Friday Fun!!!

 While it's true that most of my days are spent quite happily at home with my wonderful girls, occasionally I find my inner wild side and have a day that surprises even me!

Last Friday my sweet sisters arranged for my mom to watch my girls so we could all go Black Friday shopping.  I had never been before and I wasn't quite sure what I was jumping into.  But ready or not, Rachel, Anna, exchange sister Jana, friend Tessa, Esther and I headed to the mall at 6:00 on Black Friday.  Turns out, 6:00 is actually amazingly tame on Black Friday.  Seems we missed the "stay up all night" die hards, and beat the "let's sleep in and then go to the mall" crowd.  It was great!

We may look like fun and games, but we're really rather serious.

Esther was a fabulous little shopper and all the extra arms were wonderful!

It really was a day of firsts for me.

Yep.  Got my ears pierced for the very first time.  It was premeditated though!  Now you can all buy me earrings for Christmas, although I wont be able to wear them for 6-8 weeks.  Bummer!

There are really only a few times and places my crazies come out.  Mostly girl parties at the Thomas' house and late nights with my sisters.  Now added to that list, Black Friday shopping with the nearest and dearest!

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Peppermint Lip Butter.....

Be the first one to leave a comment and it's yours!

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First come first serve!!!

One sample of Mint Harmonies (8 servings).  Just be the first one to leave a comment!

Rapid Fire Fun!!!!!!!

I've been sooooo excited about this week!!!  It's going to be my week of "Rapid Fire Stocking Stuffers!".  Here's how it is going to work.  Between now and next Saturday, I'm going to post several small giveaways at random times.  The person who is the first one to comment on that post, wins!  Got it? 

See the post with no comments, COMMENT and it's yours!!!!!  But check back often, because you never know when another giveaway might pop up!  The great thing about this series of giveaways is that even if you never win, all of these items can be found at http://gracenotes.biz/ for $5 or sometimes much, much less.  Perfect for stocking stuffers or small gifts!
The first rapid fire giveaway is for a set of these Winter Wonder Mini-cards w/ envelopes. 

Be the first to leave a comment and their yours!!!!!

(One individual cannot win more than twice!)

Heart For Home Thursday~ Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 95 1-7

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,

Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God

And a great King above all gods,

In whose hands are the depths of the earth,

The peaks of the mountains are His also.

The sea is His, for it was He who made it,

And His hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us worship and bow down,

Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  No matter what our earthly circumstances, let us never fail to remember that we are more than abundantly blessed.  We serve a great and mighty God, who loves us, died to redeem us, and who is coming back to take us to Him.  Every day we live in an outpouring of His indescribable grace on our lives.  Praise the Lord!!!!

Today......

Today..... I'm realizing that Saturdays were not the best days to plan on changing out my giveaways.  I think I've missed every single one!  Last week's winner was...... MARSHA!!!!  Please e-mail me at davidkingsgirl@gmail.com and I will send you your Candy Cane Sugar Scrub.


Today.....  I'm deciding to wait until next Friday to start my final giveaway (it's going to be TONS of fun so when you're making leftover turkey sandwiches, make sure you drop by and check it out!!!)

Today..... I'm enjoying my beautiful Bethany and remembering five years ago when she was born.  In fact, right now I'm still wrapped up in a blanket and my pj's, getting ready to pull the coffee cake out of the oven for our pajama tea party birthday breakfast/brunch. 

My birthday girl!!!

Today..... drink some tea, smile, paint some toes, give loads of snuggles, or whatever else you can think of to enjoy this amazing life God has blessed you with.  Remember to be thankful for the incredible grace poured out on lives through Jesus!

Heart For Home Thursday~ The Great Stain Fighting War!!!

I'm a sucker for commercials.  We don't have TV hooked up, but back during the '06 Olympics, we pulled out our bunny ears and watched.  By the end of that season I couldn't believe how brainwashed I had become.  Suddenly I knew which shampoo I had to try because the of the silk like hair of the woman in the Pantene commercial (regardless of how Pantene has ALWAYS left my hair in the past!).  That new lotion I knew would instantly transform my dull skin, and that miracle stain remover would transform my laundry forever. 

I like to think I've grown in wisdom slightly since then, (although I wouldn't trust myself too much!), but it's good for me sometimes to buckle down and figure out WHAT REALLY WORKS!!!  I decided to start with my stain removers.  I've soaked, sprayed and rubbed through the years but always with doubt of which would work better, so I decided to put it to a final test. 

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, it just covers what I happened to have on hand (plus one borrowed from my mom).  I started with six contestants......

And two formidable foes....

Tomato Sauce........  

and grass stains!!!

Numbers 3-6 I treated by spraying or rubbing in, while numbers 1 and 2 soaked for 30 minutes.

While I would love to say the results were simple and clear, I would be lying.  (The results also did not photograph well so bear with me!). 

The grass stains varied from no stain left at all......

To hardly noticing it had been washed.

Cleanest to dirtiest it went~

Shout

PreSpot

OxiClean Gel Stick

Fels Naptha

Borax

Washing Soda

The tomato sauce differences were not as stark.  They all faded significantly, but some still clearly showed a stain, while others faded almost entirely.  I inverted these photos because it helped them show up better!

Here is the clean one with no stain left.....

The order for the best tomato sauce cleaner went~

PreSpot

OxiClean Gel stick

Washing Soda

Borax

Fels Naptha

Shout

Overall,  I think I would stick with PreSpot which is a natural and non-toxic cleaner.  I'm definitely NOT soaking for grass stains as that did not work at all.  And I guess I'll have stop trusting Shout for my food stains.  Maybe this study wasn't completely conclusive, but I will feel more confidant in my stain fighting choices from here on out!

Don't forget!!!  Boiling water for berry stains and jello.  Cold water for blood!!!