How to catch a Leprechaun???

Earlier this week I was explaining to Claire that we needed to wear green on Thursday for St. Patrick's Day.  This brought up the subject of Leprechauns.  I honestly cannot remember the last time I even thought about leprechauns...probably in the 90's when all those creepy movies were made! She made sure to inform me that IF we catch a leprechaun...he will HAVE to give us all his gold!  Now, this fascinated me because we really haven't talked about St. Patty's at all...also because I really don't remember ever believing this as a child so I thought it was adorable.
I asked her if she wanted to see if we could catch one...she said yes!  I later texted her babysitter that was coming that night and let her in on the project.  She came through with shining colors!  She showed up with gold coins, a box, decorations, and lots of stickers!  Brian and I left - and they went to work!

Fast forward to this morning...

Claire was slightly concerned that there was going to be a random leprechaun sneaking around the home.  She refused to go anywhere in our home by herself.  I had to prod and pry her away from my bed to come into the bathroom to see the green toilet water. (of course because the leprechaun had to go potty before he escaped)...let's just say she was slightly disappointed there was only ONE coin of gold in the bathroom...

We had to enlisted Dad in the next venture.  There was NO WAY  on earth she was checking out the trap w/out him.  The next video is about 3 minutes of...well..truthfully pretty anti-climactic footage, nonetheless, I'm posting it because I still think it's adorable.  Once we found the one gold coin - she was convinced we should put it back because he would be mad if we took 'em.

In the end, the leprechaun left behind a couple handfuls of coins, a green bracelet, a cookie picture of himself, and green potty water.  Maybe next year little leprechaun...maybe next year!

New Goal!

I have a new "goal" in mind for 2016...to use less chemicals in my home.  I work full-time outside the home, am a mom of two crazy girls, and am still primarily responsible for keeping the household running smoothly.  Did I mention I have a loving, yet extremely cynical husband that is resistant to anything new or different?  This is NOT going to be an overnight (or easy) process.  I'm starting slow and working my way through our home.  I figure - our clothing touches our skin every day, so why not start with laundry?  Full disclosure, a friend of mine sells Norwex and most things I'm going to try will be their products, that said, I'm also going to be exploring other options as well as making my own if need be!

I am testing out Norwex's laundry detergent this month.  My friend, who's a consultant, was having a "Leap Day" Sale (her site is here)!  The package weighs 2 lbs - I can't even believe how light and small it is.  I could stand to never lift an awkward tub of liquid detergent again, hahaha!  I got it for $26 and, since I have a top loading H/E machine, I'm able to do at least 66 loads.  IF I had a front loader I could do 100.  Not bad!

If you're like me - at this point you would wonder...well what about fabric softener?  Norwex also has dryer balls that take the place of fabric softener.  They bounce around in your dryer, separating clothes and, in turn cutting dry time, leaving your laundry fluffy and (mostly) static-free. If you want to read more about dryer balls (and how to make them) I would go here.   I didn't have the money for dryer balls, so I made some of my own.  They turned out GREAT!  These bad boys cost me roughly $8.00.  Well worth the time spent making them!

Now I have a chemical-free laundry plan!  I will let you know how it goes!  I'm terribly excited and can't wait to update you.  Yes...I am a dork and I'm excited about laundry solutions.

In other news we've basically been fighting this virus from the darkside and are slowly but surely recovering.  I'm sad we are not having a BIG first birthday carnival bash for Eve as I was so excited about her own little photoshoot with a smash cake and carnival themed party.  I'm hoping to have some excuse to use my good friend's wonderful circus decorations soon!  In the meantime we will continue inching toward our 3 to 6 months of expenses savings account.

Happy Saving!  I will leave you with a couple recent pictures of the girls!

19 days till Christmas!

Yes...I'm one of "those" I love Christmas. I wish I could say I love it for nothing other than the celebration of the birth of Jesus...but really...truly...I pretty much love everything else as well. Shopping with 1000's of others, masterfully figuring out what everyone wants, wrapping, decorating, and opening gifts!! Being with family (which I wish that my family and Brian's family could all combine one day) is so wonderful. Christmas carrols, yummy food, cookies and treats! Baking, candles...even snow (when I can stay home and drink hot chocolate).

I get in this uber-craft mode! I must scrapbook, sew, quilt...learn something new! Jewelry? Crochet? What will be next? It's hard for me to come down on the busy time of the year - because I love all the business!!! So much fun!

This weekend I spent the better part of Saturday working on a scrapbook for my boss, Mary. She's so excited about it! I am excited as well because someone is actually purchasing my work! I have a website on Etsy.com (www.craftymaxine.etsy.com) that is very limited. I hope to be doing craft fairs next year...but who even knows? I like the concept of Etsy...I just wish I could be more interactive with potential buyers. Someday maybe I will embrace it more and do some marketing and such...

I have nearly no Christmas shopping done! Oops! For the last 2 years now I have purchased so few things on Black Friday that I'm questioning whether it is worth the early morning wake up! This year I didn't even get up early...well that's because my husband agreed to take me shopping...and the last thing I want is a sleepy husband shopping with me! For our marriage sake...I let him sleep in! ha! I still got super deals...just not very many of them.

December 11th is my day to get my shopping done!