A Planter After My Own Heart

I am smitten.  No really, I am.

There is this amazing planter that I would love to have in my life.  Check this out:

This is one of the smartest container gardens that I have ever seen.  And in my opinion, container gardening is were it is at in Central Florida.

You see the ground here in our neck of the swamp is basically a bear.  The soil is sandy and very nutrient poor.  And there are wicked, evil, nasty weeds.  Oh, and the fire ants...bad. to. the. bone. 

And the icing on the cake is that this planter has....

WHEELS!!!!!

How awesome is that?  Really, this is one clever design. I would love to have several of these in my backyard to grow vegetables and herbs in. 

Hugs, 

Melissa

DIY Liquid Handsoap

"Wash the fellowship off of your hands", is something that I often say to our monkeys.  After church, youth group, ballet, martial arts, science center outings, you name it.  It's a germy world out there and germs are not welcome here.

Since it seems as if you have to have a chemistry degree to decipher most of the ingredients on the back antibacterial liquid soaps, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own liquid soap.

Here is what it entails:

Take one foaming-type hand soap dispenser (mine were recycled).  Fill it 1/4 of the way with liquid castile soap (I buy mine at the Vitamin Shop or Whole Foods), add 3-4 drops of essential oil (lavender or lemon grass), and fill the dispenser the rest of the way with filtered water.

One dispenser full of this soap lasts a little over a week in our high traffic bathrooms.  It costs pennies to make each batch.  It is necessary to use a foaming-type dispenser because the liquid soap is very thin and can be easily wasted in a regular type of dispenser. 

I love this hand soap because it is economical, non-toxic, effective and easy to make.

My monkeys love it because it is foamy and it smells great.

Hugs,

Melissa

I Love Me Some Prairie Home Companion

Ahh...the sound of Garrison Keillor's voice on a Saturday afternoon makes my heart swoon.

I absolutely love a good story and when you tune into "A Prairie Home Companion" on the radio that is just what you get, right along with some side splitting jokes, awesome tunes and sage wisdom.

Photo courtesy of PHC website

I was introduced to one of my favorite music artists, Sarah Watkins, via the show.  She even hosted a show this year.

Last Saturday's broadcast had a hilarious little ditty about high school graduation open houses.  I laughed so hard that I almost ran a red light and nearly peed my pants (not necessarily in that order).  Funny stuff.

How about you?  Do you tune into PHC on the weekends? Do you ever wish that you were from Lake Wobegon where, "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average"?

Hugs,

Melissa

This Is How He Rolls

Our youngest monkey lives life to the fullest.

He never misses a beat.  And he is loud.  Really loud. And he is in constant motion.  Constant.

The only quiet moments in this child's life are when he was first born (literally, no sound, just wide-eyed and looking around) and when he sleeps.

He has an imagination that is pretty uncanny for his age.  I call his brain the Imagination Station. 

Each day is an adventure for monkey boy. Like the other day, when I looked back at him in his carseat, and saw this:

Yep, those are flippers on his feet. 

That is just how he rolls. 

Hugs, 

Melissa

Skype Smiles Across the Miles

We recently celebrated our oldest monkey boy's 19th birthday.  Gulp! Where has the time gone?

Seriously, he was just three years old running around with lego guns and having a hard time pronouncing his "r's and l's".  Now he is a man, with muscles and a job.  What the?
 
So, we wanted to celebrate with our man-child and sing "Happy Birthday" to him and such, but our oldest monkey girl was in Japan at the time on a mission trip.  What to do?

Skype to the rescue!

After singing a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" with our Skype soloist, the monkeys proceeded to tease their poor sister with the scrumptious strawberry cheesecake that she could only dream about across the miles.  Creeps!

:-), 

Melissa

Let It Be.

I am a first born.  Type A.  All the way.

In my house, there is a place for everything and everything is in its place.

I even clean the house before we go on vacation.  Who does that?

But, recently I have been making more of an effort to just let it be.  Let it be...

What does this look like? What does this feel like?  How does this play out on a day to day basis?

Like what would happen if I take the monkeys to the park, and I do not remember that the park has a really fun and irresistible splashy-fountain area, so I do not bring the monkeys' swim suits or towels?

Let it be.

Smiles and sunshine,

Melissa