and good company.  I thought over and over about how incredibly blessed we are to have this home.  It is perfect for our family and I hope that as the weeks and months go by it will continue to allow us to be a blessing to others.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR MAC KEYBOARD

I sat down to have breakfast and shop for my husbands Father's Day gift this morning when I realized how gross my keyboard was.  How on earth did it get like this??  I would like to blame my husband but he rarely uses my computer so I think I'm going to have to take the blame on this one.  :)  I just had surgery yesterday so I had planned on taking it easy but this didn't require much effort so after breakfast I got to work.

When I purchased my computer I promised myself I would never let the keyboard get all dirty and nasty like so many others I've seen. I've seen some that looked so dirty you might worry about getting the plague or any number of diseases if you touched it.  Sadly though my keyboard ending up looking just like the others that I've seen...ok maybe not quite as bad but still pretty disgusting.  

I wasn't sure how to go about cleaning the keyboard at first.  I knew that I didn't want to get it very wet and risk ruining the electronics inside.  I did a quick search on Pinterest and found a tutorial about using a magic eraser.  I'm sure this would work great but I'm not a huge fan of Magic Erasers.  They seem to leave a layer of something behind that I'm not a fan of so I kept thinking.  That's when I thought about a jewelry cleaning tip I thought I could adapt to use for the keyboard.  I gathered my supplies and whipped up my magic potion...aka Windex and a drop of Dawn dish soap.

I poured a little windex into my little glass bowl and added just a drop of dawn dish soap.  I put the mixture in the microwave for 20 seconds and when I got it out it was boiling which is what we want.  Since I am only using a small amount of liquid it doesn't require a very long microwave time.

Once I had my mixture ready and dipped the end of my q-tip in the liquid and squeezed the end of the q-tip to 'wring out' some of the liquid so it wouldn't be so wet and then lightly rubbed each key.  

After letting the cleaner sit for just a few seconds I went back with a cotton ball and wiped each key. 

I worked row by row until the entire keyboard looked like new again.  

It probably took me 10 minutes at most to clean the entire keyboard.  Now it looks like new and I'm not so horified to touch it.  Plus when we have company over they won't be worried about diseases and the plague when they see it. :)

SUMMER BUCKET LIST 2015

I am so ready for summer you guys!  I am ready to be moved and in our new home spending time with my family and starting the next chapter of our lives together.  Although my list is long I want to be more focused on simplifying life this summer.  Enjoying the little things and not getting too wrapped up in "doing it all".  I know we won't accomplish everything on this list but I thought it would be a good reference point for our little family.  I hope this list will help you create your own Summer Bucket List as well.

-Go camping
-Attend the local Rodeo.
-Plant a garden
-Learn how to can tomatoes
-Go to a drive in movie
-Visit the zoo
-Read a new book
-Have a bonfire and roast marshmallows
-Visit the farmers market
-Spend an entire weekend relaxing at home
-Cook something out of the ordinary for dinner
-Go to a baseball game
-Take a family picnic
-Pick strawberries and make strawberry jelly
-Have friends and family over for a barbeque
-Make homemade ice cream
-Sit outside and watch the sunset
-Go to an outdoor concert
-Take a walk at Vander Veere Park
-Have a pizza and movie night
-Take a hike at Scott County Park
-Take Grace to the pool
-Sew something
-Paint with Grace and hang out masterpieces in the house
-Go to a museum
-Decorate Grace’s new bedroom
-Shopping trip to IKEA
-Sit under the stars on the deck with my husband by candlelight
-Learn more about photography
-Eat watermelon on a hot day
-Take a day trip somewhere
-Catch lightning bugs
-Arrange for Grace to have a sleepover with her cousins
-Go to the library
-Fly a kite
-Surprise my husband with a “just because” gift
-Make shirts for the 4^th of July
-Family game night
-Buy fresh flowers at the Farmer’s Market
-Spa day with my husband
-Plant an herb garden
-Go putt putt golfing
-Read a book on parenting
-City wide garage sales
-Make more homemade products with my essential oils
-Go canoeing
-Try a new local restaurant
-Go to the Dewitt Operahouse Theater
-Make a birthday calendar
-Send out encouragement cards

MY PERFECT DAY

Today I'm back with a very picture heavy post about my wedding.  Yep, that's right I got married!!!  I mentioned yesterday that I hadn't blogged for a while.  Well let's just say this last year has been one of the BEST and BUSIEST years of my life.  Last February I met the most amazing man.  Ha, I say met but as it turns out we have worked together for the last four plus years but because we worked different shifts and in different departments we never really talked much.  

I was honestly freaked out when he first asked me out.  I was pretty sure I was going to say no, but a coworker urged me to "take a chance" so I reluctantly said ok.  I am so happy I took that chance!

We planned our wedding in four months and on a pretty tight budget.  We did as much as we could on our own and kept the guest list down which helped tremendously.  I LOVED everything about my wedding and I wouldn't change a thing...well I may have changed my wedding shoes but that's it!  Seriously though, no one sees your shoes so don't spend a fortune on them.  :)

Oh and one last thing.  My husband has a seven year old daughter that is the sweetest and cutest little girl.  Just wait and see...she was the flower girl in our wedding.  :)  I feel so lucky...not only did I meet an amazing man but I also get to call myself stepmom BONUS mom to this little girl!  :) 

 

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