Kind of Crunchy Mama

I mentioned before that I've become "kind of crunchy" and that I'm really trying to eliminate toxins as much as I can.  Honestly I've come to the point that I think if I could live on a lot of land and have chickens and cows and stuff, I just might do it!! I really want to live a greener, non toxic life.  It probably all started when we found out our son has a peanut allergy.  That kind of flipped our world upside down for a bit.  We have to be way more cautious about what we buy and the ingredients that are in them because we don't want there to be any risk of exposure.  With that, it made me much more aware of what's really in products! Thus the birth of "Kind of Crunchy Mama" find me on Facebook and Instagram!

I started with a garden.  I wanted to grow my own vegetables and be able to just run outside if I needed a tomato or something.  We live in an in town neighborhood so I really don't have a ton of room but I was able to grow, three different kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and blueberries (which never produced).  Let me tell you though, those tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans were great, I really had way to much and gave some away to my neighbors! Plus my son loved helping in the garden too.  Next year I hope to add a second raised bed garden and I can't wait!

                                                                                        my first tomato! 

So when you're trying to eliminate toxins, that includes medicine, some of them just have such nasty side effects! I've never been a fan of taking medicine if I don't have to anyway so this wasn't as hard, but in August I decided to join Young Living Essential Oils as a wholesale member, which means I can now get oils with a 24% discount (if you want to try some, please let me know and I will add your order to mine so you can have the discount too!).  I did a lot of research before I decided on Young Living but in the end, you just can't beat going with the original company, with 20 years of experience and a seed to seal guarantee.  If you would like more information on Young Living or essential oils, please email me!

 The premium starter kit - sign up here and enter my member #2012472 if you would like to join me!

Needless to say, this is still a work in progress.  I have eliminated shampoo & conditioner, body wash, deodorant, harsh cleaning products, and medicines (Tylenol, Advil, stuff like that, we were not on any prescriptions).  Don't get me wrong, we don't not use soap now or anything.  I'm making them instead and I LOVE it!! I know all the ingredients that go into them and know that they're safe, including being safe for a peanut allergy, you wouldn't believe the places those darn peanuts pop up, seriously!  I'll be posting the recipes as I make and try them so that you all can enjoy them too!  Here's an awesome mouthwash I made and love, while you wait for more to be posted!!

Enjoy! 

I'm Back!

So, I know it has been so long since I've been here..over a year as a matter of fact, but I've been wanting to come back for a long time so here I am..here's hoping I can keep up with it better this time around! 

A lot has changed around here, my little guy is now 2, I can't believe it! We also found out that he has a peanut and egg allergy so a lot of the recipes that I post from here on out will either be peanut/egg free, top 8 free, or I've just modified them for us but left the recipe the same for you!  (please feel free to always ask more about a recipe!)

I've also become "kind of crunchy" I've really been trying to eliminate toxins as much as I can from our house and the products we use on our skin especially, but I'll talk more on that in a later post.  I pretty much just wanted to say "hey" and let you all know I'm back!!

Jamberry

Ok, so have you heard of Jamberry Nail Wraps? yeah, I hadn't either.  Until one day I was on instagram and my friend posted a picture of her fabulous manicure that had the best pattern ever! Obviously I had to know how she did it.  Yup, you guessed it, she didn't, it was these things called Jamberry.  They are adhesive nail wraps that you heat up and stick to your nail.  No chipping, no smudging, no dry time, no chemicals or smells, non toxic, latex free, vegan & cruelty free.  They last 2 weeks on your nails, just like the gel polish except they aren't harsh on your nails and you don't need to turn your fingers white from the acetone taking them off, and they last 6 weeks on your toes.  From what I've found, most people don't take them off because something happened to them (like chipping), they take them off because their nail has grown out so much or they are just tired of that design and want something new.  Plus, you have plenty of designs to chose from, over 300!!! hello!! AND you can get 2-3, I've even seen some people get 4, uses out of one sheet! Yeah, I know right! so that means you don't just put them on once and thats it, you have at least 1-2 more times you could put that same design on! 

ok, so let me break it down a little for you! Right now you can buy 3 sheets, get 1 free, awesome I know! and if you get at the very least 2 uses out of each sheet, thats 8 manicures (or pedicures) that means that you would be spending about $5.62 a manicure!!! totally awesome right? well most people easily get 3 uses so that means $3.75 a manicure and you're doing them yourself so you don't have to tip!! Now, on the chance that you get 4 uses out of one sheet (which can be done) you would be spending...drum roll please....$2.81 a manicure..BOOM! Hows that for a deal steal.

Lets look at some of the designs shall we?

Top L-R: Northern Flare, Midnight Celebration, Vintage Deco

Middle L-R: Venus, Wisteria, White Chevron (clear)

Bottom L-R: French Tip, Midnight Sunburst, Gray & White Polka

Hello amazing!!  You can find all these and more here and guess what, I am now an independent consultant for Jamberry Nails!! woohoo!!! I am so excited about this AND I really want to give away FREE Jamberry Nails soo go to my website, neldridge.jamberrynails.net if you want to order some, start following this blog so you can find out how to win some!! I would love to help you so if you have any questions please feel free to email me or leave a comment.  These truly are such an awesome way to get great manicures and pedicures!

neldridge.jamberrynails.net

1st Birthday!!!

ahhhh oh my gosh, I can't believe my baby is ONE already!!!  My sweet boy turned 1 on July 6th, and since I suck at getting his birthday photos up, he's actually already 13 months! crazy!!

So, we did a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme, it was super cute and turned out really well, mostly.  There were about 45-50 people and it was super super hot out.  Our house was like an oven and there was no relief going outside either, and of course I didn't really get many pictures, shit!

my favorite part, we totally pulled off the Hungry Caterpillar made out of lanterns, it was close there for a minute whether it would be up or not, but we pulled it off!! 

we got the green lanterns from the Christmas Tree Shop, and since I couldn't find a red lantern to save my life, my dad spray painted one of the pink ones that we used at my wedding, yes I saved them, and it's a good thing!!  The eyes, are just cut out construction paper, that I didn't really try to hard on because if you look in the book, the eyes are kind of messed up like this anyway, and the antennas? (is that what they're called on a caterpillar?) are just purple pipe cleaners!

The Birthday Boy!

shirt

 (they don't seem to have this shirt in anymore, looks like they've changed them for fall/winter)

here is the whole table.  We had all most of the food from the book.  Watermelon, Strawberries, lollipops, cheese, cracker, pepperoni, a veggie platter, along with potato salad and we cooked chicken.  Everything from the book had labels stuck in it, I was having no luck making my own and luckily I came across a blog and she had done them and made it so that you could print them for free!! So a huge  Thank You to her, you made everything so much easier for me!!

Also, I had butterfly catchers and bubbles for all the kids that came, thats them in the lower left hand corner of the picture, the butterfly catchers were from the Dollar Tree.

A closer picture of the table.

The cake table.  I just taped streamers to the crown molding and then taped them to the table cloth for a little decoration.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake...which did not really come out quite the way I wanted it to, but you get the point.

and last but definitely not least, the Birthday Boy and his cake!  Which his cake, by the way, looks disgusting..it wasn't, but the frosting I made ended up being more of a glaze then frosting (I didn't know it was going to be like that) and because it was so freaking hot out, it just kind of poured down the cake and none really stuck to it, which sucked!  His cake was definitely my biggest fail of the day but I plan on doing a cake smash photo shoot with him so at least I'll get some good pics with a much better cake!!!

bib

He would not keep his fingers out of his mouth, he LOVED it!!!

and just one more pic of these cute little hands digging right into that yummy cake!!! 

 Happy First Birthday Baby, Mommy & Daddy love you so so much!! 

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

This is so delish that I just had to share it with you all real quick! 

Fresh Strawberries & Peanut Butter on toast

how could you not love this?! 

ok, that is all..continue on!

Update: DS has a peanut allergy, so peanut butter is no more for us!

Graduation

My cousin graduated from High School a couple weeks ago, and I just had to share what we gave him as his gift! 

Let me first say, that he loves candy, of any kind so when I came up with this idea, it was a no brainer, I had to do it..It was just a matter of finding all the candy I needed, which ended up not being that hard, Walgreens pretty much had everything I needed!

So here it is..a candy card!!

so here is what it says and the candy I used:

"Congratulations! we can't give you an Orbit (gum) around Mars or a trip to the Milky Way so how about some words of wisdom.  Don't be an Airhead, go to class.  You can't just Rolo (ver) and go back to bed, you need to be a Smartie to Skor a 100 Grand Payday.  When you need a Fastbreak from school you can head to Pats (a local pizza joint, that was a gift card) for a snack.   Don't just be a Nerd, you need to have Mounds of fun and Almond Joy yourself! We're very proud of you and love you to Pieces (Reese's)

P.S.  Stay away from the Mary Jane"

It was a hit! and the candy was probably all gone that night! (ok maybe not that night) 

It's so fun and easy to make and if you have a candy lover, they will really enjoy this, I did like putting an actual gift card on too though, so then they don't just get a bunch of candy.

Update & DIY Condiment Carrier

Wow! it has been so long since I've written, a whole season has gone by!  I promise we have been so busy though!  Since spring we've had, Mother's Day, Father's Day, our son's Baptism, I'm planning a friends baby shower (it's  next weekend) and our son's FIRST birthday (in a couple weeks), I can't believe it.  It doesn't seem possible that our little baby is already 1 it's to crazy.  And, it was hard enough when he got his two bottom teeth, but I just noticed that the two top ones will be making their grand entrance any day now! (hello no sleep, nice to see you again) I love the teeth, but it just means he's becoming more of a big boy and not my little peanut anymore! But, that's okay.  I know there is just more fun on the way, and a little more Independence, which I'll be okay with!!  Oh! and I've been watching my friends 4 month old daughter a couple days a week! phew! I need a nap just typing all this.

Okay, enough of my sappy sadness about how my baby is growing up! lets move onto something fun and SUMMER related!!!! I'm super excited that it's finally summer and it's actually been really nice!  We love being outside and using the grill in the summer, as a matter of fact, we're grilling tonight so this carrier will come in handy this evening!

Is this little beauty not the cutest way to display all of your condiments for BBQ's?!

ok, so here's what I did...I bet you can't guess what it's made out of? yup, you guessed it, a 6 pack holder!

This was super easy to make!  I took an old 6-pack holder and cut out the dividers, then I took wrapping paper and wrapped that bad boy like a present!!

I used a wrapping paper that was a little bit more durable, its almost like a brown paper bag with a design, not quite as thick, but I think if you're careful you can use any style!  It would be super cute if you had some red, white & blue with stars to use on the forth, or even just something  a little more summery and festive..I wanted to be able to use it whenever and I didn't want it to girly!

So after I cut the dividers out, I took the wrapping paper and put it on the front and wrapped it to the back, then I cut  the corners and folded everything in.  I then took another piece and put it over the handle and cut the cut-out for carrying as well.  It was seriously so easy and all you need is an old 6-pack box, scissors,  tape & wrapping paper..who doesn't have that? easy peasy! 

Done and ready to BBQ!! 

also, how cute would it be to do this as a gift, when you're going to a BBQ.  Just buy some beer to bring with you, wrap the box and put the beer back in! You don't have to cut the dividers out so you could easily put everything back in...what a sweet way to display your drinks, or silverware and napkins!  Geez, this is so fun and so easy! Enjoy!!

Side Note:  I am obsessed with wrapping paper, and gift bags (I'll show you a picture of them later) so I had wrapping paper laying around, if you don't, then maybe use a paper bag, and then decorate it with markers or colored pencils, or just leave it plain?

This wrapping paper is from the dollar section at Target, its one of those smaller rolls, I grab them whenever I'm there (usually) and some gift bags!