Homemade Febreze

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In my never-ending quest to make our cleaning products, we now have homemade “Febreze”! It works great. Gather these ingredients:

From March 2011


1/2 cup white vinegar
1.5 cups water
15-20 drops of an essential oil of your choice (I chose lemon)
spray bottle (I got 2 at the $ Tree and split the recipe between the two)

Combine the above ingredients together and pour into your spray bottle. Voila! Cheap EASY Febreze.

I have been using it several times over the last day or so- mainly in Sam’s room. For some reason, even though #2 diapers are NEVER stored in his room, his room reeks of #2 for hours after a diaper change. Yesterday, I sprayed my homemade Febreze after his diaper change and his room smelled vinegar-y for about 5 minutes and then the smell was G-O-N-E!!

I have recently started cooking fish at home- something I said I would never do. However, I didn’t plan on having such a fish loving son. I plan on using this the next time I cook it so the smell doesn’t linger.

This is great stuff and is safe for use around kids and pets. Obviously, you probably wouldn’t want either drinking the concoction but if it accidentally gets on them it will be OK. It is also safe to spray on fabrics. Woo hoo!!!

Steph 🙂

This is not even funny

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I never had a chance to post the picture below this morning. However, I just found a spare second so I thought I would share the current weather conditions this morning from my alarm clock app.

Yes, it did snow a bit. Thankfully, it was only a slight amount and none stuck. PLEASE HURRY SUMMER- THIS GLOBAL WARMING IS KILLING ME!!!!

Steph

Project 365- Week 12

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From Project 365 (2011)


3-19-11 Sam wanted to “hep Yaddy” throw grass seed. He had just pelted Travis in the face with his first handful of seed. HA!

3-20-11 Totally forgot to take a picture at our joint Sunday School breakfast at church or at the Mexican restaurant that our class went to after worship. Sorry!!

From Project 365 (2011)


3-21-11 Cheesing for the camera while playing on his playset this afternoon.

From Project 365 (2011)


3-22-11 Our 8th Anniversary. We tried to eat at this Asian Market. However, it was a cash only locale so we wound up eating sushi at a restaurant in Raleigh.

From Project 365 (2011)


3-23-11 We went on a nature hike with our small group from MOPS. It was fun- along the way, I found a snake skin and on Sam I found a tick. Once we got home, I even found a tick on me! Yay for nature! HA HA!

From Project 365 (2011)


3-24-11 The Buddies are watching the NCAA Tournament together each in their own recliner.

From Project 365 (2011)


3-25-11 Travis played in the faculty/staff 3-on-3 basketball tourney today. This was him attempting “his shot” that he is apparently known for. 🙂

Steph 🙂

“Hep Yaddy Ball”

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Yesterday, Travis participated in the a faculty/staff 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Sam was so excited about going to watch that he just kept saying ALL day “Hep Yaddy Ball” (aka Help Daddy play ball”.) It was really cute except for the fact that he was too excited to nap. However, he did great and didn’t have any meltdowns so it turned out OK. 🙂 Obviously, I took a “few” pictures. Sam also decided to take some and he got a REALLY AWESOME picture. Check this one out…

From March 2011


He got a picture showing how the ball flattens when it bounces! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

Here are a few that I took. It has been really tough to narrow down the pictures to post because I took SO many. Therefore, if you want to see some others just click on any of the pictures and you will go to our March album where you can view them all. There are some pretty funny ones.

All of the guys praying for the games started…

From March 2011

A couple of ladies went all out and brought pom-poms, a megaphone, and made signs. It was hilarious!!

From March 2011


Travis’ team, Schrodinger’s Cat” consisted of the 4 guys facing towards my general direction. One is a Master’s student, 2 are PhD students, and one has a PhD. Oh, and yes, Travis came up with their team name. 🙂

From March 2011


Seth is our Director of Student Services (or at least that is what I think his title is) and this picture makes me laugh!

From March 2011


Travis is being guarded by a guy that was in the last PhD class he taught. It was really neat watching the faculty and staff intermingle. It also was difficult to recognize some of the faculty in their sweaty shirts and shorts. HA!

From March 2011


There were 4 games going on at a time. Each game was held on each end of the half court courts. I finally managed to get a clear shot of the sign making cheerleaders that moved across the gym. They did a great job cheering their team on- they were very noisy. HA!

From March 2011


This was our teams’ youngest fan, Grayson. He was born last fall. Sam liked tickling his feet.

From March 2011


Travis and Chris’ positions and facial expressions crack me up in this picture.

From March 2011


This horribly fuzzy picture (he was on the court farthest from me so I cropped it to zoom, thus the loss of clarity) is of SEBTS’s VP of Business Affairs (think CFO,) Ryan Hutchinson. His shirt is hilarious. The front said “Remember, I sign your paychecks” and the back said “I also pay the refs.” Since there weren’t any refs, I think he must’ve forgotten to pay them. HA!

From March 2011


Sam was able to flirt/hug two of his girl friends. That boy is going to be a handful when he gets older!!

From March 2011


Afterwards, I was able to take more tulip pictures on campus. I have decided that next to Dandridge, this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever lived. I LOVE all the tulips that bloom around here in the spring.

From March 2011


From March 2011


From March 2011


I also love all the dogwood trees.

From March 2011


It was a fun day. Unfortunately, it was a double elimination tournament and Travis’ team lost both of their games. We headed to supper after his second game so I have no idea who won the tournament.

Steph 🙂

A Day of Deals for Sam…

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I love finding great deals and today has been a super successful one in my opinion. The first “deal” was this morning. I have been looking for a high quality backpack for Sam for a few weeks. I originally had decided up getting one from Thirty-One but, after talking with my mom I was reminded of the amazing warranty that comes with LL Bean products. Therefore, I have been browsing their backpacks the past couple of days. I had decided upon getting the Junior Original Backpack in Royal Blue. It is normally $25 with monogramming running another $6. After you calculate in shipping, it was going to total $35. Honestly, I was fine with that because I knew that he would outgrow this backpack before it would fall apart. However, before I ordered it I googled “LL Bean Coupon Codes” to see if there was anything out there. Lo and behold, I found SEVERAL free shipping codes AND a link to another Junior Original Backpack that was on clearance for $9.99!!! You can click on those underlined words to go see the backpack I am talking about. I checked it out and LOVED the color- they call it “Lake” but where I live it is refer to as Carolina Blue. (Small aside- have no fear, I am not changing teams- I still bleed red and black (UGA) and orange and purple (Clemson)… I just love this shade of blue.) I was skeptical that I would be able to use my free shipping codes on clearance stuff but it worked!! Therefore, for $15.99 TOTAL, I was able to get a beautiful blue backpack monogrammed and shipped to me for free! Lesson to be learned here: ALWAYS google for “_____ coupon codes” before ordering online you never know how much you will save. I saved $20 today!!

At MOPS last week, coupons were passed out for Chez Ami clothing at their outlet store. I love “fru fru preppy” boy clothes but they are DEFINITELY not in our budget. All the ones Sam has worn have either been given to us or I’ve gotten them at consignment sales- they are EXPENSIVE! Their outlet store is only open at random times and today started the current “sale.” After Sam’s nap, we headed down there to check it out and see if they really discounted their clothes as much as I had heard they did. I was not disappointed! In fact, I was so excited I greatly wished I could’ve spent $20 more because then I could have gotten a couple of cute shorts & shirts. However, I controlled my excitement and walked away with two outfits. I am now torn between one of them being his Easter outfit versus the one we have decided upon. I think I might change my mind… and since I am the mom, I have that right. HA! Anyway, I got a one-piece shortall for $8.40 (normally $46) and a button on suit for $5 (normally $55.) The two pieces would’ve cost $101 but I paid $14.44 after tax!! I saved 87%!! WOO HOO!! Here are pictures of the two outfits…

From March 2011


The outfit above is the shortall. These are my favorite kind of clothes to dress Sam in. Sadly, I am realizing that his shortall days are coming to an end. Therefore, you will probably see him in this one a lot this summer just so my heart can smile at the cuteness one last time. 🙂

From March 2011


I know that sometimes my taste in nice clothes for Sam can be classified as “weird” and Sam will probably disown me when he is older because I bought him this one. However, I LOVE this and love how they look kind of “old timey” but modern at the same time. Sam had one previously that my Mom #2 (hi, Mrs. Rose!) bought and he wore it until I couldn’t snap the snaps over his diaper! HA!! This is the one I think I might switch to for Easter since it has an Easter “feel” to it. Also, I want to wear it a lot early in the summer because I am sure this will be the first of the two he will outgrow. I love the design of the outfit but the part that sold me is the collar- here is a close up picture of the back of the sailor collar…

From March 2011


Simply precious!! Besides, Wal-Mart can’t beat $5 for a brand new Easter outfit! It will even match his new backpack. HA HA HA!!

Anyway, I have been so excited about my “deals” that I felt that I needed to share. Tomorrow, we are going to go to the WF consignment sale but ONLY to see if they have any other shortalls that will fit Sam. He has “normal” play clothes- I am looking for dressier, cute church clothes.

If it is pretty out Saturday, we might go have another photo shoot at the seminary, or some other pretty floral place, to get pictures in these new outfits. I am such a goofball. 🙂

Check back tomorrow night though for some pictures and hopefully a video of Travis playing the seminaries version of faculty/staff intramural basketball. It should be quite entertaining!!

Steph 🙂

This photo makes me smile…

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From March 2011

… not because it is of the cutest 2.5 year old in the world but because it has a watermark on it!! YAHOO!! I have been wanting to watermark my images for awhile without having to open Photoshop. Finally, tonight I found a plug-in that lets me do it in iPhoto ’11. I can only do one photo at a time right now but, once I have enough money saved up ($15- not really a huge amount… HA!) that I can register my copy and then do bulk watermarking. WOO HOO!! My pics will look more professional (according to Travis once you get paid to do something you are a professional and seeing as how I’ve done a family shoot and two weddings I guess that is what I am) AND will help me avoid people stealing my pics and doing stuff with them.

Background on the above pic- we took Sam’s Easter pictures today. I took two outfits because I couldn’t decide which outfit I wanted to make the “official” Easter outfit. Obviously, this is one of the outfits but I am not telling which outfit we ultimately chose- you will have to wait until Easter morning for that.

In even BIGGER news… if you are a Dandridge friend reading this, you can find out what outfit we chose IN PERSON! That’s right, folks. The Wrights will be at FBC Dandridge for church Sunday morning! To say I am excited would be a HUGE understatement right now! We haven’t been to a church service there since Easter of 2009 and haven’t physically been there since June 2009. That is TOO LONG! We tried to go for the Christmas morning service this past Christmas but that started their month-long (or that is what it seemed like) snow fall. Hopefully, it won’t be snowing at Easter.

Steph 🙂

What we did for our anniversary…

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We ATTEMPTED to do something totally different and random. We actually went to this place to eat supper…

From March 2011


Yes, it is an Asian grocery store. However, it was a CASH ONLY place. Unfortunately that was no where on their website. On the funny side, this is very appropriate for our marriage. Travis and I are HORRIBLE about keeping extra cash on hand. We have always been a debit card couple and even more so since moving up here because the closest ATM for our bank is 27 miles from our house. I told Travis that one day I will learn to have cash sealed in one of the envelopes in my Dave Ramsey wallet (yeah- no cash in a DR wallet… HA HA!) for use ONLY at a cash only locale. 🙂 We walked around the grocery store and checked it out. If I have reasons to be out there when I need some brown rice I will definitely pick it up there- it was CHEAP!!! They also have a bakery and sell bubble tea (smoothies & milk shakes with tapioca pearls) which was a major reason why I thought it would be fun to eat there.

Since option one flopped, we went to option two-

From March 2011


It was amazing!! This is what we had…

From March 2011


From March 2011


Afterwards, there was a Starbucks in the parking lot and so Travis got a green tea frappuccino and I got one of their new “cake pops.” I wanted the birthday cake pop but they were out. However, they still had the tiramisu cake pop. I am telling myself these are only available at starbucks with drive-thrus so I don’t start eating them a bunch. We don’t have a drive-thru Starbucks easily accessible, thankfully! 🙂 Doesn’t this look delicious?!

From March 2011

Our friends, and neighbors, from New Orleans kept Sam while we went on our anniversary date. I don’t think Sam wanted to come home even though it was bedtime when we picked him up. He and Ari had a blast playing together. Yay for buddies but Yay even more for friends who will keep Sam for us. Thanks, Shane and Astasha!!

Steph 🙂

Sam is crazy about the Phantom

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Sam is currently slightly obsessed with Phantom of the Opera. He REALLY likes the second song, Overture, and constantly requests it by saying “two” and doing his sign for music. This morning, I showed him how to listen to it on “his” iPod. I think he enjoyed it…

Please be sure to keep reading… there are two new posts below.
Steph 🙂

Happy 8th Anniversary, Travis!!

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From Our Wedding


Today, March 22, is our 8th anniversary. In honor of that, and because my gift to him is back-ordered, I decided to make a list of 8 things I love about my husband. I am going to TRY to make these not focused on how he is such a super dad but that might be hard- it is definitely an integral part of what I love about him. Anyway, here goes…

1. He loves me and reminds me of that often.

2. He explains “deep” theological and philosophical concepts so that my concrete mind can understand them better.

3. He humors my obsession with college football just as I humor his obsession with watching baseball on TV. I would MUCH rather watch it or any other sport in person.

4. He likes weird shows thus, causing me to learn random facts about things I didn’t really knew I should care about. For example, station wagons in England are called “estate cars.”

5. He has always been there when I have needed a good shoulder to cry on or vent at.

6. He didn’t get grossed out when I threw up during labor. However, he did keep the ice chips away from me after that point.

7. He humors my decorating ideas and, most likely, helps me tweak them so that the idea is actually much better than what I started out with.

8. He is my own personal giant Harry Potter. 🙂

And, because it is my blog and because I want to have one to “grow on”…

9. He loves God and that is all I need to know! 🙂

From March 2011

I love you, my Giant!!!!!
Steph

and because I am silly like this… when we said “til death do we part,” we really meant it- check out how we left our wedding…

From Our Wedding


From Our Wedding

A Yummy Playful Day…

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This was part of our supper tonight…

From Food


Yes, those are mashed potatoes made in the stand mixer. Yes, they were easy to make. Yes, they were good. Yes, at 3 points, they are WeightWatcher friendly (if you are into that kind of thing.) 🙂

Those are mashed potatoes made with GREEK YOGURT!!! Oh. My. Stars. YUMMY!!! These were ridiculously easy to make. All you do is cut up and boil 3-4 yukon gold potatoes until they are done. After you drain the water, dump them in a bowl. Then dump 6 oz of PLAIN Greek yogurt in with them. In case you are wondering, I used a 6oz container of FAGE fat-free Greek yogurt. Then you beat them until they are as smooth as you would like. Supposedly, it makes 3-4 servings. However, we have enough left over for all of us to eat some more at lunch tomorrow. If you normally add other seasonings, feel free to do that- just don’t add milk, butter, or sour cream- it totally doesn’t need it because of the Greek yogurt.

Now, back to our day… after nap time today, Sam wanted to play outside. It was a beautiful day and I knew we would end up out there so I brought my camera along. He had a blast!

He swung…

From March 2011

He climbed…

From March 2011

He sung into his “microphone”…

From March 2011

Then he slid down the slide…

From March 2011


From March 2011


From March 2011


From March 2011


From March 2011


From March 2011


From March 2011

He slid again and got static in his hair…

From March 2011

He played a little while longer and then came inside to watch an Netflix episode of the Wonder Pets on my computer.

From March 2011

I would say that Sam has had a great day!

Steph 🙂

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