The other day, I did some shopping with my spouse and kids. We stopped at Teavana, a delightful shop filled with teas of all sorts, adorable teapots and handy teapot warmers. I meant only to try the delicious tea samples that the shop had on hand, but before I knew it, my husband was offering to buy me a teapot and teapot warmer, since I am constantly reheating my tea in the microwave daily. Some tea flavors that I love are chai tea, green tea and Oolong tea. Republic Chai® Red Tea Bags The store has a variety of teapots for sale that go with Teavana’s teapot warmers. The Continue reading...

It's been raining buckets lately here in New Jersey, which has been both a good and a bad thing. It's been great for the gardens that my daughters and I have planted -- in the gardens, our peas, sunflowers, lettuce and cucumbers have sprouted, and the basil, oregano and tomatoes I've planted are doing well. Also, the yellow roses in my front yard have started to bloom, so I'm happy about that! Weeds and More Weeds What has not been so great is that all the rain has encouraged the weeds to grow in the planting bed in my home's front yard -- I am sure our neighbors hate our weeds! We're Continue reading...

Before my newborn arrived, I had to make a great many choices as an expectant mother about the future care of my child, as any new mother does. A mom-to-be must make decisions about how best to immunize her child, how to save money for his or her future, whether or not to take advantage of umbilical cord blood banking, and countless other important decisions. Baby Decor One important and probably the most fun task of becoming a mother-to-be for me was equipping and designing my baby’s nursery. In the abstract, designing a nursery seems to consist of little more than setting up a crib and a Continue reading...

With all the rain that was in the forecast this week for my home’s Central New Jersey area, I decided to take advantage of the wet weather and get some planting done, so my newly planted greenery could soak up the moisture. First up was planting some impatiens in shades of pink and violet in the planting bed that sits before a row of skip laurel bushes at the back of my home’s backyard. I recently put up a fencescreenon the chain link fence that separates my yard from a playground, so now that my backyard’s view ends at a planting bed filled with the skip laurels, I wanted to add a splash Continue reading...

I live on a cul-de-sac where all 11 of the homes were built by the same builder. While our homes are great for the most part, our houses seem to share the same flaws, minor problems for which it can be quite difficult to find a handyman who's willing to do the small job. So, when recent winds took off a long piece of metal at the peaks of our home's roofs, none of us were sure how to get it fixed. Our homes all are two stories high and are quite tall at the roofs' peaks, so the fix, while minor, is a bit tricky. So, I recently called my handyman, and scheduled him to come out and fix my Continue reading...

Earlier, I blogged about crafty wine glass charms that I created by picking up some cute dangling charms and some earring hoops/findings from my local craft store. The charms were simple to make and will be great to use at my next party! When I found some paper tags (the kind that are sometimes used as tags to identify house keys), I decided to make some more wine-glass charms, so I could have more charms for guests once I have another get-together. So, using the paper tags, I added some cute three-dimensional scrapbooking flowers I had on hand and some glitter glue. The tags are cute Continue reading...

When I purchased my house, I knew nothing about what kind of home would work best for my future family’s needs. I had no kids, and did not fully know what a mom would want in a home. Sure, I knew that my home’s location – on a cul-de-sac and within walking distance of an elementary school – would be great for us once my husband and I had children. I also liked the fact that the park has swings, a slide and a fun sandy play area for children. But I had no clue about what else a mom would want in a home. We chose a new Colonial house with an open floor plan, one in which the living room Continue reading...

I am always astonished at how much it costs to purchase small decorative garden flags -- most cost at least $10. So recently, I've taken to making my own garden flags. I don't even have to travel to a local craft store to get the fabric -- I've been purchasing fabric for my garden flags from my local Walmart, which has a fabric section. Most recently, I made a leprechaun garden flag. (The fabric from that flag came from Joann.com.) But now that Easter is coming up, I decided to replace that one with one for the Easter upcoming holiday. So, I went to Walmart and found a cute Easter Bunny Continue reading...