My Memories Review & Coupon Code!

I was lucky enough to be contacted by My Memories, a digital scrapbook software company, and they allowed me to try their software for free! And, I was blown away. Here was software that I had been searching for to create special memories for my family and friends. Downloading it was simple and quick, but of course it will depend on your Internet speed. The ease of loading pictures into projects was so easy! But, my favorite part, was being able to create a slide show WITH music. I love creating those for my family to watch. Here is what I created in about 15 minutes:

Isn't that great! You can also print what you have created or you can order photobooks of what you have created! Which is awesome for those who don't have a lot of time to create amazing scrapbooks. The software does come with templates for you to use, and there are some free ones you can download online from My Memories. There are also ones that you will have to pay for, but it is absolutely worth it.  This is an amazingly easy product to use!

Now for the best part! My Memories gave me a coupon code for all my readers to use! The code will give you $10 off your purchase of the My Memories software AND a $10 code to use in their store! I highly recommend you check it out! Here is the code for my readers: STMMMS23297

Happy Scrapbooking!

When Home Is So Far Away

A couple days ago, my mom informed me that she had an incident with my grandfather. My dad, on his way to pick her up from work, noticed that the police were at the house. On the way back, my mom stopped in to see what was wrong and an officer decided to berate my  mother about elder abuse. Luckily, my mother has a backbone and informed the officer that my grandfather repeatedly threatens her and my dad doesn't allow her to go over to my grandfather's house. The officer apologized but then upset my mother further by saying that he didn't think my grandfather wouldn't be around much longer anyway. They couldn't get my grandfather's attention for a long time. I think he may have had a small stroke. He wasn't taken to the hospital. He probably refused to go.

That same night, we got a phone call that my husband's grandmother had had a heart attack, albeit a small one. He was and is still very upset. Five months after we moved to Florida, his grandfather died. It had been one of his greatest fears when we left, that his grandfather would die. Now, again, he is in Florida, worrying that the same thing is about to happen. So far, she is doing well as can be expected.

The crux of the situation is that we are a two days drive from our family. If we push ourselves, we could be there in 24 hours. We feel a tremendous amount of guilt that we are not there to support our parents. They are getting older and having health issues of their own. My mother has crippling arthritis that may put her in a wheelchair if she doesn't have knee surgery. My dad has his own health issues. I can't expect him to take care of her all the time. My brother is still in college and has no way to get home every day. We are doing our best to get home, looking for teaching jobs in our home state. I told my husband I would sell everything just to get back home.

Do you live far from older relatives? Do you experience guilt over not being within driving distance?

Garage Sales

Who doesn't love a garage sale! Well, besides my mom. She has issues when people don't buy her stuff. She feels it's their way of telling her that her stuff is crap. I make sympathetic noises to appease her but in my mind I am shouting, "You didn't have what they needed!". People shop garage sales for what they need.

Right now, I am sitting outside at my own garage sale. I already sold our old double stroller. Yesterday I sold over 75 dollars worth of stuff. Today I am hoping to finally unload a table and chairs. With a possible move to Michigan in the works, the less stuff we have to haul, the better. Plus, I get to sit at a table, crochet my heart out while my husband watches my children. Mommy heaven!!!!

Storm Readiness

Starting tomorrow, a tropical low will make its way over the state of Florida, dumping a lot of rain on an already soaked Central Florida, where I happen to live. Cities are giving away free sandbags. Luckily, the area in which I live was not severely affected by flooding from the storm a week ago. However, I still have my storm supplies ready to go. This storm has the potential to go severe, which always sucks. So here is what I have for supplies.

1. Water-always very important. We have several 5 gallon jugs of it.
2. Dry and canned food
3. Laterns-when the power is out, it is essential to have a source of light stronger than candles.
4. Candles-good for when you only need a little light and also for roasting marshmallows so the kids don't get      scared.
5. Charcoal-for the grill when you can't cook on the stove.
6. A charcoal starter-lighter fluid is gross. You also need newspaper to light the charcoal.
7. First aid supplies-Not only may you or your family be injured, your neighbors may be as well.
8. A working cell phone with a car charger-Your car may be your only source of electricity.
9. A NOAA Weather radio-with extra batteries!
10. Extra Batteries-utmost importance.

Hopefully, this will be nothing but a lot of rain. But, just in case, I am prepared.

Do you ever feel....

Not good enough? I have been doing a lot of craft stuff and trying to sell on Etsy, to no avail. I know times are tough but I try not to price my items too high. I was getting stuff ready for a craft show and I just felt the weight of failure drop on my shoulders. Am I throwing a pity party? Maybe.

I am just sick of making effort and it not  paying off. I guess the lesson to be learned is that I have to keep making effort. It is kind of hard to keep that in perspective when you have no capital to keep funding your business.

And now with the upheaval that we might be facing with a move, I wouldn't dream of attempting a small business loan or anything like that. This is so frustrating. It is hard to get out of muck of self pity and loathing.

My Container Garden

In Florida, we have two growing seasons, September to December and January to April. After that, it is too hot for most plants to survive. Since I live in a community where backyard gardens are not allowed, I have to utilize container gardening. Here are some pictures of what I have:

My cucumber plants that I started from seeds.

A pepper plant for my son, who loves spicy things.

Roma Tomatoes. Lots of meat, little juice.

Beefstake Tomatoes, great for hamburgers!

Another pepper plant.

Container gardening is really easy. Each of the buckets has rocks at the bottom to allow for better drainage. It is much easier to weed as well. I am hoping for a big crop of tomatoes and cucumbers to can. I am also growing herbs in little pots. The only worry I have right now is having to move suddenly. I will probably give the plants to a friend of ours with little kids. Try your own container garden, if you can right now. If you are in a colder climate, start planning for next year!





A Small Taste of Fall

Saturday was the first day of October and by some miracle, a cold front pushed into Florida, giving us the tiniest taste of fall weather. We headed out that morning to the Home Depot to take part in their kid's workshop. I opened the door and the wind blew cool air in. It was glorious. When we got to the car, I looked at the temperature. 74 blessed degrees. We rolled the windows down and head off to the store.

When we arrived, there was a whole host of police cars outside the lumber doors. And extremely loud music. The area was roped off so we headed through the store to the workshop area. It was crazy but we managed to get the last 4 Fire and Rescue helicopters they had. We settled in to build the helicopters. My daughter had a fit because I wouldn't let her paint them at the store. I wasn't about to carry a helicopter with wet paint on it around the store. So we went outside to see what all the police cars were for. Turns out that it is National Safety Week. Being a fire chief's daughter, I should have remembered but I have 4 kids. Our kids got to sit on a sheriff's motorbike, they loved it. There were free sno-cones and we got to watch the store manager get dunked in a dunk tank by her employees. My kids thought it was hysterical. We left the store sticky but happy.

I am very grateful to stores that have free events. They have no idea how much it means to parents who don't have a lot of money to spend on outings. So three cheers to them! My children learn some new skills, I get them out of the house.

And many thanks to the Goddess for the weather this weekend. It felt like a taste of home.