Hosting an outdoor Autumn Party



With autumn comes the last few days to get outside and enjoy the nice weather, in the case of an Indian Summer or a cool, crisp fall evening, with family and friends. One of the best ways to do that is by having a get together in your own back yard. Have it on a cool crisp evening in late October or early November. Here’s how.

INVITATIONS: A back yard party is meant for fun, food, and socializing. For this type of party you can invite friends via facebook. Call or e-mail friends or family who are not on facebook. Be sure to let people know when you will be having your fest.

FOOD: Every great party has to have food. Plan to have burgers on the grill and plan to have a fire where people can roast their own hot dogs and make their own smores. Make a list of items you will need from the store. Remember to get drinks, like bottled water and pop for people to drink. You will need a ring for the fire, firewood, a way to light the fire, and roasting sticks for people to roast their food on. Remember to be safe with the fire and watch kids closely.

GAMES: Plan games for everyone to play. Set up a net for racquet ball. Have a dart board for people to play. Have a corn hole game tournament. Have bubbles and games for kids to play with as well. You could set up an apple bobbing contest for the kids also.

PARTY TIME: Have your party! People will be arriving ready for fun games, great food, and plenty of socializing. The day of your party start getting everything ready early. Make sure the food and the fire are ready plenty early, so that when people arrive they can start eating and roasting their food.

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Make Raking Leaves fun for kids



Raking leaves should and can be fun for kids. Kids love to play, so give them these game ideas to play while they rake up leaves. Here is a list of games and ideas to do with the leaves you are raking.

LEAF HOUSE: Carefully rake the leaves into lines forming an outer wall for your house. Do not make it as big as a normal house. When your outside walls are done, start putting walls inside to separate your rooms. Make a living room, a kitchen, and bedrooms. Kids will love this leaf house to play house in.

LEAF SHAKE: Get as many kids together as you can. Get two large sheets, lay them out in the yard about 10 feet apart. Make the teams even, have 5 or 6 people on each team. Have each team get around their sheet. Dump a garbage bag full of leaves onto each sheet. Have each team pick their sheet up and bring it to waist level. When an adult, who is the judge, says “Go” each team has to shake their sheet and get all of the leaves off as fast as possible. The first team to get all of their leaves off of the sheet wins!

LEAF WALK OR BIKE RIDE: Find a trail or road lined with trees. When the leaves start falling the trail will be covered with the leaves. Take a walk or ride your bikes through the fallen leaves.

JUMPING PILE: Rake all of your leaves into a big pile. Run and jump into the leaves, throw the leaves in the air, and have fun flattening your leaf pile.

Best tasting crock pot roast!



This recipe for a crock pot roast is delicious! It's so easy to put together and the best part is it cooks in your crock pot and is ready to eat when you get home at the end of the day!

You can also use this recipe for any other meat. I cooked pork chops in it and they were very good. You could also use a venison roast or you could try chicken as well. One of my favorite things is to play around with different recipes and ideas in the kitchen.

So here are the things you will need:
1 packet of Ranch seasoning
1 packet of Italian seasoning
1 packet of Brown gravy mix
2 cups of water
1 pound roast (or meat of your choice)

You could use more than 1 pound of meat if you wish, just add more water to make sure that all of your meat is covered.

Simply add the water with your 3 packets of seasoning and stir it up in your crock pot to make sure all of the lumps are out. Then add your meat. Cook on low all day long and it will be ready for dinner when you are.

As for the mashed potatoes and gravy, (I cheat). I use the Idahoan potato packs and Kroger brand Country gravy pouches. Easy, peasy and yummy!

Colorful water wedding centerpieces - DIY



These beautiful colorful water wedding centerpieces are very easy to make yourself & can be put together a day or so before your wedding or reception to make things a little easier. I would add the water to the pieces until you have set them where they are going to stay put, to prevent spilling.

You will need some wide mouth vases, you could find these about anywhere. And to make it budget friendly look at a dollar store first.

Simply get some submersible led tea light candles (found here) and put them in you wide vases, then add some food coloring to water, you can make a large batch to your desired color, then simply add the water to the vases and viola! You have beautiful, expensive looking centerpieces.

Add any kind of ribbons, flowers, lace, or anything you would like to decorate around these pieces on the tables.

Create a giant pearl centerpiece



To create this beautiful centerepiece you can get your marbles here.

Simply find a beautiful clear glass vase. You can find these at about any store, such as Hobby Lobby or Walmart. Order your marbles from here.

You can add transparent water gels to the vase if you would like, this way you can place a few marbles where ever you would like and give it a “floating” look. And you could also add a floating candle on top to give your centerpiece a beautiful glow. Order your transparent water gels here.

Or you can simply fill the whole vase with marbles to get the look of the picture above and simple place a round candle on top of the all of your marbles. Either look is elegant and beautiful.

Fun Family Fall Ideas





Here are some fall family fun ideas for those of us who are on a budget. Family time is important, but money is tight, so use some of these ideas to hang out with the family this fall season. These ideas will leave your hearts full and leave a little extra money in your wallet as well.

 

FALL FESTIVALS: A fall family fun thing to do on a budget is to go to a fall festival. Fall Festivals are filled with family fun things to do. Usually there are games and activities for kids and adults. There are festive fall decorations to buy for your home and great food to eat. Planning a day at a fall festival is a sure way to have fun with the family.

 

CORN MAZE: Another fall family fun thing to do on a budget is going to a corn maze. Get on the internet and search for a corn maze in your area. These are giant corn fields that the farmer mows a path through to make it into a giant maze for people to find their way through. It’s fun to get lost and try to find your way out. The kids will love this day of family fun! Not to mention good food, apple cider, and yummy fall treats offered at some corn mazes.

APPLE ORCHARD: Fall is all about apples. Some apples orchards hold special events on the weekends to attract customers, these events are usually budget and family friendly. Check your local apple orchards for events they may be holding. Even if they are not holding any events, you can still take the kids to pick apples, and get some apple cider.

Affordably decorate with scrapbook paper

"Faux Wallpaper" a wall with 12x12 inch pieces of scrapbook paper. They could all be different pieces of scrapbook paper or 3 or 4 same coordinating pieces over and over again, until you fill the wall. This is really cute in a kids playroom.

Line a clear sterilite storage box with scrapbook paper. This really gives a cute, girly touch to those boring sterilite storage boxes, with an added bonus of hiding what's inside. It's a win/win & fun/fun!

Recycle box tops by gluing peices of scrapbook paper to them and turning them into beautiful canvases to decorate your wall with ~ 'faux canvases'! Have you ever seen the 3x3 canvas art that people hang on their walls. I've always thought it was pretty, but thought it could get expensive; however, not with this version! Simply take nine 12x12 inch box tops (or smaller) and glue scrapbook paper to them, then hang them on the wall, in three rows, with three 'faux canvases' in each row... Awesome!
Or you could just use three canvases in one row, if you do not have a tall enough wall to pull off the nine canvases. (More to come on this with pics, when I get a chance to actually complete this project!)

Another great idea is to frame a piece of scrapbook paper in a picture frame with glass. Now you can hang this on the wall in a handy place either in your home office or in the kitchen and write on it with a dry erase marker. You can then change it every week or as needed. See pic below. So handy!
(Fun for the kids too, my daughter played with this for an hour after I created it. She thought it was so much fun to draw and use the eraser to erase her work and start then all over again.)

Fun bun creates curls

This fun bun is very cute to wear during your day or you can wear it to bed to create beautiful loose curls for the next day. Either way, here is how you create it...

 

• Take a sock (I used one of my husband's) and cut off the toe
• Pull hair back into a loose, high ponytail
• Slide sock over the ponytail
• Start rolling the sock down, taking the hair as you go
• You will end up with a bun that looks like this (your's may look smoother if you take more time than I did)



 

If you create it with slightly damp hair and wear it to bed, you will get this look the next morning:

 

 

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Cinnamon & Honey = Amazing Cures!

Cinnamon and Honey

 

Facts on Honey and Cinnamon:
It is found that a mix of honey and Cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world. Scientists of ...today also note honey as very effective medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without side effects which is also a plus.Today's science says that when honey is taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm even diabetic patients. Researched by western scientists:

HEART DISEASES: Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, put it on toast instead of jelly and jam and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol and could potentially save one from heart attack. Also, even if you have already had an attack studies show you could be kept miles away from the next attack. Regular use of cinnamon honey strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada, various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as one ages the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and the veins.

ARTHRITIS: Arthritis patients can benefit by taking one cup of hot water with two tablespoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. When taken daily even chronic arthritis can be cured.

BLADDER INFECTIONS: Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder....who knew?

CHOLESTEROL: Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water given to a cholesterol patient was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours. When taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol-could be cured.

COLDS: Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and, clear the sinuses, and it's delicious too! (I did this and it cured my cold in about 4 days, my colds normally last longer than a week.)

UPSET STOMACH: Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also is said to clear stomach ulcers from its root.

IMMUNE SYSTEM: Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacterial and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of Honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles (where DNA is contained) to fight bacterial and viral diseases.

INFLUENZA: A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural 'Ingredient' which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

LONGEVITY: Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Use four teaspoons of honey, one teaspoon of cinnamon powder, and three cups of boiling water to make a tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age.

PIMPLES: Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it off the next morning with warm water.

SKIN INFECTIONS: Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin Infections.

WEIGHT LOSS: Daily in the morning one half hour beforebreakfast and on an empty stomach, and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. When taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

CANCER: Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder three times a day for one month.

FATIGUE: Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, even when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, when taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 P.M., the vitality of the body increases within a week.

BAD BREATH: People of South America, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water first thing in the morning so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.

HEARING LOSS: Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts restores hearing.

 

Easily wash the pesticides from your apples

Being a mom, I know that apples are great for my waistline (apples are a natural fat-burner for 24 hours) and I know that they are healthy for my kids. However, I worry about the pesticides that can be found on the skin. (I know there are things to worry about in all foods...)

Anyway, I found a way to get that waxy 'preserver' off the outside of my apples. Add 1 cup of vinegar to a sink full of water (just enough water to keep the apples on the bottom of the sink, as they will only float the more water you add). Now let the apples set in the water for 10 minutes. That's it! Easy and healthier for your family!

Stylus'

Those little pens you use to navigate your touch screen device are cool, cute and fun to use. However, they can be pricy. I set out to find a few great, affordable ones for you and the kids. Here are my findings:

Kids stylus - $1.86 for 3

Bluecell 4 pack pink & purple - $5.99 for 4

Chalkee - Expensive! But more fun for kids! - $24.99

Products include affiliate links. Thank for visiting my blog ~ Airel