Introducing Shaklee …

You’re invited to help me launch my Shaklee business!
My dad’s death in October was a wake-up call for me. I knew I needed to be as healthy as possible as Michael and I started our married life together. We’ve had love and now have a marriage … as the song says next comes a baby in a baby carriage. I knew I wanted to be healthy for our future family. No, I’m not pregnant – but someday I hope to tell you I am.

I know my food is the healthiest it can be.  I buy conventional produce from the grocery store and farmer’s markets.  I know that family farmers all over the country work hard to provide the best possible produce for me.  We eat lots of fruits and vegetables year round and also eat plenty of lean meat.  I admit I have a problem with bread and sweets – I eat way too much of both.  But, my food choices are healthy so I think I get a pass for that. I wanted to make the switch to natural cleaners.  I tried using vinegar and that works fine for dog grime on the wall, but doesn’t leave my floors or counters very clean.  I also tried other natural cleaners but they seemed to work like colored water … if I was going to clean with water I didn’t want to pay $6 a bottle for it. 

I found Shaklee about 2 years ago but hadn’t tried their products until a couple months ago. I like to do lots and lots of research on companies before I buy their products. I was impressed by everything I found. I wish I would have tried them sooner! They are an all natural company who prides themselves on providing the best and safest products to families all over the country. I LOVE the cleaning products – the best part about them is that they don’t give me a headache from the fumes. Now I’m not getting a headache while cleaning AND I am saving money using super concentrated Basic H instead of buying tons of bottles of various cleaners.

I fell so much in love with the products I decided to partner with them! I am just launching my business and I would love you to join me!

Visit my website now!

What are your favorite Shaklee products?  How do you keep your family as healthy as possible?

Wedding Details–all the little things

I am so excited to start sharing some wedding and reception details and pictures with you! 

Since we got married in Tahoe in the February, I wanted my bouquet to pop against the white snow.  Red is my favorite color too, so that worked out perfectly!

I was a little worried about finding flowers the day of, but it all worked out!

We got the flowers the morning of our wedding and put the bouquet together with some floral tape and topped that with a strip of burlap which we pinned with straight pins.  Very simple to make and cost less than $20!

Michael is a hunter and my plan was to wrap a strip of his camo (Advantage Max 4 HD in case you are wondering) around the burlap.  A little touch of camo just for him. 

My sister in law surprised me (and made be bawl) with a gift the day before our wedding of something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.  The something blue was a blue ribbon with a charm with dad’s picture attached and a note that I can’t retype because I am crying like a baby right now. Dad died just four months before our wedding, so having the charm meant a lot to me. 

The blue stood out too much, so we replaced it with a camo piece of fabric.  Dad was a camo junky meaning he wore it every chance he got – he wasn’t picky about the type of camo either – he loved it all.  It was perfect!

Speaking of something blue, I saw the idea on Pinterest to sew a blue heart onto your wedding dress.  My dad was a huge NRA supporter – he bought us all lifetime memberships for Christmas last year.  I still have his collection of NRA shirts – I don’t know what to do with them but I don’t want to throw them away.  So, I took a blue shirt, used a cookie cutter to trace a heart and sewed it right inside my dress. It is a nice representation of my dad and my something blue at the same time.

I am a very sentimental person, so I made sure I had something from my family to wear on our wedding day.  We didn’t have any family – just two close friends at our wedding (I’ll explain why in a later post) so I wanted to honor those who weren’t there. 

Pearl necklace – my mom gave this to me for my 21st birthday.  She also gave my sister a set for her birthday, so I felt like the necklace was a tie to both my mom and my sister.

Pearl drop earrings – this was the only non-sentimental piece of jewelry. I love them though and they worked our just fine!

 Wedding Ring – I might go into more detail in a future post, but my wedding ring is special not only because it is a symbol of our marriage and love for each other but the diamond was my grandma’s (mom’s mom).  It was put on a new band but is still a symbol of my grandparent’s love for each other and that means a lot to me. 

Heart bracelet – My grandpa (mom’s dad) bought this for me for my high school graduation.  It was the first gift he ever bought after my grandma passed away.  I LOVE this bracelet! 

Sparkly bracelet – this was borrowed from my SIL and was in the box I mentioned above. 

Something old – my grandma’s diamond (they were married 70 years ago)

Something new – my dress and my wedding band

Something borrowed – sparkly bracelet from SIL

Something blue – NRA heart from dad’s shirt sewn into dress

So, there are some of the details from our wedding!  I will be sharing more each Wednesday! 

What were your old, new, borrowed, and blue items?

If you are on Facebook, head on over to The House that Ag Built’s page and give it a like to see what I post over there!

Mother’s Day Lunch

Hello all! I hope you had an amazing Mother’s Day!  We had both our mothers over for a nice simple lunch.

I found the pink gingham in my fabric stash and used our new green placemats.  I need to get some other colored linens, but I have plenty of green!

I used some candle holders full of branches from the backyard for a low and simple centerpiece. 

Our pretty new glasses look fantastic with a strawberry and some lemonade.

My mother in law bought these chargers for her daughter’s birthday and stopped on the way over to get a few more.  I LOVE them!!  They add that perfect touch to the table!  As I was getting some last minute groceries I spotted the Ghirardelli Raspberry Squares and I think they add a perfect little touch to the place setting. 

On to the food – I love to eat.  Pretty much my favorite thing to do.  I thought a while about what to serve, Mother’s Day always seems to go with brunch but brunch can be so heavy and it has been hot lately, so I wanted something light.  I finally decided on a salad bar.  Think this might be a new Mother’s Day traditional because I loved it (and I think my ma and MIL did too)!

Red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, egg, cheese, avocado, snap peas, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms …

kidney beans, bacon, sunflower seeds, raisins (in the back), chicken, croutons, and croissants

It was a great lunch and nice to spend some quality time with our moms!

They are amazing and I am thankful to have them both around. 

What did you do for Mother’s Day?

Remodeled Entryway!

Since we moved into our house I have wanted to get rid of the tile in our entry way.  

I didn’t like the ugly blue flowers at all. 

After we took out the carpet and put in laminate, the urge to change the tile intensified.

 

So, one weekend we tore out the tile.  It required some muscle, but came up pretty easily. In some spots they must have used super dooper mortar so they were tiem consuming to get up, but it was all worth it. 

Then the clean up began. 

After I swept and vacuumed and mopped the concrete floor we left it until the next weekend.  Then, I painted the floor with RedGard which prevents cracks and waterproofs the floor.

We probably didn’t NEED this, but it was recommended to us when we tiled the entry way in the duplex and we have used it on all our tiling since (which has been only a few times, but still) and we haven’t had any problems.  I think it is worth the $50 investment.  We’ll use the rest of the can on the bathrooms and in the laundry room.

It goes on pink then dries red. 

Once the RedGard dried, I placed the tiles out to see what we need to cut and how it will look.  It worked out perfect – we only had to cut 3 tiles in half! 

I really like the offset look – I think it looks so much better than lining up all the corners.  It is worth the little bit of extra effort!

We mixed up the thin set and set the tiles.   

We let that dry and put in the grout. 

The grout is still a little wet in this picture, so you can see it a little better.  

I LOVE it!!

I also LOVE before and after pictures, so here is one:

We still need to put up the molding and the transition strip between the tile and the laminate, but I am happy, happy, happy!

And … the best part?  This cost less than $150!  Worth every penny! 

I can’t wait to see what it will look like with molding and maybe even a painted front door! 

  

What do you think?  Have you done any projects around your house?

I’d love to hear about them!

Flat Aggie Goes to London!

I was able to take a trip across the pond to London, England to visit the International Food & Drink Event (IFE) from March 14-20, 2013 with my friend Jonathan from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

While in London, I got to see how small and medium sized companies market value-added food products with the assistance of the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA).  SUSTA is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and they have been helping promote agricultural and  related products from the southern United States since 1973.  They are able to do this with help from the United States Department of Agriculture.

I got to help a company from Virginia make scallop cakes one day.  They were so delicious!  The company has been family-owned for over seventy-five years!  I also got try a pumpkin spice cake that was made with a gluten-free baking mix.  This kind of product is very helpful, because there are many people that have an allergy to gluten, which is found in a lot of products that we eat every day, like bread.  The woman who makes these kinds of baking mixes does so to make sure that people with this allergy can still eat things like cakes and brownies, and she wants to make sure that they taste good.  I loved her brownies!  I would show you a picture…but I ate them all.

Here I am hanging out with my new friends, Julie and Dorian They work for the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the U.S. Embassy in London.  They work very hard to help agricultural producers who are looking to sell their products in the United Kingdom for the first time.  They also help people if they are having trouble understanding and following all of the rules that are associated with selling their products in the United Kingdom.  I came back to the United States with my friend Cindy who works for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.  I will tell you about my visit with her later.

I did get to hang out with Jonathan, Cindy and a bunch of their colleagues in New Orleans for a few days at a meeting that SUSTA hosted at the end of March.  There, I learned about all the different rules that Jonathan, Cindy and their friends have to when they are doing projects like IFE.  In this picture I am with Jonathan, Cindy, and their colleagues from Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Now I am on my way to Washington, D.C. with my friend Nancy, who works for the United States Department of Agriculture!

What an amazing adventure!  I am so excited that Flat Aggie went all the way to London!  My kids were VERY excited too!

Spice Cabinet Organization

Our spice cabinet was a mess - full and cluttered. 

One day I decided to clean in up and organize it.  I took everything out:

And realized I need something to hold all the spices I buy in bulk.  I thought it would clear up some space the containers could go on under the 2nd shelf instead of on the first shelf. 

So, I had my friend's amazing hubby cute me some scrap metal to the right size. 

Put it in.

 

 And put the shelf on top. 

 

 I picked these magnetic spice tins up at Cost Plus World Market.  

They are 5 for $9.95 online or $1.99 a piece in the store (which is the exact same price). 

 

 The lid is clear which is perfect to the see pretty spices!

I bought a bigger version from Ikea a while back for office supplies and I love them.  So, if you want a larger size (wider but shallower) - go with the Ikea version.  

 I filled the tins with spices and labeled them.  Temporary not so pretty label, but it works!  Now I don't have a bunch of bags and clutter in this cabinet and I can find what I need. 

 So neat and organized now!

Another idea would be to glue magnets on the bottom of spice jars.  Or the top, you choose.  Same idea, but would be perfect if you have containers for your spices already. 

You could also use the tins on the side of your microwave or fridge - would make a nice display if you have a variety of spices.

That is how I organized my spice cabinet in just an afternoon.  Looks so much better!  What do you think?

How do you tackle the clutter in your kitchen cabinets?

Flat Aggie Visits the Hays Family Farm in Arkansas

Hi! We are the Hays Family. Garrett is 12, Emmi is 10, and Ty is 8. We are so glad we get to 

help Flat Aggie learn about agriculture! Our farm is in Springtown, Arkansas. We have a population of 114 people in Springtown. We go to school in Gentry, a town really close to us with a 

little over 3000 people. We raise cattle as well as crops on our farm. We have taken Flat Aggie 

around to see some of our farm. Hope you enjoy our pictures!

Flat Aggie helped us feed hay to the cattle . We feed hay using a truck with a special bed on the back 

called a hay bed. It has arms that pick up the hay and hold it on the truck until we get where we need to 

feed it. The arms then pick the hay up and lower it to the ground.

 We roll the hay out so that more cows have room to eat at one time.

 Ty is showing Flat Aggie some of the new baby calves. 

 Flat Aggie is helping Emmi feed her horse, Lady.  Lady is a barrel horse. Emmi and Lady compete in barrel Races. Emmi feeds Lady grain 2 times every day. She also feeds Lady hay. Lady gets new shoes every 6 weeks. The person who puts Lady’s new shoes on her is called a Farrier.

 Garrett, Emmi and Ty are showing Flat Aggie one of our tractors. We use this tractor to 

work ground. That means, we get the ground ready to plant our crops. The crops that we 

plant on our farm are, Green beans, soy beans, corn and wheat.

Flat Aggie is standing with Garrett, Emmi and Ty in front of one of our grain bins. After some of our crops are picked they will get stored in one of these until we sell them. Sometimes, the grain is taken in a big truck to the port where it will be put on a barge and hauled down the river. Some of the crops we raise will be used to make feed for animals to eat. Our green beans are sold to a company who puts it in cans. It then goes to the grocery store for you to buy and eat. 

What a fantastic adventure!!  Thanks Hays Family!