Breast Cancer 3-Day Training Log

Today I decided it was time to test out our puppy's ability to walk on a leash with me pushing The Fish in the stroller and we had SUCCESS! We did a 3.2 mile walk this afternoon and this evening Bentley, the pup, and I did another 2.1 miles.

Today's total = 5.3

Weekly total = 7.4

I will be looking for a couple sponsors each week to pledge $1-2 per mile I train, please let me know if you are interested!

Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk Training Log

Today was the start of my training for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk. From now until the actual walk I will be posting each time I walk the amount of miles walked and the total miles accumulated. I am curious to see exactly how many training miles I will complete between now and October.

Today's count.

2.1 miles

Update on the Spud and Chloe Raffle for a Cure

Just a reminder that I am hosting a Spud and Chloe Yarn Raffle for a Cure. For each $15 donation you will be entered to win 5 skeins of Spud and Chloe sweater weight yarn. The person who donates the most will win 5 skeins of Spud and Chloe Outer. If there is a tie for the most amount donated I will draw a winner for that as well. So far there are only 13 entries so your chances of winning are very good! Each donation not only earns you a chance to win some awesome yarn but it also helps me raise money for a great cause! I will be walking 60 miles in October to raise awareness and funds to help find cure for Breast Cancer!!!

So hop on over to my Breast Cancer 3 Day page and donate for a cure and I will do the hard part.... the 60 mile walk.

Hint, hint...the top donation so far is $100.....

Ultimate Blog Party 2010

Welcome fellow bloggers! My name is Linsay and I consider myself to be a jack of all trades. I am coming to you from my adorable pink MacBook who seems to be my right hand lately. I am a WAHM of 4 who was offered a job by a fellow classmate while attending college online via University of Phoenix. It has truly been a blessing because not only am I allowed to be home for my kids while working for our family but my job moves with me. Yes I said moves with me, as not only am I a wife, I am a Navy wife. Our family is never in one place for long. Our typical tour is 18 months. So far this works for our family, but I am sure one day we will have to find a duty station where we can semi settle down.

When I am not working for my "real" job I am busy enjoying life with four kids and the hubs, making binky leashes etc. for my online store, knitting for my friends and family, training and raising funds for The Breast Cancer 3 Day, sewing straight lines, making wreaths, building furniture, and occasionally I get some sleep in there.

My best friend and I also share a blog, Nip Cancer Girls, where we feature other Etsy sellers and friends who have donated items to our Etsy shop where 100% of our the sale price of our items is donated back to our Breast Cancer 3 Day. Our shop is centered around all things PINK! If you love to create and would like to donate please let me know! If you have a chance check out my Yarn Raffle for a Cure, ends April 16th.

If you haven't been over to the Ultimate Blog Party 2010 you should check out it. There are so many great prize to be had! My top three are...

$200 GC to Apple.com from CMomGo

Your Shape Wii Fitness Game from Kristie's List

$100 GC from StomperMom

Chore Charts - WFMW

Last year I made up chore cards and while they worked for a while some got lost and interest got lost as well so I decided it was time to change it up. And here is the new system I came up with.

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I got this adorable 16X20 inch frame at Michael's on clearance about 6 months ago with this idea in mind, but just last week had the time to put my idea into action. I then took a 12X12 pad of scrapbook paper and cut four coordinating pieces each 8X10 inches in size and taped to the "picture people" picture that was already in there. Then I printed out each chart made in excel for each child with their list of chores for the week and one blank calendar sheet for the 4th box as The Fish isn't old enough to do a chart with chores yet. I also cut our the names and the word "calendar" on my Cricut to add to top of each chart. I used the opposite paper scraps to do this so they would all match. Once it was all stuck down I put it behind the glass and had the hubs hang it in the pantry for easy access. The calendar is completely blank under the glass and I use a dry erase pen to fill in the month and dates and things like soccer, gymnastics, dr appts etc. But having a chart on the wall in the pantry has never quite fully worked for us either so I went one step further and made these...

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Each morning I put down the Morning/After School charts and as they do each item they mark them off and are on their way. They remain on the counter for after school as well. Then around dinner time I get out the evening sheets for them to get started on as well. We started these on Sunday and so far they are working great. We haven't been late getting out the door one day this week which is AMAZING! They are notorious for forgetting to do something making us a few minutes late going out the door. Ky Guy, the 12 yo, even mentioned that he likes that it says "pick up bedroom" because now he has just a little to do everyday and it doesn't get out of control. I have noticed this is working well for the girls too.

Each of these were printed on white card stock and tapped to scrapbook paper that coordinates with the chart in the pantry. Once they were all put together I laminated them so we could use the dry erase pens on them as well. What the kids don't know is that at the end of the week if they have at least all but one thing marked off for each day of the week they will be getting to choose something from a list of goodies that they can have for doing a great job. Each week the list will change. I plan on putting things like 1 hour of Wii time, paint nails with mom, go to ice cream with mom or dad, board games with mom or dad, etc on that list.

And that my friends WORKS FOR ME!

Tie Dyeing Easter Eggs

So when I came across the post on Our Best Bites for dyeing Easter eggs with men's ties I knew we would be trying it out this year and I. AM. IN. LOVE. I don't think we will ever dye eggs any other way again.

A couple of days ago the kids and I went to Value Village and Goodwill to check out their supply of silk ties and here is what we found.

Then we called over some friends to come help us out!

And then we wrapped each egg first in a piece of silk tie and then in a piece of one of my husband's old shirts. I do not recommend using an old shirt of your husbands if he works on a ship and sweats a lot...lets just say my house didn't smell very pleasant after boiling those puppies...yeah YUCK!

Put them all in a pot with 1/4th cup of vinegar, brought to a boil and set a timer for 20 minutes.

We put ours in a strainer after they were done and ran cold water over them to cool them down a bit and unwrapped them and here is what we came out with.

And because we didn't have enough ties to cover all of our eggs on the first go around we used the ties a second time and it changed the dynamics a little. As you can tell in this picture the egg on the right was lighter and the one on the left was darker. The one on the left is from the second go around.

And in these two photos the eggs on the right are from the second go around and the ones on the left are from the first. I am tempted to boil the ties next year before I put them on eggs just to see if we always get darker more vibrant results.

And my all time favorite.....

And so if you have not tried this, you should and NOW. Like I said before I don't think I will ever go back to dyeing eggs any other way.

And for the record "they" suggest you don't eat these eggs. I am not sure why but everything I have read says not to eat them.

Easter Wreath Revisited

About 3 weeks ago a friend of mine sent me into Winco to buy her some bulk spice drops for a project she was working on and I came across the most beautiful Jordan Almonds ever. I couldn't resist making a new Easter wreath since the one I made last year faded. This year I decided to spray the new one down with clear coat so I am hoping it stays beautiful for years to come because I just love it. I also think I will leave it up as a "Spring" wreath so I can enjoy it a few weeks longer.