Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The Great Blog Train #6 {June}


Follow Me!
Part of the rules is following the hosts {Angie @ God's Growing Garden, Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures, and myself}. Here's where you can connect with me so choose what works for you and let me know how you followed by leaving me a comment so I can visit you too!



The Great Blog Train
A monthly blog hop departing from your online train station on the first Wednesday of every month!

About The Name & Blog Hop
The railway and trains helped build North America and brought people together. We also want this blog hop to bring people together -- we designed it so that nobody will be left out. Don't worry if you are late boarding this train! Even the caboose will be chugging down the tracks to new relationships because the very last entry will receive a feature next month!

RULES
1. Follow all three of the hostesses in at least one of the following ways: GFC, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin, Linky, Networked Blogs, or Facebook. Then leave us a comment telling us how you followed so that we can come back & visit you! The hostesses are:

  

2. Now link up your family friendly blog to the train...please only use your homepage, NOT a specific post! As you see below, we are quite serious about this rule:


3. And last, but not least, connect to the boxcar in front of you (the blog in the linky just before you). Stop by that person's blog, have a look around and leave a comment letting them know that you stopped in!

Now that you have your ticket you are
ready to board the rest of the train!

OPTIONAL: You may grab our "Great Blog Train" button and post it on your side bar or linky page. Also, feel free to spread the word! The more the merrier!!!

Blue Eyed Beauty Blog


The Featured Caboose!

Marigolds' Loft

Natalie has a wonderful blog with book reviews, crafty tips, blog hops & giveaways...she loves to knit & crochet, and she is a Vibrational Therapist who works with alternative healing methods. She is originally from South Africa but now lives in Switzerland with her hubby & two teen girls.

{Were you featured? Stop by my "Grab A Button" page to get "The Great Blog Train: 
I Was The Featured Caboose" button!! Congratulations!}

Hop on Board!



Receive A Heads Up Next Month!
I send out 'reminder' emails for this hop.
If you'd like to be on the list just leave me a comment!
OR email me @ mrshelenstafford {at} yahoo {dot} com!
Thank you!!!

My Summer 8 Projects List


Since there are about 10 weeks of Summer (in my book that is) I've decided to make a goal of completing one task most of those weeks. If you missed my Spring 10 List you can still check it out...I didn't get everything on that completed, but I got the important ones done! :)

10 weeks. June 2-August 10. 8 Projects I'd like to complete.
And here they are....

Project: Get my house clean!
This includes my kitchen (dishes mostly), dining room (organizing and putting things away), living room (finishing up my footstool redo project that's been 'in progress' for over two weeks now), bathroom (everything needs a good cleaning in there!), sewing/craft room (just general organizing), bedroom (get the laundry done and put away!).

Also, I want to put together a weekly wipe-off chore list so that I can better keep up with house chores in the future. That has been a struggle for me lately and is something I want to work extra hard on this summer.

Project: Get paperwork done!
I have quite a bit of random paperwork things that I need to finish up. And I have stuff that I still have to do like mail out Thank You cards from our wedding!! (yikes!) So that'll be a good project to have done!

Project: Finish Home Decor.
I'd like to work on a few projects leftover in my home decor area. My dining room and bedroom still need some work! I will try to put together a post of the ideas I still like to share with you!

Project: Celebrate being pregnant!
This isn't really a task/project to do but there are some things related to being pregnant that I need to get done. I know that I'm gonna need some different clothes since the ones I have barely or don't fit already so that's one thing I want to work on during the week: creating/sewing new pregnancy clothing.

Project: Start working on baby things!
I want to crochet a few baby blankets (since we're having a winter baby) so I plan to start working on a few of those in the near future as well since it'll take a month or longer to make just one and I would like more than one made before the baby comes! (One it white, one in brown for sure and then either blue or pink depending on what we have!)

I need to seriously start a baby journal. I'm a writer so this is important to me...especially since many times I forget what things were like if I don't write them down.

Another thing would be to make a list of what I think we're gonna need for the new baby when he/she comes along.

Project: Home Organization!
Three rooms in my house need some organization makeovers...those rooms are my bathroom, the kitchen, and my sewing/craft room. I'd like to focus a week or so on making these three rooms more organized.

Project: Schedule Regular Blog Posts.
Lately my blog has been sadly lacking since I've had these laptop issues. I'm trying my best to keep it updated but it's no where near where I'd like it to me. Plus there are several series that are easily written and scheduled in bulk (The Wednesday Weekly Review, Words On Sunday, and This Is Me for example). I also have a ton of other posts that just need finishing touches such as a photo added or a few more lines typed to them to be finished up so I can work on getting those done...as long as my laptop behaves!

Project: Bake & Cook Food!
There are several recipes that I've been really wanting to try lately so even though this isn't really something that can be done all at one time (since I am only one person and hubby rarely eats the baked muffins, breads, etc.) but I do want to get a few things checked off that list! Here are a few of the recipes I'm wanting to try in the near future: Amish Cinnamon Bread, Easy Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastry, Overnight Blueberry French Toast, Brazillian Beans & Rice (family recipe), Tater Tot Casserole, and so many more!!

What are some things you want to get done this summer?

Monday, June 3, 2013

Sponsor Swap Space Up For Grabs!


Every three months I change out the sponsor buttons on my blog. I'm really looking forward to this change since they will now be featured on my sidebar instead of along the bottom as they have been since the beginning of this year. It was a fun spot, but I'm ready for some change. I will have about 20 slots on the new location. Some of those are already filled, but many of them are not! If you want to jump in on the free 100x100 add space for your blog please either leave me a comment with a way to contact you or just send me an email so I can swap buttons with you!

This add space time will run through the remainder of June, all of July and to the end of August. Don't miss your opportunity at a spot!

Previous Sponsors


Hand-Squeezed Sweet Lemonade

This is a delicious lemonade recipe that my sister shared with me once...apparently it was a secret recipe at one point in time, but now I have it so, who knows? Anyway, I will tell you that it is super delicious and can be very addicting too!


This recipe makes 1 gallon of Sweet Lemonade.

Ingredients
10 fresh lemons
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of hot water, boiled is better
Cold Water

Directions
1. Squeeze all the lemons until all the juice is out of them all. Strain out the seeds. If you want to keep the pulp you can. I did because I like pulp, but that's just personal preference.
2. Next heat up about 2 cups of water. When its hot pour in the sugar. Stir until it's all dissolved.
3. In a gallon pitcher pour the fresh squeezed lemon juice and the sugar water mix. Stir together.
4. Fill the rest of the pitcher up with cold water.
5. Store in the fridge until ready to use or have a glass right away!

Notes
~The lemons got double use since I zested them to use in other delicious lemony recipes!

This Post Was Shared

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Words On Sunday | Don't look down on anyone...


{photo via Pinterest}

I think this is both beautiful in words & design, don't you? This is something that I hope to pass on to my children as they're growing up.