* I Might Be Done

After the day I had yesterday I was ready to quit as a mother, and it continues this morning, yet here I sit doing less important things like trying to entertain readers.  My intentions were to run a fun blog, attend blogger conferences, do fun giveaways and make a little bit of side cash, what I didn't for see is the horrible price my children pay.  I'm not sure if it's the computer time or just some growing pains because in all honesty, I don't spend much of their waking hours on the computer but yesterday was one of the WORST.  Yesterday was O's turn to cry all day, and today, so far it's been Mom's turn.  So here it is.  I'm not going to be posting for a while on this site.  My kids are needing something extra at this moment in time and I've completely neglected my own family blog which is one of the most important things to me AND right now we are trying to launch our Noggin Rockers into the stores so we are tapped out as far as spare time.  Thanks for your support!  I so appreciate the little handful of readers I had. I could tell though that this just wasn't the direction I should have been aimed.  Keep me on google reader if you want too.  I may have a surprise giveaway pop up here and there.  I do still find it extremely important to support local businesses and help them grow.  Thanks again!

* Engaging Your Children

We as parents know our children the best or we should at least.  We should be able to spot their strengths and interests and help guide them in a positive direction with those talents that are starting to surface.  For me i've noticed that my son has a great deal of energy and likes to kick and punch things.  I specifically remember him having quite a bit of pent up frustration/energy, so I let him go nuts on one of those plastic balls you find in the big cages at the grocery stores.  He punched and punched until his face was red and he was sweating, he loved it!  I decided to help him channel this energy into something that was combined with respect and discipline Tae Kwon Do was just the answer.  O's Dad (Big J) took Tae Kwon Do when he was younger and became quite good at it so he was excited to see O's enthusiasm at his first class.

The other day O and I were cleaning out the storage room when we found Big J's old Gee and sparring equipment, O couldn't wait to put it on. I think we found just the right summer class for O to enjoy.

*CLOSED* The Giveaway That Could Save Your Family's Life

This is a no strings attached giveaway from P&GMS Perks & Gaither Maintenance Solutions to simply spread the word about their local growing business.  Please take a minute to read these important details that could prevent one of the most preventable house fires.  

Ask Yourself…
• Are your clothes taking more than one cycle to dry?
• Do you smell something burning when the dryer is running?
• Do you have condensation on the inside of your dryer door?
• Do you have a heavy accumulation of lint at the base or back of the dryer that you have to clean often?

If so, these are all signs that you must have your dryer vent cleaned!

With several years of experience Dryer Vent Professionals looks forward to tackling any problems you may encounter with your dryer vent or drying times. Using state of the art equiptment, we test, inspect, and clean your dryer vent to ensure the proper maximum airflow your dryer can posses. Here at Dryer Vent Professionals we take pride in our work and look forward to making you safe and happy!

Dryer Vent Cleaning is a simple solution to many common problems. You may want to consider having one of Dryer Vent Professionals technicians out to provide an inspection of your dryer vent to determine if the service should be performed. Drying times that surpass 35-40 minutes, clothes that are abnormally damp to the touch after drying, and a backdraft damper flap that does not open during a dryer’s operation are all indicators that a dryer vent should be cleaned.


Did you know?
· According to the U.S. Fire Administration there is an estimated 15,600 dryer fires annually with 15 deaths and over 400 injuries.

· U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends cleaning your dryer vent annually to prevent lint blockage that may cause a fire.

· According to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers your dryer needs maintenance like any other appliance. In order to keep sufficient airflow around the heating source, lint must be removed from the dryer and vent.

· The proper type, length and installation are crucial to maintaining the proper airflow recommended by manufacturers.

· Dryer vents clogged with lint cost $16 to $25 more per month.

P&GMS is a full service maintenance company. They can do anything from dryer vent cleaning, yard maintenance, spring and fall clean up, and a full landscape design and build. If you check out there Facebook, you can see some of the designs Josh has done. He went to school and graduated with a degree in Landscape Architecture.  

Giveaway Details:

The giveaway will be for one full service dryer vent cleaning (A $90 value)  for those living in the Salt Lake City and nearby surrounding areas. Includes a full inspection of the vent and cleaning. 

* Please go to their Facebook page and "like" it

* Share our giveaway link as your Facebook status.

* Leave your comment here that you've done so.

***Giveaway will close on Friday May 27th at Midnight, Good luck and help us spread the word.

* A Little Business

So I had a friend come to me and ask me if i'd make the little flower girls head pieces for a wedding in the family.  Of course I said yes but with that came the pressure to produce something the family would LOVE.  I was kind of shooting blind.  I didn't know what the brides dress looked like, I didn't know much more than the colors of the wedding.  Thank goodness she provided me with the scraps from the dress maker.  I'm used to doing my own style, my own colors and if people like them then great but this time around I had to make something THEY'D like.  Putting yourself out there for criticism or judgement on a product you put your EVERYTHING in to can be quite nerve racking.  This business is very personal to me and growing thick skin is difficult.  Thank goodness I haven't had to deal with any negative issues yet but we'll see what the response is after the wedding.

* My "Woman Cave"

I know men need their space or "Man Caves", but with all the crafting that goes on around here I wouldn't mind a little extra space myself.  This would be my ideal crafting hideout!

I would need a little bed in there for an afternoon siesta and a wine chiller and a great stereo system and of course a ton of outlets to plug in all of my gadgets.

I found this at Boxoftrix

* DIY Book Marks

I Love this fun little craft from I COULD MAKE THAT since I read a bunch and sometimes the books aren't mine to dog ear the pages.  What a perfect solution for us book worms!

I used to believe that a person could never have too many books, or too many bookmarks. Then I moved into an apartment slightly larger than some people’s closets (and much smaller than many people’s garages) and all these beliefs got turned on their naïeve little heads.

But what a person can always look for more of is really cool unique bookmarks. Placeholders special enough for the books that are special enough to remain in your culled-out-of-spacial-necessity collection.

Page corner bookmarks are cute, practical and deeply under-represented in the world. They’re easy to make, easy to customize, and will set you apart from all those same-same flat rectangular bookmarks. Corner bookmarks are where it’s at.

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What you’ll need:

• pretty paper of cardstock weight OR a combination of plain cardstock and pretty, decorated lighter weight paper
• scissors
• ruler
• mechanical pencil
• glue stick
• [optional] other decorating tools, such as crayons, markers, stamps, stickers, ink pads, embossing powder, etc.

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Putting it all together:

Below, I’ll teach you how to make two similar-but-different types of corner bookmarks. The first is a square overlapped by a triangle , the second is a triangle overlapped by a smaller triangle.

1) Ok, the very simplest thing to do is to cut a triangular piece off the corner of an envelope, and use that. Decorate it if you wish. If you want to get a bit more in depth, ignore the envelope method and move on to step 2.

2) On a piece of plain scrap paper, draw a square. Use your ruler so its sides are perfectly straight. Don’t make it too big – mine measured 2.5 inches x 2.5 inches, though you could go larger than that. Draw second square exactly the same size on the right side of the first square (so they share a side) and a third square exactly the same size on the top of the first square. You should end up with 3 squares that compose an L shape.

3) Using your ruler, draw a diagonal line across the uppermost square, from its top right corner to its bottom left corner. Scribble out the upper left half (now a triangle) of the square, as you won’t be using that part.

Next, draw a diagonal line across the bottom right square, from its top right corner to its bottom left corner. Scribble out the lower right half (now a triangle) of this square

4) Cut out all parts of the entire shape that have not been scribbled out. This should be a square with two triangles attached to it, one on the top and one on the right. This is your template.

5) Trace your template onto your pretty piece of cardstock (or onto the plain piece of cardstock that you intend to decorate), and cut the shape out.

6) Using your ruler and the tip of your mechanical pencil with no lead showing, score a line (make an indent) along the edges of the square that connect to the two triangles.

6.5) [optional] Cut a square of pretty paper slightly smaller than the one you used for your template and glue it onto the square portion of your shape. I generally do this if the paper I’m using is quite plain.

7) Fold one triangle inwards, so it covers the upper half of the square.

8) Apply glue to the underside (the side still facing up) of the second triangle, and fold it over onto the first triangle.

8.5) [optional] As in step 6.5, if you’ve used plain cardstock and want to glue fancy paper on top of it, cut out a triangle of the fancy paper that’s slightly smaller than the folded-over triangles of the bookmark. Glue the smaller triangle on top of the larger, folded-over ones.

9) Add any decorations or illustrations you wish. Use by slipping over the corner of the page you wish to mark, like a pocket.