My Backyard Chickens Are Here!

This is going to be so much fun! I have 3 beautiful golden sex link hens. So far just the one is laying, we have had them for 3 days and she has laid 2 eggs. So exciting! I am completely new to this whole backyard farmer thing but I am so into it and think it will be fantastic! I am going to make the best home I can for my chickens and hopefully they will love us and give us plenty of delicious eggs! Here is a few more shots:

This is my coop I bought from http://e.thecluckstopshere.ca/ from a very nice man named Dave Scherle (AKA Farmer Dave) They have a ton of info on chickens and coops!

This is our first beautiful egg!

My girls have a huge run, it is about 100 feet by 15 feet and fenced off all around. I have netting on top to keep hawks from getting them and I built them this log climber that they seem to enjoy. I look forward to sharing my backyard farming experience with you! I have joined this community that is full of everything you need to know about backyard chickens http://www.backyardchickens.com/! 

If you want a laugh and a new found friend check out my new idol at https://www.youtube.com/user/onegirlsrant and her blog at http://onegirlsrant.com/!

Many of the things she says I am taking to heart, off I go to shop at my local farmers market for Christmas gifts! 

Keep birds out of your garden! DIY Bird Deterrent!

This is a super neat idea I had while browsing some DIY garden decor on pinterest. I have this terrible problem with birds raiding my garden for all it's worth and I know certain shimmers of light and movement are supposed to scare them away (or the sound of a bolt action rifle). Well the pin I saw had these CD's attached to a fence as opposed to how I did it. This way I can have them moving in a slight breeze and it looks super funky to. So far I have not seen one bird in my garden and I made these 2 days ago. So this does work and of course I did personalize it. 

Each disk was decorated with glitter glue and paint before being turned into funky bird deterrent  decor! Super simple and free if you have scratched up old CD's and DVD's kicking around!

Free Summer Fun at Westside Daze!

Yay it is almost here! Westside Daze is one of my favorite events of the year there is so much happening and it is a blast for everyone! There is a parade, the fair "West Coast Amusements", car show, kids fair, concession, concerts, fireworks, and so much more! It is going to be so much fun! Last year we had an amazing time as we do every year. Free events and stuff that you budget for all year long because you don't want your kids to miss it. 

If you want to find out more go to www.westsidedaze.com and see how amazing it is!

This is also an excellent way to do some marketing for all local businesses and bloggers. I usually take a stack of business cards along with some stickers and suckers and hand them out in the crowd during the festivities! I plan on doing a giveaway that week so I can also throw in there to go to my site to enter to win! It is a very effective and cheap way to get more followers and get in with the local crowd. I love my community and want to be involved as much as I can!

Kidoodle TV FREE!

My son loves watching Kidoodle TV at night before bed. He loves how he can do it all by himself and there is no ads, no commercials, and it is 100% safe for him. I love it to and I want to share it with all of you. There are so many amazing shows for them and they keep adding more all the time. They even have movies on there! Check it out it is absolutely free for the first month and then only $4.99 a month after that or you can get a year subscription for $49.99 right now. Go here: https://www.kidoodle.tv/invite/fd5c5bce-21e7-40b8-92ae-7a236ebca7f6 and check out this amazing application for your kids!

Absolutely no credit card required to begin free trial! Risk free, try it today!

Lovable Labels Canning Labels!

Lovable Labels has so many awesome products and now they even have canning labels. I haven't ever made anything but jam but this year I am going to be canning everything in my garden to try and save money and get the most out of my gorgeous garden! I am a newbie so I would love to share my first time recipes and tricks with you when I get started but for now I am reading articles like these:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/canning.aspx

http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started.aspx

 http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/clay53.html

 And working hard on my garden, here is how it looks now. So far I have already harvested lettuce, peas, and chives!

Now here is some more information on Lovable Labels Canning Labels!

Description:

Jar Toppers and Jar Labels
Dress up your jam, jelly, salsa, fruit & vegetable canned goods! Personalize them any way you like and impress friends with your fancy jars! Round labels fit the lid of a standard regular or small jar.

Write-On Labels
These "Write-on" Labels are made to be written on over and over and are completely safe to use in the fridge/freezer, microwave or dishwasher. Great for labelling home-made canned goods such as jams, jellies, baby foods, fruit and even food containers.

Features:  Safe for Dishwasher, Microwave, Fridge, and Freezer! Peel & Stick

Price: $14.95

Colors: Available in 4 color combos and 3 styles

Features: Safe for Dishwasher, Microwave, Fridge and Freezer! Peel & Stick

 

Visit them at http://www.lovablelabels.ca and order some of their amazing products!

Loot Crate Review and an Awesome Groupon!

I have tried numerous subscription boxes so far and they are lots of fun. I really enjoy the element of surprise and I have to say this is my favorite subscription box so far. I love when I get a box that benefits myself, my kids and others. I did a Youtube reveal that you can watch here:

It was a box of "Adventure" and I loved it. My shirt is my pride and joy. I loved playing the Legend of Zelda and the shirt features Link made up of courageous, heroic words that describe him it is super cool. Along with that I got stickers, tattoos, a Minecraft key chain, an Adventure Time figurine, and a bottle opener. I will be trying out Loot Crate again and I suggest you do to either for yourself, your kids, or someone else you know that loves gamer gear. I am a closet nerd so this is fantastic! Visit them at https://www.lootcrate.com/ and they ship to US, Canada, and Australia!! 

Great Groupon

I love it when you find a fantastic deal at Groupon. Right now you can get a $10 egift card for $5 making it 50% off! Check it out here:

https://www.groupon.com/visitor_referral/h/7fa99195-5754-492c-b4b9-5927bf5fc9d5

They have a lot of other amazing things right now to like this:

Kids' Snaps Jungle Set which is regular $79.99 buy it now on Groupon for $19.99!!

It's never too early to buy Christmas and Birthday gifts and at that price it doesn't get any more frugal than that!

Nail Cones Review and more!

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

One of the most frugal things us ladies can do for ourselves is paint our own nails. Nails can cost up to and over $100 a set for gel or acrylic. So if we want to keep that money in our pockets the best way to go is a bottle of polish and some Nail Cones. At first when I heard of Nail Cones I thought they were stickers that went on your nails. That is not at all what they are, they are actually little ice cream cone stickers that protect your fingers from getting polish on them while you paint them. 

 You simply apply the little sticker to your finger, polish and then you have a professional looking painted nail without any hassle or huge price tag. Awesome! 

You can get your own Nail Cones at http://www.nailcones.com/ for only 5.99 for 60 stickers! It is totally worth it and you can check out using paypal, no credit card required. I always love that convenience. 

Can you describe your life in one picture? I can.

My kids are my life!

This is one of my all time favorite dishes of the summer. I love sweets, and I love strawberries so this is a great combo. Although this treat is not overly sweet so it satisfies those that don't like severely sweet stuff as well. With this treat you can take a lot of different short cuts to suit your needs. I used:

• 2 packages white cake mix
• fresh strawberries
• strawberry glaze
• and fresh whipped cream

It was delicious! Here is how you do it the exact same as mine.

Strawberry Shortcake Instructions:

Begin by baking your cake. Just follow the directions on the box, make one or two I just combined two boxes and made one big cake to save time. While your baking your cake begin slicing your strawberries and get your glaze prepared. I use a package of glaze that looks like this:

It is simple you just mix it with sugar and hot water and add it into your strawberries. You need to let your strawberries and glaze sit for an hour so set it aside and move onto your next objective.

The whipping cream, I desperately searched for a cream that was similar or exact to the cream they use to decorate Dairy Queen cakes but sadly I was mislead and read that it was a stabilized whipped cream. It is not, they use non dairy whipped topping and equal parts vanilla ice cream for their frosting for a little FYI. If you don't like their frosting as much as I do use this simple recipe for stabilized whipped cream: http://www.food.com/recipe/wilton-stabilized-whipped-cream-79506 

Let your cake rest until cooled after it is finished baking and then you can create your layers of deliciousness!If you don't have any time at all for this you can buy an angel food cake that is already baked from the grocery store, get some prepared whipped topping and use frozen bagged strawberries or raspberries in juice. No matter how you do it this dish screams summer and makes kids so happy!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Play With Tales: Little Red Riding Hood Review and Giveaway!

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

I love all the fantastic apps that are out for kids these days. While taking long trips, shopping, or on a rainy day you can let your kids play with educational technology that is fun for you and your child. I had the opportunity to share this app with my friends and here is what her and her 4 year old daughter had to say about the app:

"The app is quite wonderful, the music that plays can be sung along to. The puzzles are great. They kept my daughter and myself very busy and wanting more. Some of the puzzles are tricky and some are challenging, luckily you can set the difficulty to as high or as low as you like. There are a lot of coloring options with a ton of pages to choose from, you can even adjust the size of pen you color with. The ones downside to this app is the tiny little spaces that you are unable to color in. My daughter was a little upset that her picture was not complete due to the tiny spaces neither her or I could fill in. Other then that this app is terrific and I would recommend it to any parent!"

Well that is some very impressive feedback if you ask me. I hope you and your daughter truly had a blast with the app! I think parents everywhere will love this app, which is why you will be excited to know that I am giving a couple away! Just enter the rafflecopter form below to enter to win yours!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you want to buy your own for only $1.99  go to https://itunes.apple.com/app/play-tales-little-red-hiding/id853154381?mt=8 

And visit there website at www.ebooks-kids.com  
 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Saving Over $1000 This Summer!

Summer can be super expensive and there are over a million different ways people are trying to save money. I have some super simple solutions that are going to save me probably close to $1000 this summer that you may or may not have thought of. Check this out!

1. I have a small creek in my backyard, which means I have free water in my yard. By buying a submersible pump I am going to save over $600 on my water bill watering my garden and lawn with my free water supply. If you have free water near you look into it, you can save a small fortune. 

2. Growing my own everything. I have a gorgeous vegetable garden and it has everything from potatoes, corn, watermelons, cucumbers, and much more all growing as we speak. Not only am I going to save around $200 or more on produce but I am sharing with friends and family and if I choose to I can sell some.

3. Walking, busing, biking, to all my summer locations is saving me hundreds on gas. I just make sure to bring everything I need for my journey so everyone is happy, comfortable and safe. We already do this on a daily basis so this just adds to the savings.

4. Playing outside is going to drop my electricity bill big time, between that and barbecuing I can save easily over $150 on my hydro bill. Even with my air conditioner on in the day I don't use T.V., lights, heat, or other electronics that are not necessary for our summer fun.

5. Making our own fun. We can make our own everything if we try hard enough, bubbles, play dough, paint, forts, etc. are all free or inexpensive. Not to mention the beach, summer events in your community, spray parks, and so many other free things you can do for fun. 

6. Make all your own food and buy in season fruit and out of season treats. You can make your own bread during the cooler times of day, as well as muffins, cupcakes, and other great treats start  now before the heat hits hard and freeze them for future use. Buy all the fruit that is in season and on sale. I avoid winter fruits and veg and stick with stuff I know is grown right now. If you look hard enough you can still find stuff from other seasons and holidays which is one of my favorite things to do. Saving 3-4 hundred dollars on food.

7. Camping can be cheap if done right. I do it in my backyard which means I have no camp ground to pay or gas to buy. I have a fire pit so I can cook on there for the real experience. If your not allowed a fire use your barbecue. Try to avoid going inside for any reason but the bathroom by pretending your actually out in the woods. The kids will love it and your electric bill will show it.

8. Go fishing and eat what you catch. I love fishing and we love fish in this family. It works out great because I can save a bundle just by eating fish a bunch during summer. 

As you can see the savings pile up but if you feel the need to go spend a bit of cash go see some garage sales or take a walk to get ice cream. It will satisfy your spending urge and still save you money.

What are you doing to save this summer? 

5 Ways To Add Relaxation To Your Day

Life can be crazy, and I go days and days without a break and the only way I get by is by sneaking relaxation into my daily duties. I have 3 kids and watch numerous others so slipping in some me time is very important. Here are ways to give yourself a break even while working your butt off:

Have a Picnic: Kids love picnics and they can be extremely relaxing even with little kids. Make sure you have the exact right spot like your backyard or a easily accessible park for the kids to play and let you sit and relax. Before you know it lunch will be calm and cool while the kids enjoy themselves.

Play Eye Spy: When your walking with kids, driving, or taking a bus nothing makes them calm and quiet quite like a game of eye spy. My 4 year old daughter will play this game for hours and it keeps her in a great mood while we travel from point A to point B. 

Read a Story: I love reading books with my kids and they love when I do it. Another excellent way to make sure you get some down time and relax. Story after story your kids will enjoy it.

Look For Shapes in the clouds: Find a comfy place on the grass and lay a blanket down. Have all the kids lay on their backs and try to find shapes in the clouds. Cloud-free day? Try making your own calming yoga routine for the kids to follow. You will be amazed at how much fun the kids will have copying your moves.

At Home Spa: Whether your children are boys or girls you can create your very own relaxing spa for you and the kids to enjoy. You can paint little girls nails, let them use some great smelling lotion on their hands and feet, clip their nails and do some simple hygiene that would normally be a chore. 

With all of these easy ways to sit and relax I hope you will find time for you in this busy life!