Do you have a summer wish? I do! I am coming up on 7 months in my pregnancy, most of the time spent sick and/or weak, so the house has suffered and as much as I work on getting things done, there is much left to do before baby arrives.  My summer wish would be a combination of cleaning, packing, and organizing!  What? I don’t ask for much, heehee. 

The way I feel about the state of the house makes me think I’ll bypass a simple maid service and go straight for a commercial janitor, LOL!!  OK, maybe not, but it would feel really nice to get a whole top to bottom cleaning - on a regular basis - that isn’t done by me.  Since I am still in the process of turning the office / junk room into a nursery - and still stuck on the removing everything step - I would love to have someone come in with a gazillion boxes and pack absolutely everything up.  I probably wouldn’t even care if they labeled the boxes at this point, LOL! 

As for the organizing, I need to buy a few items to allow for that - bookcases, a china cabinet, etc.  (Am I sounding like a broken record yet? I know I’ve gone on and one about these things I need to get done).  I could stand for someone to reorganize me kitchen, though. Thinking about hitting up my sister to do that when she visits, lol. 

What’s your summer wish?

Sponsored Editorial. All opinions are 100% my own.

Living in Florida, hurricanes are the big news and they quickly trump other news stories. Hurricane Frank is out in the Pacific coast, though moving away from Mexico. Hurricane Danielle is one of several tropical systems brewing in the Atlantic. She is expected to continuing growing in strength, as is Tropical Storm (about to turn Hurricane) Earl right behind her, and just for a little tropical bonus, Fiona is coming off the Africa Coast heading this way. 

{image from weather.com}

As we move through the primaries toward the November mid-term elections, the world of politics is certainly heating up.  Looks like I may be watching election returns from a hospital room, holding my precious baby boy. Ironically, both my boys were / will be born in years of mid-term elections, lol.  We still need to sign up for absentee ballots. Our primaries were the other day, so now I have some researching to do before I cast my November ballot.

Other random news tidbits for today:

New violence and fires in Jerusalem

Continued controversy over the proposed mosque planned near Ground Zero + questions arise over another NYC mosque

Blago post-trial hearing today, plus Arraignment scheduled for Roger Clemens & a three-state 18 stabbings suspect is apprehended and headed for justice in MI.

The egg recall continues, but as far as I know Florida was not included (yet?). It is one thing when a household item gets recalled and they send you a replacement part to make it all better, but when you find out you could be feeding your family unsafe food? Scary.

Also scary? Home sale trends and the stats for July. Sales are way, way down (15 year low!!) and I heard the numbers for those with mortgages under water (not just those in default, but including those who owe more than their home is now worth) is extraordinarily high. I believe it, but I do not like it.  I really want to try to sell our home and move next year, but I’m not feeling very good right now about being able to do that. 

And to round it all out, two were arrested in Canadian terrorist bomb plot with suspicions of terror cell in Canada.

Thanks to SwagBucks, my Amazon gift card balance as of the end of August is / will be $100, plus purchases from Amazon over $25 usually qualify for free shipping!  I am hoping to add to the balance before cashing out in a couple of months. {I actually thought my balance was higher than this, but I haven’t been as active in using it lately.} I’ll start September closing in on another $5 Amazon gift card, making my balance $105.

Although it has taken me most of the year to get to $100 (a few months I didn’t buy gift cards at all), I’ve actually been pretty conservative in my use of SwagBucks.  There are many ways to earn SBs, including searching, surverys, offers, referrals, finding swag codes, etc.  I try to do all my searches using SwagBucks and when I go to web pages, I search by the site name instead of typing in the url.

There are many gift cards, in varying increments, as well as a multitude of other prizes you can buy with your SwagBucks.  I personally stick with the $5 Amazon gift cards because I’ve found it to be the biggest bang for my (swag) buck.  You can order 2 identical prizes per day and up to 5 identical prizes per month.  If you start earning enough SwagBucks to get the 5 prizes of your choice each month, be sure to start making your purchases several days before month’s end.

If you are interested in signing up for SwagBucks, just click HERE & you’ll be on your way to earning free Amazon money (or other prizes of your choice)!!

savvysource.com

 
The Savings: Each week, you’ll find a significant savings on a fun, family-friendly activity selected by the Savvy Source editors. Once enough people have signed up to purchase, the Savings and Scholarships offer becomes active.

The Scholarship: Beyond giving parents in a great deal on a fun activity, they donate 5% of each purchase to a preschool of the purchaser’s choice. They also donate 5% of each purchase to a scholarship fund created to help parents afford preschool for their children.

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Download your FREE Comprehensive Guide to Herbs and Breastfeeding courtesy of Earth Mama Angel Baby, plus click HERE and use the code Milkmaid20 to get 20% off Organic Milkmaid Tea to help support healthy breast milk production.

What’s cheap today at your favorite stores? Sign up for the daily deal notifications to find out! 

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Ramblers Way. All opinions are 100% mine.

I was invited to go on a $200 mock shopping spree at Ramblers Way Farm.  Granted, not nearly as fun as a real $200 shopping spree, but hey - I’m game. It is a lazy Saturday afternoon and I need a slight diversion from my four year old that refuses to simply lie down in his bed for more than 5.2 seconds at a time. We call it Quiet Time. He hasn’t napped since before he was 2, but Mommy certainly needs those little moments still.

 
We have a baby on the way, so I would love to include baby clothing on my wish list / mock shopping spree, but I guess mommies sometimes need a little push to focus on themselves? 

One basic in my wardrobe is the camisole. This is Forida, very hot 95% of the year. The cami is also great for layering even in cooler temps. It runs $55 at Ramblers Way Farm. Hard to believe this thin, comfy looking cami is actually wool. The only wool I was familiar with was thick and itchy. Hmmm, make that two camisoles.

The next item for my mock shopping spree would be the Cross Neck Long Sleeve Top (Regular) for $85.  This would be a great top for our Florida winters and I could easily throw a jacket or sweater over it if the temps dropped more than normal.  That would bring me to $195, just shy of the $200 mark. 

 Wool isn’t something I really considered as being a part of my Florida wardrobe, but I guess Ramblers Way kinda changed that. Thin, soft, NON-ITCHY wool that I can wear year round - even in Florida? Nice job! Technology certainly changes things and Ramblers Way Farm seems to have honed the wool industries technology to create more practical, desirable, everyday soft & light-weight wool clothing. 

Disney Movie Rewards is offering a free download of “Tinker Bell And The Great Fairy Rescue” Story Book. View rewards “up to 400 points”.  It is listed for 0 points.  Enjoy!!

Also, check out these free, fun Tinker Bell activities:

Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue releases as a Blu-Ray Combo Pack, DVD and Movie Download on Tuesday, September 21, 2010.

I want to redecorate our master bedroom - mainly the walls and add bookcases for organization.  A few random ideas I’ve come across while searching…

I’m not sure if I’d do the whole wall (and only one wall, and maybe not even this pattern), but I am looking for something for the wall behind the bed.  Most of the exposed part of the wall will just be above the bed, so it is almost mock-headboard in a way.  I’m not really sold on this, but wanted to save it to look back on. 

Good Housekeeping

 And…. a couple idea articles…. again, to save to look back on. 

How To Create A Peaceful Retreat When You Redecorate The Bedroom

Organizing A Bedroom

I will be posting the pic and details on Savvy Frugalistas over the weekend, but I wanted to go ahead and get the word out if you haven’t already heard. They had baby toys (Leap Frog, etc) clearanced, too.  It was somewhat random… two different aisles of clearance and a lot of stuff mixed in with other toys.  Look for that famous red clearance sticker on the items, LOL! 

They also have some baby gear items 50% off.  I couldn’t justify the great deal on the pack-n-play (monkey decor!!!) because we already have one that is still in great condition, but I was wanting it.  There was also 2 booster car seats with backs (and I believe internal harness) 1/2 off. In pink. So, I passed on those too, obviously.  I did get a 2 pack of Carters pants 0-3 months ($8) for only $2.

Picture & more details over the weekend, but I would strongly suggest you check out the Target store(s) in your area - Christmas is coming so you may as well get a head start!

I was talking to a friend today about redecorating. There are a lot of things I still want to do around here, and though ultimately the nursery is the primary focus, it isn’t the sole focus. I need to finish the bathroom I’ve slowly been working on (we are doing it in a cute frog decor for the boys) and work on the master bedroom. The master bedroom still has white walls and just doesn’t have the feel I want it to have. I’d like to paint it and do some minor redecorating, hopefully before baby comes. Fingers crossed. A major entire-house redecorating must is adding storage spaces. I absolutely love the 9 cube (3×3) wooden storage units - we have 2 in Lil Roo’s room and I want to get him 2 more, 3-4 for the master bedroom, and 4 for the nursery. Although I am not focused too much on dining room furniture, I do need to get a small china cabinet.  Getting things more organized around here will certainly bring some relief!

Link from CSN Stores, who will providing nursery items for an upcoming review on Sweet Posh Baby.

Don’t be too shocked, heehee, but I’ve created another blog. We’ll just take it day by day, but I’m feeling pretty good about it.  I’m calling it Two’s Enough simply because with kid #2 on the way, we’ve decided two will be the perfect number for us. It will be more of a personal, life, random thoughts, and pictures type of blog. I would love for you to stop by sometime and check it out.

I know exactly what I want, exactly what I want it to do.  I just don’t know if it exists. I want an automatic weekly post of links to posts (and possibly a sniplet of the post linked to) of another blog of mine.  A weekly recap of another blog, basically.

Sooo… know of one? Or what the best terms would be to search for one? I’ve been looking, but in searching and in trying to explain to others what I want… I think it somehow gets lost in the translation. 

Whew!  I broke my blog a couple days ago and have been freaking out about it (obvisouly, lol).  I tried going through my host previously, but they could only do a full account restore and I was afraid of the content that could be lost on other sites if they did, so more freaking. out.  I know, I know. I need to get a very user friendly backup plug-in for each site. Just in case. Heck, nevermind, just in case. For the next time. Because I obviously have a tendancy to break my blog periodically. Maybe this time was an almost full moon kinda thing? I added a simple button to my sidebar, which *may* have omitted a space in part of the code. As soon as I added it, the damage was done. CRAZY. It may have been a coincidence, because wouldn’t you think there would just be an error with that button not showing up?  But nooo, not for me. The whole blog goes bust.

Tonight, I called the host again thinking I would just do the full account restore and he was able to make the repair without affecting the other sites. *LOVE*

Ironically, this is on top of the internet (ahem, LACK OF) issue I’ve been dealing with… constantly in and out for about a week and the latter few days of that it was completely out.

Sooo.. I’m backed up on email still from the internet connection issues, backed up on stuff I need to post here… on top of my typical backed-up schedule (shhhh!).  Guess I need to seriously crank out some work… if only Lil Roo was more considerate of that. Not only does he not like me being on the computer, he has now discovered the Mommy has GAMES on her computer that he likes to play. A lot.  Of course most are the trial games that came with the computer that expire after a few plays.  Looks like I need to do some shopping around for games.  Anyhooo…. problem fixed, I’m working on backed-up stuff, so please be patient if you are looking for a reply to an email or such.  I’m so releived now!!  Aaaaahhhhh! 

The newest show to hit Sprout is Chloe’s Closet: magical worlds, fun-filled adventures and an imaginative little girl!  Each night the journey begins as Chloe and her friends get swept away through the power of dressing up.  These new worlds discovered by this adorable little girl show audiences the endless possibilities that come from using your imagination.