Money Monday {Gift Closet}

I skipped last week's "Money Monday" because it was Memorial Day and we had no Internet anyhow because THE RAINS CAME.  AND THE WIND.  AND THE HAIL.  Otherwise known as Tropical Storm Beryl.

For this week's Money Monday, I want to encourage you to begin a gift closet (or drawer, container, etc.) and start saving for holidays and birthdays!  As I've stated in a prior post on my gift closet, it has saved me HUNDREDS of dollars over time!

If the thought of this overwhelms you, start small!  Just start by making a list of who you have to buy for, for birthdays, holidays, etc. and maybe make a goal of buying for 1 or 2 people this month.  It's JUNE people!  Christmas will be here before you know it!

Do you have a gift closet?

~CB~

A Tropical Storm

Well y'all.  My weekend of BIG PLANS got cancelled.  I live in Florida.  Florida has tropical storms.  And hurricanes.  It just so happens that of ALL the weekends in the year, Tropical Storm Beryl chose my BIG ONE to come ashore at the very beach I was planning to sit on.

Rats.

This storm was ugly y'all.  She (or he?) had lifeguards saving over 150 people in the ocean due to rip currents.  I'm SO thankful we decided to cancel our trip because we would have been miserable sitting in the room watching it rain and the wind blow 66 miles an hour.  And the ocean?  Forget-about-it.

On Sunday when it was clear that the beach was absolutely out of the picture, we decided to head to another city about 3 hours from home and watch a good friend of ours play in a big baseball game.  It was great to watch the top 80 players in the state of Florida play baseball!  They pitched and fielded some kind of amazing!

Monday I was able to meet my brother and my nieces for some bowling and games!  The kids had a blast and were so excited to see and spend time with one another!

I'll be sure to post more pictures this week from the baseball game and our afternoon at the bowling alley!

~CB~

I've Got Big Plans

I've got some BIG plans for this weekend.  HUGE.  It involves....

Sitting.
Eating.
Reading.
Sunbathing.
Swimming.
Family.
Friends.

I MIGHT get out of my beach chair at some point...but I don't plan on it.  I'm so excited to be spending a few days at the beach with my brother and my nieces, and my used-to-be-full-time-babysitter, but doesn't babysit much for us anymore, but still comes to our house all the time because she loves us, good friend-almost daughter, Patricia.  (HA!)

These two boys are READY for some fun in the sun with their favorite cousins!!!

 ~CB~

A "how to" for Moms of BOYS

With lots of baseball comes lots of laundry!  Not just any laundry, but clay stained baseball pants laundry!  My wonderful mother-in-law taught me a trick years ago that she used on my hubby's baseball pants and let me tell you right to the now--IT WORKS.

Take some of this MAGIC potion above--and soak the baseball pants in hot water with some Cascade, then wash the pants in Cascade.  It HAS to be the powder kind or it won't work!  Trust me.  Also, it HAS to be Cascade brand.  I've tried the off brands before and they just don't work worth a flip.  Trust me (again).  (Note:  it does not have to be the extra action with Dawn, blah blah blah)

As soon as you start soaking the pants, you will see the clay come to the surface of the water!  Seriously.  MAGIC. 

 I'm ever so thankful my mother-in-law shared this with me because I have to keep these cuties in WHITE pants!

Y'all give it a try and let me know how you LOVE it!

~CB~

Money Monday - Free Credit Report

For this week's "Money Monday", I want to encourage all of you to pull your credit report annually !  It's free and easy!  (I know I sound like a commercial, but it's true!)

I pull mine and the hubby's every single year and review it with a fine tooth comb!  I have had to write the credit bureaus before and ask  that they double check and/or remove information.  When I have had to do this, the bureaus are always very helpful!

The website I use for this is www.annualcreditreport.com .  They have no clue who I am, trust me - I'm not promoting them for profit I assure you!  I just love how easy their website is to navigate the credit reports and be able to print them.  You can your report from all 3 major bureaus or just one or two...it's up to you.

I'm starting to run out of topics to cover for Money Monday so if there's something you want me to cover, send me an email or leave me a comment and I'll try and cover it for you!

And because I can't have a post with no pictures (the grandparents would have my head), here is one of my Nolan during a HOT game!

Happy Monday!

~CB~

First Melon of the Season

Being the sons of a watermelon farmer, it's a tradition that we always get the "first melon of the season".  The boys enjoyed eating one on the back porch last week.  As of last Friday a week ago, we are officially in harvest !

~CB~

Flip Flops

I am planning to do a Mother's Day post (not that there is much to report) and some more baseball posts about our fabulous season, but for now, here is what I got for Mother's Day!!

LOVE MY NEW FLIP FLOPS!  My brother said it was diamonds and rubies!  HA!

I have the "baseball tan line" on my feet already from wearing flip flops to all the boys games and getting some sun--check this out!  Can you see the permanent "flip flop lines" on my feet?  HA!  This is definitely a sign that I'm at the ball field ALL THE TIME.  (and yes, my toenails need painting and I need a pedicure--as soon as we're done with the season, I'll get one I promise)

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day !

~CB~