Honest Scrap

My blogfriend Kelli just tagged me with the Honest Scrap. Being tagged is fun because it gives you something to talk about for the day.



Here's the deal:
In accepting this award, I need to do the following:
1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2) Share "ten honest things" about myself.
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4) Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

So...10 Honest Things About Me

1. I am NOT a morning person. I love to stay up really late and sleep late.

Getting my oldest up and to school every morning for the first time

this week has been a huge challenge.

2. I spend way too much time on Facebook.

I wouldn't join it for a long time because I knew once I did that

I would spend too much time online - and I do!

3. I am allergic to Beef. And yes, I'm still alive.

You really can live without it...and your husband can too!

4. I'm about a year behind on scrapbooking. This just makes me sad!

5. I don't think my husband likes my blogging habit.

Not what I talk about, but how much time I spend doing it.

6. Dips my grilled cheese in ketchup.

My husband thinks this is weired, but both our boys do it now too.

7. I hate ironing. I have a pair of pants I really like, but haven't worn in

nearly 3 months because I don't want to take the time to iron them.

8. I don't drink coffee, but love hot tea.

9. And speaking of tea, I love sweet tea! I crave it and drink it all day long.

10. I love pajamas! If I'm home, I'm in PJs and I don't really get moms

who get dressed on days that don't leave the house.

Now, I tag: Jenna, Heidi, Sarah, Shelley, Shannon, Serena, and Small Fry

One Tip Wednesday

I'm late posting One Tip Wednesday today because I've been busy organizing and cleaning all day! My oldest has started school and we are adjusting to school life and moving on for summer. A big part of that for me is getting the house clean and back in order after a busy summer.

I generally like to clean the house in sections and room by room. Sometimes I get a little ADD and end up all over the place, but I find that I'm more effecient if I take it one room at a time.

Monday I concentrated on the kitchen.

I cleaned out the pantry, fridge, freezer and lazy susan. I also cleaned out and organized a couple cabinets that had gotten out of control. Lots of organizing and washing things down.

This morning I concentrated on the boys side of the house. Last week I cleaned and organized Samuel's closet, so his room was mostly dusting and some touchups. I dusted the blinds and cleaned the window.

Tyler's room was much the same, dusting, cleaning the blinds and the windows and just a few touchups.

Then on to their bathroom. I cleaned it top to bottom including the tub and a little organizing under their bathroom sink.

Now I'm headed to dust the living room and clean the windows.

Next it's on to my desk area. I have some papers I need to go through and a couple drawers that need organized. I hope to finish this by the end of the day.On Friday I will clean the dinning room (where I also have my craft space) and then spend most of the day working on my bedroom, bathroom and closet.

I will finish on Saturday by cleaning all the floors (if not Friday). I always clean the floors last and do them all at the same time rather than room by room. It seems pointless to me to vacumme one room and not others when you will just continue to track things through the house from one room to another.

What have you been doing to get organized? Call it fall cleaning!

Friend Makin Monday

Amber is hosting Friend Makin Monday this week!

10 Things I Loved About Summer



1. Time at my Mom's & Dad's house.

2. Vacation Bible School

3. Our 10th Anniversary Trip

4. Trips to the Splash Park

5. A trip to the Children's Museum.

6. T-Ball

7. Fireworks on the 4th

8. Time with Family

9. A visit to the NASA exhibit at the Clinton Library.

10. A trip to the Arkansas Museum of Discovery

One Tip Wednesday

So what is One Tip Wednesday? It's all about organizing your home and keeping your family moving through the many activities we all have each day. I think so many of us have great organization tips and I enjoy sharing some of mine with you and learning from those of you out in blogland.

So grab the One Tip Wednesday button and post a tip you use in your home. It can be anything from how you sort your laundry to organizing your craft supplies to how you handle the paperwork in your home to your handy dandy shopping list.

My oldest started Kindergarten today and getting up early and leaving the house 5 days a week is something I'm really having to adjust to. I am a night owl and don't do well in the mornings. I mean, I REALLY don't like the mornings. I haven't worked full-time in about 8 years, so getting up 5 days a week is something I'm not accustomed to. The past 2 years, he has gone to Pre-K 2 days a week, but that I could handle. So getting up and out the door and to school by 7:55 is going to take some planning and organization for me.

A big part of that is having things ready so that he can get himself ready as much as possible. I created days of the week tags to hang on his clothes for each day of the week. So now, when I say go get dressed, he can just go get the outfit I have labeled for that day.

Each Sunday, I will select his clothes for the week and place them on the lower bar of his closet. By placing them on the bottom, he can get them and get dressed without me ever having to go into his room for the day.
All of his shoes are also hung on the bottom rack, so he can select his shoes or get the pair I've told him to wear. He is also very good about getting dressed all on his own if I have his clothes ready, so I fully expect him to come out of his room some mornings dressed without even being asked.
I made all of the cards with cardstock, printed paper and letters made on my Cricut. I then laminated them so that they would hold up week after week.

I think this system will simplify my life and make our morning rushing out the door much easier and quicker.

Join me - what do you do to keep your home organized?

Back to School teachers gift

Today's the 1st Day of School! My oldest started Kindergarten. His teacher is new to the school so I thought she would like to have something with the schools colors. I made this for her and sent it to her in his backpack. I cut out all the letters with my Cricut and used a simple piece of ribbon across the top.

I added 3 bags of TAZO tea...

A little die cut note and a ribbon.

Tales of Elvis

Debbie at Dining with Debbie is sharing Elvis Memories this weekend and I couldn't help but write a post! I have two stories that I think people don't believe, but I SWEAR are true!!
My parents grew up in Lee County, Arkansas and my mom grew up just down the road from Elvis's kissing cousins, you know the ones he has a song titled after. My mom's youngest brother dated one of them for a while. On one occasions while my mom was in high school, she was dating a guy who was in a band and he pulled up to the house with some of his buddies. Out of the back came a good looking guy who her boyfriend introduced as Elvis Presley. They stood outside and talked a while before they left. Yes, my mom's boyfriend was in Elvis's first band when they were young and at that time Elvis was nothing more than a guy in the backseat. Eventually, my mom broke up with the boyfriend and he one way or another left the band. Then one day my mom hears this guy Elvis on the radio! Who knew!

The other one is my husbands story. He has been in the bathroom where they found Elvis just before he died. My husband grew up in W. Memphis and his dad works for a fire alarm company. When he was around 9, he went to work with his dad one day and they recieved a call that the fire alarm at Graceland was malfuctioning. As they checked the problems, it ended up to be some wiring in the bathroom of Elvis's bedroom. As a young kid, my husband said he just remembers racks and racks of Elvis's clothes all over the upstairs of Graceland.

Just a couple weeks ago, my in-laws took my oldest son for a tour of Graceland, you can see that post HERE.

Fried Squash

If you're a southern girl, your probably don't need this recipe. But if your North of the Mason-Dixon Line, you may have not had this wonderful summer treat.

Fried squash is one of the best foods of the summer! Get fresh squash if at all possible from a garden or farmers market. If you purchase it at the store, but sure it's firm and not soft.

Wash and cut off the tips on both ends. Slice into medium slices. Don't cut them too then or you'll just end up with burnt crisp of squash.


Toss the squash in a few spoonfulls of corn meal and salt and pepper to taste. It doesn't take much corn meal, just enough to coat each piece.

Fry on medium heat in a shallow pan of oil. Place the squash in one layer and cook until it begins to brown. Flip over and cook the other side. Don't cook too fast or it will just burn.

Remove from the grease and place on a plate covered with a paper towl to collect the extra grease. You can add more squash as you take finished pieces out of the pan, just keep rotating them through until all finished.

Yumm!! I have got to find my way to the farmer's market this week!

For other great recipes, check out:

One Tip Wednesday

So what is One Tip Wednesday? It's all about organizing your home and keeping your family moving through the many activities we all have each day. I think so many of us have great organization tips and I enjoy sharing some of mine with you and learning from those of you out in blogland.

So grab the One Tip Wednesday button and post a tip you use in your home. It can be anything from how you sort your laundry to organizing your craft supplies to how you handle the paperwork in your home to your handy dandy shopping list.

This may be my favorite One Tip Wednesday ever!! Why? Because it was an idea my 5 1/2 year old thought up all on his own. Last week when we were getting school supplies together, I pulled out his pencil box from last year and told him that I'm was going to take it to my friend Amy for her to monogram. He then said, "Can't she just do a new one and I can keep this one to put my Bakugans in. It would be perfect for my Bakugans and cards."

How could I say no to that! Not only was it a great idea, but it made me happy to see that he was thinking about ways to help organize his room.

And he was right, it is perfect! Bakugan does make storage containers for these and we told him that would be a good birthday or Christmas present, but for now, this box works great!

He can easily take them into different rooms of the house to play or throw them in his backpack to take to Grandma's or Mamaw's house or to a friends house.

Outdoor Wednesday - Cloudy Sunset

We have had what I would call an unusual summer in Arkansas. June was scortching hot! Many days above 100 and we barely went outside. The July came and temps went well below normal and we had the wettest July on record in most cities in Arkansas. We normally can hardly go outside in the middle of the day here in July, but this year it was great! But we did have a lot of rain, but in July you really can't complain about that around here. So, we had a lot of sunsets that looked like this:

These images are raw, straight out of my camera. No photoshop work at all and look how pretty the colors are!

For more great views of the outdoors, visit A Southern Daydreamer!

I would love to have you join my blog party this week! Check out One Tip Wednesday and join my giveaway this week!