Summer! Road trip Oklahoma to Montana

Hey Guys!

We took our first family road trip! AB has family in Montana that includes his parents. So we decided that we would make the 24 hour journey up that way to visit. It was also KT's and mines first time going up there.

So lets just jump right in here. We didn't leave until 8pm because AB had to work that day and then when we got home we had to pack up the car. So we pulled out at 8 but I had a few Avon orders to deliver so we didn't actually hit the road until about 9pm.

Now that may not make sense to all of you but it was a good idea in theory. The thought process behind that was that KT would be asleep for the first leg of the trip. Well he was sleep until we stopped in Kansas to gas up and go potty. Then he never went back to sleep. So he got 3 hours of sleep that night. He also refused to poo. That was a rough day but considering he had never been in the car for that long it was good.

On the way up we stopped at two places. First we stopped at Carhenge.

 AB and i had a lot of fun. KT didn't care much about it. He thought the cars were neat but he was more excited to just run.

Then we stopped at Mount Rushmore. AB and KT had never been before. I had been but it had been many, many years. It was fun but again KT just wanted to run and play.

So that was our trip up. It was a long fun experience. We were already really close as a family but we really bonded after 2 days in a car together. I am confident we could make it through any situation.

I'm writing a post about what we did while in Montana and a post about the trip home. Thank you to those who are reading this and are interested. I really appreciate it.

Talk to you soon!
Mykah Bri

Being Green = Saving Money? New Lawn Mower

Hey Guys!

Our lawn mower broke this past week and lets face it, it was going to cost more to fix everything wrong with it than to just buy a new one. so thats what we did... 

We had been talking for a long time about buying a push reel mower. Lets just say I am in love.

  AB was unsure of the purchase bc he didn't know if it would work well or if I would actually help out. I was the first to try it and I immediately loved it... Shocker right AB could not believe I did the entire front yard but I did gladly. It was a totally new experience for me. I love it because I can mow while KT is playing and not have to worry about not hearing him. I can also now mow during nap time (if the weather is nice) and not worry about waking him up. It was so relaxing. Even with it having been my first time mowing I was able to put my brain into auto pilot mode and just veg out. It was exactly what I needed after my first Avon campaign. I had 20 orders!!! But more about that later. 

So with this purchase we will no longer need to purchase like $20 worth of gas every time we need to trim the grass. We also won't have to buy fuel filters, belts, oils and stabilizers, air filters, and spark plugs. We will have to replaces and/or sharpen the blades but that is only once a year and seeing as you are supposed to replace them that often on a motor mower that is no extra cost.

Once again Being green is saving me so much!!! 

I'll post again soon about our trip to Montana! 

Mykah Bri

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Hey guys!

We have been so unbelievably busy! Between all of our jobs, pets, small family trips, plants, and responsibilities we have basically been running a marathon to get it all done.

So first there was Avon. I was super duper excited to get started. It has kinda taken up quite a bit of time. There was way more interest there than I thought there would be. I only meant to order 10 books and I have ended up handing out almost 30! Crazy right? I have so many orders. Submitting them has been a chore. I never dreamed I would have $500.00 worth of products headed my way!

Then there is my new position at the church. It has taken up quite a bit of time too. There is quite a bit to being a Nursery Director. It took me 5 hours to deep clean the nursery. It wasn't disgusting or anything just super cluttered and it hadn't been deep cleaned in 4 years! Idk how you can call yourself a nursery director and not really clean things like ever. I guess thats just me though. I must have thrown away like 6 bags of trash! It was like the land of the lost items in there lol. I have decided the best way to stop this from happening again is to create a lost and found box. Pray for me as I learn to do this job the best that I can.

Sanitizing lots and lots of Legos. There were so many Legos. I could not believe it.

Baby side of the nursery after I cleaned. The carpets still need to be cleaned but it looks so much better.

The toddler/preschool side. Yay for clean toys!

Our bible class and snack area.

We have also planted a small garden. We went the straw bale method. It is working so far. I can't wait to make salsa with the tomatoes and jalapeño peppers! We also got cucumbers and zucchini. KT got to pick something to and he picked watermelon. I am also a little proud because we got all of this from a local green house. I will be reviewing how this works for us. So you better be ready for that lol. Here are some pictures of all KT's flowers. He actually helps take care of all of these.

We have beautiful roses this year!

I don't remember what these are but just look at that color!

These are so pretty.

But just look at this beauty!!! I have never seen one this color. It is my favorite of the year.

Can you tell we really like purple!

We went to the city to spend some time with my sister in law and kiddos last weekend. It was so fun. We went to a park in their neighborhood. The kiddos rode scooters. We also took them over to explore downtown. They had never been there before and we enjoyed being there for their first experience. On Mother's Day we went down to our favorite National Park. It was wonderful. We met my mother, sister, brother in law, brother, sister in law, two nephews and two nieces down there. It was the best way to spend Mother's Day. We also have lots of family functions to come this summer. Get ready to hear all about it.

KT loves him some watermelon.

Our little family! Praying that next summers pic will have another little one.

It was hard to keep KT out of this.

Talk to you guys soon.
Mykah Bri

Power of Prayer

Hey Guys!

So I have really been praying about not having to get a job recently. We are making it just fine but we have our financial struggles just like everyone else. I know that may sound stupid but I have always wanted to be a SAHM. Well guess what. I have had 2 job opportunities fall into my lap and the plus side is that they are both something I can do as a SAHM!

I signed up to be an Avon sales rep again and I am so excited about that. I loved selling Avon. I only quit because of my divorce and having to relocate. I really missed working for Avon. I use a ton of there products and they are my favs. I just love the company in general. They have great customer service and there is a great support system of other sales reps who actually care and are willing to help!

So the same day that I signed up for Avon, I got offered a position at our church! I am going to be the new nursery coordinator! I'm so excited about it because it is right up my ally. It is also a paid job that only requires me to work a few days a week. I will also always be able to take KT with me! That is a major plus side! If you want to check out my online shop just go to http://www.youravon.com/mschaffer

 Yeah so I feel so blessed because I took everyones advice and prayed about it. God heard me and delivered. God is so good!

Talk to you again soon!
Mykah Bri

Being Green = Saving Money? Cloth Diapering

Hey Guys!

Um, so why didn't anyone ever tell us that being "Green" could save our little family A LOT of money. Hmmm? Yea thats right I'm talking to all you other greenies out there. So ever since AB and I figured this out we have been slowly going green. Yup thats right we are jumping on the green wagon. Now keep in mind that yes of course we love the planet and want to help save it but lets be honest we started this with the purpose of saving money. Does it really matter why we started it or that we are doing it? Oooh. Look at that I made you guys think huh?
This will be broken up into 3 separate posts.

These are the things we do that are "green":
-Recycling
-Reusable Containers, Water Bottles, and Bags
-We also will eventually Cloth diaper

Cloth Diapering- 

So this one has already been a little difficult and we haven't even conceived number 2 yet. The people that I thought were going to be supportive have not been. I mean really guys. Its not like I am asking them to do it right? On the plus side some unexpected people have been super supportive. CDing has a ton of negative hype so I expected the worst when it came to telling people our choice. Let me explain it to you.

This is all research based because I haven't CDed before.
We approached this in the beginning strictly for how much money it will save us. Do you know how much money we spent on disposables for KT? Way, way to much! On average you spend like more then two grand per kid on sposies. Now idk about you guys but I don't have that kind of money to be spending on something that my child will poo in.

Now you can do CDing expensive but you can also do it super cheap. We have already started our stash. We have 8 gDiapers, 5 pairs of Baby Leggings, and a box of Bummkins flushable liners. All of which was either on sale or I had a killer coupon! Now while I have spent like $175 already on CD's and accessories I stand by my choice because I will be able to use this with all future children! So yea that $175 doesn't seem like that much now does it? There are also tons of different types of cloth diapers too but I won't go into all that yet.

So not only are they way cheaper but they are so much cuter!!! Plus it just makes sense to me to do it. I am a SAHM and I have no reason not to try it and again I just want to repeat the fact that it makes sense to ME! I'm not asking you to do it and I'm also not asking anyone to put them on themselves either! Sorry I got a little grouchy there for a second lol.

Anyway thats what is going on in my head about that.
Talk to you guys soon.
Mykah Bri

Being Green = Saving Money? Reusables!

Hey Guys!

Um, so why didn't anyone ever tell us that being "Green" could save our little family A LOT of money. Hmmm? Yea thats right I'm talking to all you other greenies out there. So ever since AB and I figured this out we have been slowly going green. Yup thats right we are jumping on the green wagon. Now keep in mind that yes of course we love the planet and want to help save it but lets be honest we started this with the purpose of saving money. Does it really matter why we started it or that we are doing it? Oooh. Look at that I made you guys think huh?
This will be broken up into 3 separate posts.

These are the things we do that are "green":
-Recycling
-Reusable Containers, Water Bottles, and Bags
-We also will eventually Cloth diaper

Reusables-

Another way we have been "going green" is reusable containers, water and bags. We have been buying them up like crazy! From everywhere and anywhere that we can find a really good deal.

We use mostly glass at home but have a lot of plastic. I use the plastic when I am taking food places or when I don't necessarily want it back. I have been saving all the glass jars that food come packaged in to store leftovers in. Now I love glass jars for all my leftovers but when we are on the go I use my plastic skip*hop containers. I love them so much and it super duper helps that I got them at consignment for $10. It also helps that they have there very own little cold bag and ice pack. No more giant lunch box for just a couple snacks. Yay!

I  have been buying a lot of reusable snack and sandwich bags. Not only are they adorable but they are saving me TONS on ziploc bags because I use ziplocs for everything and I mean EVERYTHING! Keegan also looks really cute carrying them around. I also love them because between Ebay, Amazon, and Zulily, I can always find a good sale on them.

I also have a bunch of reusable water bottles. I'm serious I have a ton. but how can I not with all the free ones businesses give out at pretty much any kind of event. Out of my whole collection my favorites are my Contigo brand bottles. We have 4 of the ones with straws. I love those because of how thick the straws are but, I recently purchased one of the Auto-seal ones with the button. I'm in love with it! It has so much more flow than I thought it would. I just all around love this brand. I'm going to buy KT one soon. I can't wait. Wow lol that almost turned into a review.
Now KT has a collapsable water bottle that he absolutely loves. I don't love that i feel like I can't put anything but water in it but I do absolutely love that he loves it so much. He drinks so much water now! I love that! He loves to drink it flat! He is getting so much more hydration then he was.

I have purchased like 10 but, hand-me-downs have supplied me with around 50 reusable grocery bags. I got so tired of them just being stuffed in a bag and never used. So I did the obvious and started using them lol. I can't believe I waited so long. I love, love, love not having to recycle 5,000 plastic bags every month... Ok so that may be a bit of an exaggeration but it felt like that lol.

Talk to you guys soon.
Mykah Bri

Being Green = Saving Money? Recycling!

Hey Guys!

Um, so why didn't anyone ever tell us that being "Green" could save our little family A LOT of money. Hmmm? Yea thats right I'm talking to all you other greenies out there. So ever since AB and I figured this out we have been slowly going green. Yup thats right we are jumping on the green wagon. Now keep in mind that yes of course we love the planet and want to help save it but lets be honest we started this with the purpose of saving money. Does it really matter why we started it or that we are doing it? Oooh. Look at that I made you guys think huh?
This will be broken up into 3 separate posts.

These are the things we do that are "green":
-Recycling
-Reusable Containers, Water Bottles, and Bags
-We also will eventually Cloth diaper

Recycling-

It all started with recycling. I just got so tired of having so much trash! We were having to take the trash out two times a day! Yea thats right and there are only three of us! It was to the point that we were about to drop $75.00 on a second outdoor trash can! Is it just me or is that a little ridiculous? It started with just recycling the minimal amount, then it totally took over my tiny kitchen! It was a mess. So I started looking at all the thrift stores and consignment sales for some kind of shelving system to put under my car port right outside the laundry room... and I looked at just about every kind trying to find what would work best for us. It may have taken 3 of 4 months but I finally found it! One of those metal utility shelves for $30.00! Yea thats right I'm awesome lol. I knew if I was patient I would find something good and I refused to pay full price. I looked at Home Depot after I found the shelves and I would paid like $90 +tax for the same shelf! So now that I have the space I have started recycling everything possible! We are now recycling plastic, cardboard, tin cans, and are about to start paper!

I was going to do glass but the recycling place closest to my home does not do glass yet. So I had been washing (even taking the time to get all the labels and glue off) and saving them for who knows what reason... I had quite the little collection when I realized that I hated my plastic containers for use at the house. They stain and hold onto smells and you can't microwave them or it makes it all worse. Now I still use them to transport food and things to family functions or parties and such but unless I don't have a glass jar big enough I do not use them at home.

Now I know this idea is not really saving us that much money in the long run but I'm counting it because we saved $75 on not having to get a new trash can and we saved around $60 on the shelving unit. Although I didn't intend to look like I'm trying to save the planet but it does feel good.  I know this is not exciting to everyone but I am a SAHM and I get excited about random household things lol.

Talk to you guys soon,
Mykah Bri