Summer Yummies

Refreshing

My new favorite summer drink. Mint, lemon or lime and water. Fish Sticks love mint with peaches.  So refreshing. 

Keeping Your Dishwasher Running Well

 When the tech came to fix the trash compactor, he glanced over at my dishwasher and started sharing important knowledge with me about caring for my dishwasher.  He said that middle TN has hard water and that is why I have these awful stains in my dishwasher.  He said over time, as it builds up, it affects the way the dishwasher runs and cleans.  He told me to get Lemishine and run it through my dishwasher 2 times on the hottest and longest setting.  After cleaning it, then ONLY use Finish dishwashing tabs with the red dot in the middle.  NEVER use the liquid detergent as it builds up residue and could ruin the pump of the washer.  Never use off brands as they also will mess up the effectiveness of the dishwasher and ALWAYS use a rinsing agent such as Jet Dry.

3 packs of LemiShine for only $3.20.  Finish was $15 plus a $1.50 coupon off.  There's 85 tabs in this box, almost 3 months supply.

You know that I am a money-saving mom so when he said "no off brands" I kind of cringed, but I also know that my dishwasher has NOT been cleaning my dishes very well recently and this build up inside looks pretty yucky.  I was glad for the knowledge!!

The door BEFORE LemiShine.

The door AFTER LemiShine.

The inside BEFORE LemiShine.

The inside AFTER Lemishine.

Can We Fix It? Yes We Can!!

My firstborn came out of the womb looking for things to fix.  He went to bed with his plastic tool box and spent his toddler years asking me, "Mom, what can I fix?".  He lived for Bob the Builder episodes.  Now that he's almost 14 years old, it's no surprise that he loves to assemble things, take things apart to see how they work and repair things.  Just the kind of guy you want to have around the house!

After our party of over 100 people, somehow our trash compactor got broken.  It wasn't in perfect working order before the party as it had some tricks to making it work right, but after that evening, it wouldn't turn on or close.  Before calling the technician to fix it, My Man called his supplier to see what a new one would cost, knowing it costs almost $100 just to have a tech come look at it.  Add parts and labor and it might not be worth fixing.  For some crazy reason the cost of stainless steel trash compactors have gone from $300 to $800 over the last 6 years.  That ludicrous!  As you can imagine, we called the tech.

He was great and told us we needed 2-3 parts but the parts totaled $300, then his labor was another $100 not to mention the service call we had paid for.  Then he shocked me and did the unheard of.  He told me the part numbers, explained to me how to fix it myself and said we could try that and if it didn't go well, call him back and then pay for his labor.  ("Now we're cooking with peanut oil!" - that's for my fellow Duck Dynasty fans)

I went to www.repairclinic.com and found the parts for almost half what the tech had quoted me.  SCORE!  When they arrived, my goal was to fix the trash compactor with the help of my teenage son and surprise My Man!  We did it!  It went perfect and I didn't even have to find a YouTube to help us.  I even get to return one part as we didn't need it after all.

Maybe I missed my calling...I've repaired my washing machine and now trash compactor.  I think I've found the perfect retirement job for me....appliance technician!

Berry Sale!

Stock up on strawberries (99 cents) and blueberries ($1.49) at Aldi this week!  

Not sure if they will go lower, but it's the best I've seen so far.

I hope to freeze some if I can keep the Fish Sticks from devouring!

Back to Coupons

It was time to add to my stockpile as things have

gotten low recently.  We had donated to a family who's house burned down and to OK tornado victims, not to mention just our own personal use, so I was looking to restock this week.

I spent $14.65 at Walgreens and purchased 2 tubes of toothpaste ($1.50 total), 1 mouthwash (99 cents), 2 toothbrushes (99 cents total), Fish Oil Supplements (FREE), 4 packs of gum (75 cents each) and hair rubberbands (99 cents).

I spent $40.44 at CVS and got 6 boxes of Kellogg's cereal ($1.65 each), 6 boxes of Puffs tissues (90 cents each), 2 Irish Spring body wash ($1 each), 4 Edge Shave Gel (approx. 90 cents each), 1 Softsoap (64 cents), 3 boxes Band-Aids ($2.30 each), powered toothbrush (99 cents), toothbrush head refills (99 cents), First Aid kit bag (FREE). 

Mastering Marriage

I have avoided writing a post about marriage because I feel inadequate to write one.  But in reality, we are all probably inadequate to write a post about marriage because the perfect wife and the perfect husband does not exist.  It's so easy to read the blogs of others and feel discouraged while we assume that everyone else has everything together except for us.  There are those few bloggers who exist to actually post the blunt truth about the struggles of a wife and mother.  They are probably not the most popular among bloggers.

So let me preface this post by informing you that I am far from the perfect wife.  On that note, I will say that in my almost 18 years of marriage, I have come a long way.  When we were first married, I read just about every self-help marriage book that had been recommended to me.  You might assume then that I was near perfect with all that "help."  Unfortunately, these helpful books taught me so much but also puffed me up.  The more I thought I was following the guidelines to becoming a Godly wife, the more I thought I was without flaw resulting in pointing my finger at My Man quickly.

In 2000 God brought me to a very humbling point through the use of an article that I read that convicted my heart deeply.  I came to My Man in tears, asking him for forgiveness and hoping for a new start.  He was not even aware of the condition of my prideful heart at the time, but was quick to forgive and move forward.

One of my biggest lessons that I have learned about My Man over the years is his need to feel respected by me and respected by the Fish Sticks.  What comes naturally to me is to make him feel loved.  I often forget that his need for respect comes first.  I'll post another time about how to teach my Fish Sticks to show respect for their Daddy but now here are my thoughts on ways that I can show My Man respect.

**  Don't correct him.
Keeping my mouth shut is NOT a strength of mine, unfortunately.  Diarrhea of the mouth comes naturally all too often.  When I remember that I am under My Man and he is under the Lord, then there is no need to correct him.
**  Make his requests a priority.
Sometimes when My Man asks me to do things for him that are not my favorite things, I easily put them off and oftentimes forget altogether that he needed me to do something for him.  By making his requests a priority, I am showing him that HE is my priority and that he is respected.
**  Make him a priority.
With all the social media and myself being a social person, it's all too easy to get caught up in blogging, checking emails, Facebook, texting and talking on the phone.  These things are not bad in moderation, but when they take priority over communication with My Man or completing tasks that he's asked me to do to help him or managing my home and children, they are a bad distraction.  Delaying the priorities of homemaking, mothering and being a wife can easily be interpreted as disrespect to My Man.
**  Pursue him.
It's so important that we continue to chase our men and let them know how much we want them.  Running a family can be a huge energy-drainer and by the time bedtime rolls around, the pillow seems to have a big, red target on it.  Keeping things spicy is so important in showing our husbands that we need them.  I'm not just talking about evening "events" but throughout the day we can say things and do things that let them know of our attraction and need for them.

I'm sure there's many more I could mention here but I'm going to leave it at these 4.  All men are wired differently so I'm sure there are some bullet points of yours that would take priority over some of mine, but I bet that they would all boil down to the same main point....

Aretha Franklin hit the nail on the head.....R-E-S-P-E-C-T!