Foam Soap - All the Rage

Let's face it. You know we all love foam soap. It's the latest rage, especially with the 4 and under crowd. Since both of my kids (yes I'm officially saying both) are now potty trained we do a lot of handwashin' around here.

For the last however many years I've always bought the Gigantic refill soap and just reused my soap pumps for as long as they last. I shine the plastic while I'm cleaning the bathrooms just as if they were sterling silver.

Unfortunately you can't buy "refill" soap for foam soap dispensers and it seemed like we were using up a bottle of the fun stuff every week. (I found myself standing guard at the sink to monitor the pumping of the soap like the water fountain monitor in kindergarten.)

So, the idea of making my own foam soap popped in my head one day, I looked up the recipe on google of course, and voila we now have all the foam soap we will ever need.

3 TBSP soap
2/3 c. warm water
Mix together, Don't Shake

Easy as pie.
Tape the concoction to the bottle
so you'll have it when you need it.

{{THE SECRET OF PRAYER}}

Watchman Nee

"We should not just pray for our needs. In heaven and on earth there is only one prayer which is legitimate and acceptable to God-- which is asking Him to fulfill His will. Our needs should be lost in God's will. Whenever we see the will of God concerning our need, we should immediately lay down our need and ask Him to fulfill His will. To ask the Lord directly to supply our needs, whatever such needs may be, cannot be considered prayer of the highest level. Prayer for personal need should be touched indirectly by first asking the Lord's will to be done. This is the secret of prayer, the key to victory in prayer.

True prayer is a real work. Praying according to God's will and praying only for His will is indeed a self-denying work. Unless we are completely weaned from ourselves, having not the slightest interest of our own but living absolutely for the Lord and seeking His glory, we will not like what He likes, nor seek what He seeks, nor pray what He wants us to pray."

"Let Us Pray"
By Watchman Nee

Shawn and I like to say that a couple that prays together stays together. Especially over the last year we have found this to be such a lifeline for our marriage.

If you've never prayed out loud with your spouse (I'm not talkin' bout prayer over your dinner) I challenge you to give it a try. Just like anything else that is new it will probably take time to feel completely comfortable bearing your heart and soul aloud. The Bible says in Matthew 18:19-20, "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Don't underestimate that power of corporate prayer.

(Watchman Nee is probably the most read author in our house.
Don't read his books unless you want to be challenged.)

Artistic? Frugal? Me?

So a few of my friends and a blog or two and our fight to be debt free have inspired me lately to look outside my box -ahem- wallet. I don't like to shop around, wait for a sale, or "make due". I typically convince myself that time is worth money and if I spend all of this time looking for wonderful sales then I really haven't saved a whole lot when I figure in the wasted time. :) I realize now that this is (was) just an excuse to be lazy and I was not being a good steward of our money.
The Proverbs 31 woman would not be happy with me.

But now that I'm getting into it, I have to say saving money can be so exciting and addicting. And just to clarify.....I'm not talking about 33% off at Target. I'm talking about digging through my garage and hitting up the local Goodwill. I still have a lot to learn but let me show you some of my "goods" from this week.

I have needed to get some color in Berklee's room for a while and had some wall space to fill so that has been my main focus this week.

Below is a mirror and blanket that I found at goodwill and not pictured is a sheer white curtain for her room along with a $2 gap jacket I found. Woot-woot!


And at the top of the post is my piece of art. I paid $0 for it! I had an old picture that I was going to give to goodwill. It had a brownish/gold frame with a landscape picture. It had a glossy finish on it but no glass over the picture. So, I ruffed it up (just a little) with some sandpaper then painted the frame with a sample of indoor paint that I had in my closet and the inside with leftover paint from my living room. My friend/cousin's wife Crystal made Berklee the "B" for her birthday and I had never found a home for it. So, what do you think? Should I add anything or do you like it simple? Is the paint totally off? I just put a tiny nail
to hang the B so it would be super easy to take off, repaint, or add detail.
Give me your suggestions.

And this week, with the help of my frugal and talented friend Nikki, I finally pulled my living room and bedroom together with some super cute and very affordable curtains from TJ Maxx and FREE curtain rods donated from her mom. (The big, thick, nice kind.)
Thanks Paula!

I can't believe I've waited 5 years to hang curtains!
They are so inexpensive and make such a HUGE difference.

I'm looking forward to many more trash to treasure moments.

{It's A Family Thing}

I told you I would be posting some more about some of the things we do in the Maguire house to take care of our health. I have to credit this post to my Grandma Irma Jean- the patriarch of our family. I've never met another grandmother like her. Seriously. She is fun, she is loud, she is energetic, and she could probably take me to the ground in about two seconds and she is now almost 82 years old!

This is Grandma and my blurry dad. :)

My grandma is also the vitamin queen. I used to love to watch her take her vitamins when I was a little girl. I would stand in awe as she popped at least 30 pills into her mouth at one time! (Maybe not 30 but I guarantee 15.)

She has ingrained the importance of healthy living and daily supplements into our family's lives. I think it stuck with 99% of her children, grand-children and now even great-grandchildren. My grandma swears that they even work miracles for her pets. {Talk to your vet first}.

Now in my family when we speak about vitamins and such it is automatically known that we are talking about Shaklee. My grandma and dad have been hooked on their products for a long time and now most of my family is too. I became a certified member myself in July of '07.

This post isn't about pushing Shaklee, although I do think they sell a wonderful product. There are other great products available on the market, this just happens to be the brand that we use.

My point is to let you know that I believe at least taking a good multi-vitamin every day is a must for both you, your husband and your children. And taking additional vitamins based on your own personal needs is great too.

Shawn doesn't have a spleen so he takes extra immune defense vitamins. I am low iron so I take an extra iron supplement and a B complex to increase my energy. I used to be the person who was half asleep all day long and I always felt like I desperately needed a nap. And before kids I took one EVERY day! Now I feel so much better and only wish I had started taking them at a younger age.

Do your homework and choose one that is the best quality you can afford. It's not just about the ingredients either. A vitamin can have the best ingredients but it also has to be easily absorbed by your body or you will just flush it out without any benefit. One way you can test your vitamins is to put one in a glass of water and wait 10 minutes. The vitamin should be dissolved or at least very very soft in that time. Like this.

Vitamin Before

Vitamin After 10 Minutes

I really believe that all vitamins are not the same.

If you are interested in learning more about Shaklee vitamins then you can come to my house for a product overview on Feburary 2nd at 7pm or go here.

Challenge: Try taking a good vitamin(s) for 30 days and see if you don't feel a difference. And if you haven't had blood work done in a while it might be a good idea to make sure you don't have any obvious deficiencies.

Blog Improvement

I just changed the settings so that everyone can leave a comment. You no longer have to have an account. So comment away.

Proverbs 16:3

Proverbs 16:3

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed."

Seems easy enough if you just brush over it right? Yeah- all except for that one little word at the beginning. COMMIT. It's actually a very big, difficult word. I can commit to something for about an hour, maybe two if I'm having a good day, but it is so hard to fight feelings and circumstances! They always distract me from my commitment. (i'm going to be patient with the kids today, I'm going to pray for such-and-such every day, i'm going to tell my husband how much I appreciate him every day this week......example "commitments")

Lord please help me to be single-minded in all that I commit to. I want my flesh, emotions, distractions, laziness, doubt to fade and die so that their is only room for your Holy Spirit to do it's work in and through this body. I want to be your servant. I don't want my fickle emotions or this world's distractions to keep me from trusting in you and living like it.

"Trust God as if everything depends on Him, work as if everything depends on you."

How To Secretly Feed Your Kids Spinach

Recipe Revision: You might need to add just a little more milk than I had said. My measurements are just guesstimates so when I made it this morning I think I probably used more like 1 1/2 cups of milk.

We call this purple-ish colored treat "Barney" juice at our house. I have made it for the last 4 mornings in a row and Berklee wanted me to make it for snack time today too. It is packed full of nutritious fruits and, yes, you can sneak in a vegetable and they won't even know it. My husband loves this stuff too and if he loves it then believe me you can't taste the spinach!

Throw the following into a blender and voila!

1 cup milk
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1 cup (5 or 6) frozen strawberries
3/4 cup frozen blueberries
2 TBSP Wheat Germ (optional but is great for vitamin E and folic acid)
1 BIG handful of fresh spinach (1 cup-packed)

If you have fresh fruit instead of frozen you can just throw a few ice cubes in to make it really cold.

Tip: If any of your kids are like my son, Hayden, DO NOT let them see you put the spinach in. Tell them to look at the dinosaur in the backyard.

Wedding Vow Portrait

I saw this...
















.....on the Pioneer Woman's website.
(I get jealous because she gets so much cool stuff for free.
I guess that's what happens when you advertise for free
to about a million people every day.)

But for starting at $50 (sounds to good a deal to me....)
you can get one of your very own.

The artist, pattyleeper, also takes whatever words you would like to be in the
background. You could use love letters, wedding vows, favorite
poems, or "your" song. Or you could even have them done
for your children (or pet).
I think it is darling and she can customize
them to your liking. I would probably do a softer version of the ones she
shows.

But wouldn't this......


















.....look so sweet somewhere in your house?

Like No Other

He came into our lives almost 6 years ago.
I can still remember the day we picked him up and brought him home just as clearly as I remember the birth of my children.

Rowin Lee Maguire.

He was our only child for almost 2 1/2 years.
We took raising him very seriously.
He was loved, he was disciplined, and he was educated.
When he was a puppy we made jungle gyms for him out of huge cardboard boxes and he was the best cuddling buddy one could find.

When he broke out in hives we rushed him to the vet,
when he broke his leg we had a metal plate inserted into it,
and when he got the tip of his tongue bit off by a very mean dog
we told him he deserved it!
(He is so naive he thinks every single human, dog, cat, frog, snake..... wants to play. It was only a matter of time).

I could go on about how he doesn't bark, doesn't smell,
has great breath, and stays in our front yard without a collar or leash on.
His only flaw that I know of is that he gets realllly
excited when people come over to visit him. In his mind
they are coming to see him, of course.

Things have changed, as people told us they would once we had kids.
We fought it but it is just natural.
Your feelings for your children (and the demands) tend to eclipse (but not eliminate) the love for your dearest companions.
Rowin has adjusted well but tonight I realized just how much he is a part of our family.
We are all meshed together as the Maguire Family.
He is a unique member but a member all the same.

Here he is teaching Berklee how to flip.

Berklee being silly.

Rowin showing her how to put on glasses the "correct" way.
Berklee putting headbands on Rowin. Don't let him fool you, he loves it.

This boy LOVES the snow.

And LOVES the holidays.

He likes Princess parties too.

He babysits sometimes for me.

No kidding, we wrap his presents because he LOVES to open them. He can and he does.
ALL of them.

He'll cuddle anytime anywhere. It doesn't really matter if it is convenient for you.

'My Three Amigos'

Me and My 'Better' Self

I'm not one to brag on myself, although I am not as humble as I wish I were either. But if you don't mind I would like to blow my horn right now.
I am now on my 17th day with NO carbs and NO sugar!

I cannot really believe that I've stuck to it this long.

For me this is HUGE. And I feel better than I have in-my-life!

You may be asking why I would subject myself to this crazy commitment in the first place so let me brief you on my top three reasons.

1. Major reason-Thyroid issue that may be contributing to me not being able to get pregnant again.
2. After two children back-to-back I was not able to get rid of my "third ovary" that was protruding from my lower abdomen.
3. No girl ever minds losing a few extra pounds she's collected over the last 10 years.

So, after 17 days my third ovary is practically gone (my husband didn't believe me that I wasn't sucking in as I showed him my profile) and I've lost 11 pounds. I will have my thyroid checked in the next couple of weeks to see how I'm doing on that front as well.

Now I know your asking how did you go about this right? Well, my dear friend Mindi is a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner and she came across a cleansing/weight loss/amazing health product called Ideal Protein. You have to be monitored by a professional like Mindi and it consists of a very strict diet of soy isolate protein, lean meat, and vegetables. Here is the scientific explanation....The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Method is an easy 4-phase protocol which helps stabilize the pancreas and blood sugar levels while burning fat and maintaining muscle and other lean tissue.

I was very very very afraid because I have always found comfort in food. Actually, it likes to rule my mind. But I am so happy I committed to doing this and I really feel it has taught me more than I ever thought it would about my body, emotions, and self-control. It has also motivated me to feed my family food that is more along the lines of the fuel God intended for our bodies to have instead of all the junk that causes so many mental and physical health problems. I really thought I was doing an average job before this but from the way my body felt 17 days ago to the way it feels now I know I can do so much better.

If you have questions or want to check out more about the diet/cleansing you can click HERE.

Coming Soon: I will post about a few of the small changes we have already begun to make in our home. My husband has seen such a difference in me that he is 100% on board. A-may-zing.

Food for thought- "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

{[PREPARED]}

When drinking out of the bathroom sink you must be prepared........

..........for everything.

(Berklee and Hayden call these their wobble gobbles)