Crochet Gift Bag

Tags

Crochet, Crocheting, gift bag

My sister had a friend that was giving away a ton of crochet books.  I found one for a crochet gift bag.  Here is how my sample turned out.  I am thinking about making them in the school colors and sell them for $5 each or 5 for $20.

#giftbag #crochet #createdbymeggan

A post shared by Meggan (@created.by.meggan) on Apr 30, 2018 at 7:42am PDT

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Moving Checklist

Tags

Moving Checklist

Here is my moving checklist (it will be a growing living document!

Financial

1. Pay of work loan 1
2. Pay of work loan 2
3. Pay of Credit Card
4. Put money in savings to pay off car
5. Save up enough money for Moving Expenses
6. Save up enough for any appliance purchase we may need
7. Save up money or deposits
8. Save as much to assist with Down Payment (will be taking a work loan for the remaining)

Getting Rid of Located Clutter

1. Make sure to list all for sale items on my personal Facebook group
2. Make sure to actively list items in all the surrounding Facebook groups
3. Look for places that will allow me to sell items on the weekend (flea markets etc)
4. Starting 4/28, start donating items to Faith Missions and the Special Olympics that haven’t sold.
5. Post things to bidders during trips back to Beaumont
6. Have lots of garage sales!

Declutter

1. Move all unwanted items immediately to the garage
2. Go through closets once a month to get rid of unwanted or needed items
3. Determine furniture that will be moved and the ones that wont start making arrangements to sell/donate

Packing

1. After each Holiday pack neatly and well label all decorations.
2. After Winter next year start packing all clothes no longer needed.
3. Joey’s clothes, pack and label all clothes he is still to big for.
4. Start packing dishes that are not needed on a daily basis.
5. Start packing craft items and clearly labeling (so I can still use but quickly pack)

 

4/21/2018 Journal Update

Tags

1 year to move, buying a house, journal update

Do you ever get where your mind is so full and disorganized.  That is where my mind is right now and I am slowly working to get it organized and cleaned out!  I big hurdle for my husband and I, was our living arrangement.  We moved to Electra due to Hurricane Harvey and we have been trying to determine if we wanted to stay or move back down south.

We had a lot of pros and cons for staying and moving back.  The ultimate decision maker was my son.  He misses his sister way to much for us to even consider staying.  We want to make it the best move back that we can and we want it to be permanent.  So I am trying hard to take the right steps to get us there.

I will be making a very extensive moving plan and trying my very best to stay on schedule.  I want to be able to purchase a house June 2019.  An be moved in and ready for Joey’s Kindergarten year!

Having moving suggestions or a blog that helps with moving, buying a house, etc. Please drop a link or a comment below!

Journal Update 4-14-2018

Tags

Birthday, donation, goals, photo, photo shoot, PHOTOGRAPHY, tball, toddler

TBall Photo Shoot

I finally did my first big photo shoot with Joey.  It was definitely a love/hate relationship!!  He is not an easy person to do a photo shoot and I had to work extra hard, I threw fits like a 4 year old, I threatened to eat his candy, but I got it done!

 

Dirt Cheap/Donations

As you know my goal for the year was 200 dirt cheap baskets.  To date I have bought 39 baskets.  As of today I have made all my money back, kept lots of items for myself including enough toys for Joey to have an awesome birthday and Christmas!  I have donated items to people in Electra that were new but just didn’t feel right selling (underclothes and food).  Then my husband picked up several baskets full of folders and notebooks.  I donated 200 paper folders to Electra Food Bank (they give out school supplies to the needy).  Now tonight until 11am tomorrow I am gathering up items to donate to the Wichita Summer Olympics.  I think it is important to donate when you can.  I am also putting some of the items aside for next school years Holiday Party Crafts.

Birthday!

Today was my birthday, hello 39!  It was a good day for the most part.  Went to breakfast, dinner and did cake at my sister’s house.  Delivered some items that were purchased and took my son to the Texoma Fun House to jump.

Happy Easter – 4/1/2018

Tags

amazon gift card, crowdtap, Easter 2018, Samples, yard sale

Happy Easter!!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter!  I hope everyone had an awesome day!

We went to my sisters where Joey was able to get his Easter basket/gifts.  Easter bunny brought him a Ninja Turtle themed basket and t-ball items (a bat, 2 balls and a ball holder).  Then we had sandwiches for lunch.  Unfortunately it was to cold to go outside and play :(.

Yard Sale

Next weekend I am having my 3 day garage sale and I am hoping for a really huge turn out!  I don’t want to mess with pricing so everything is going to be $.25 each or 10 for $1.  That is for both new and used items.  (Over 2,000 items gathered up!)  If I sold 1/4 I would be happy! This includes phone and tablet cases, fitbit and apple watch bands, clothes, toys and so much more!

Samples

I just received another $5 Amazon Gift card from Crowdtap.  I plan to save it up for awhile and see if I can’t buy something big at the end of the year.  I also applied to three more samples from Crowdtap and hoping I get in at least one of them!

3/31/2018 Journal Update

Tags

Easter Party, free samples, spring cleaning, Surgery, Testing

Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning has not been easy for me, and I think it may take all Spring to accomplish it.  My husband has brought home 34 Dirt Cheap Baskets and from it we have enough items for my son’s birthday and Christmas.  We have lots of underwear and socks for my son and lots of socks for me (which is awesome because I never buy myself socks!).  I have given a ton of items away  and even sold a ton.  I started counting what I have left to sell and I still have over 2,000 items!!  We have made all our money back and now everything else I sell is pure profit.  My goal is $170 profit for the 34 baskets (I still have $154 to go).  I told my sister if someone came up to me and offered me $154 dollars for everything I would tell them to load it up!  I am having a 3 day Garage Sale next weekend and hopefully will sell a lot!

Easter Party

The Easter Party went pretty good.  It started out with making the chicken puppets (the kids made fun of it), but still enjoyed making them.  Then we went to the teacher’s house and did an Easter Egg hunt and games.  The games included Feed the bunny, bowl down the bunny, Easter Egg toss, pin the tail on the bunny and the Easter Egg balance walk.  The kids really took to the Easter Egg balance walk and some were really good at it! I was supposed to make these really cool bunny shaped PB&J sandwiches, but that was a huge fail!  I guess my cookie cutters were not sharp enough for this project.  In frustration I just made regular sandwiches and sliced the fruit without doing anything fancy.  I did draw bunny faces on the cakes.

Joey’s School Testing

Joey was tested because his teacher thought he might have Autism.  I didn’t feel he did, and since she said she wanted him tested for ADHD I agreed to the testing.  (Wasn’t till after I agreed they said it was for Autism.)  The results came back that he showed no sign of Autism and that he did show some signs of ADHD.  The examiner said this could just be the fact that we had to move due to Hurricane Harvey and moving away from his sister.  We will see how the rest of the school year and next year go.  Hopefully he starts calming down some!

David’s Surgery

David had surgery on his hernia on Thursday, so far so good.  He is still in a lot of pain but hopefully it starts hurting less pretty quickly.  He goes back to the doctor April 11 to get it checked out.

Sample Update

Just finished reviewing the Steagle Webcam Cover on 0.8L and updated the listing on my latest samples from pinch me.  I have received 8 of the 10 samples on my goal list!  If you want to see a complete listing of my samples please click here.

3/25 Journal Update

Tags

dirt cheap, journal update, spring cleaning

Spring Cleaning

I love spring cleaning because it helps start your home nice and clean before the nice weather activities, but this year it is a real chore.  There is so much spring cleaning that needs to be done, and I get side tracked so easily!  I feel this year I may be done with Spring Cleaning about the time the cold weather comes knocking on the door!  (yes I still have Christmas pictures taped to my front door I keep forgetting to take down!)

How is your Spring Cleaning going?  (Time for me to make and extremely detailed list and start checking it off!)

Dirt Cheap

This year we have purchased 33 baskets and as of today I broke even on them!  Everything else I sell at this moment is pure profit, but have a ways to go to reach the profit amount I wanted.  Since starting this in Sept of last year I have only had a couple issues (nothing major).  I have had a ton of people happy I am selling the items and amazed that I sell it for so cheap.  (I am happy I get a ton of free items and a little extra cash).

 

I didn’t have much to write about, but wanted to get in the habit of writing again.  Hope everyone has a great week!

3/23 Goal Updates

Tags

goal updates, goals for 2018

2018 Goals

1. 200 pounds: I have not weighed myself so I don’t know where I am with it, but I am ok with that!  I am working on steps to make this happen.
   1. I am 2 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days “Soda, Coke, Pop” free!
   2. We are now working to give up going out to eat except for special occasions.  This one is proving to be extremely difficult, but will keep working on it.
2. 200 blog post: This post makes #9 for the year.  I have fallen way behind on it.  I have rearranged my living room for the hundredth time and bought another desk.  Now I have half the room for just my office craft items.  Since I now have room to keep my computer up and running without having to constantly move it, this should assist me in blogging more often!
3. Pay off work loan: I was hoping to have this done already, but we didn’t use the income tax for it like I thought.  I misread thinking I could make additional payments, but unfortunately I cant.  So saving the money so I can pay it off at one time once I have enough.
4. 700 credit score: This one lowered because we had unexpected usage on the credit card, but once I get it paid off, I am hoping it shoots up again!
5. 200 books to Joey: This one I feel extremely guilty about falling so behind on, but I am going to catch up!!  Still need 194 to go!
6. 12 visits to the library.  I have yet to start this one.  I plan to get it started soon!
7. Sell 2017 unwanted items:  I just mixed these items with the additional dirt cheap baskets and been selling like crazy!  I made $112 at bidders in early March and plan to do it again in a few months!
8. 200 dirt cheap baskets: Bought 33 so far 167 to go!  A week of vacation has put us a bit behind, but hopefully we will catch up!
9. $5 profit per basket.  I am $33 dollars short of breaking even, $43 dollars pending pick up, which will leave me $155 to profit goal!
10. Learn my Silhouette Cameo 3! Another failed attempt, but I did get it out of the box today and gave it a permanent home which I read was the first step in the process!
11. $250 off Cameo: probably not going to happen since I am slacking like crazy!
12. Complete!
13. Complete!
14. Complete!
15. To complete 10 projects for the Easter party! Will be complete on Friday 🙂
16. To make 3 large crochet t-shirt beds for the Electra Animal Shelter. Another failure, but now I have plenty of time to get them made for next winter!
17. To receive 10 free samples: Only 6 more needed!
18. To do 2 large photo shoots with Joey. Not done yet, but plan to do one next weekend!
19. To go to 2 movies with Joey.  Think I am going to save this one for the summer time!
20. To go to 2 movies for adults only without Joey! Have trouble getting anyone to watch Joey so we can do this one 😦
21. To complete 5 generation Family Tree for Dominique.  I have the bones of how I want to do the book for her and once I finish spring cleaning it will get started on.
22. To Complete 5 generation Family Tree for Joey. Same as above
23. To complete 10 wreaths.  I have some of the supplies and just waiting to get some more, don’t think I have enough mesh to tackle these yet!
24. To sell 5 wreaths: Waiting for step 23 to be completed first!
25. 2000 Influenster score.  My score dropped because I have not been active on social media, so definitely need to increase that
26. To be able to put my hair into a pony tail.  Why am I such a procrastinator?? Hate putting in writing that I am slacking on my shoulder exercises!
27. To walk 20 miles. Weather has not been good enough to get started on this one! Now that it has, I will start on Monday walking at least one lap around track every other day!
28. To clean and organize the garage.  My husband started on it because when I looked at it I wanted to cry….yep long ways to go, but hopefully can start having garage sales!
29. Complete!
30. To crochet 20 projects other than the dog beds! 😦 Not yet started on this one either! ugg.

3/23/2018 Journal Update

Tags

Easter, Easter Party, finances, Navy Federal Credit Union, tball, tshirts

T-Ball

Joey starts T-ball practice on Tuesday and I am super excited.  It will be his first time in a sport.  Looking forward to going to games and cheering him on!  Even thinking that I need to make T-Ball shirts for David and I!

Finances

Because my dad wanted me to co sign on a loan for him, I had to set up a Navy Federal Credit Union account.  Best banking choice I ever made.  Today I was able to lower by car loan by almost 8 percent.  If you are wanting to change banks for to have a second bank, I highly recommend this bank.  When you talk to the customers service they are extremely helpful and always nice.  Everything I have applied for I have been approved for and it makes me feel more at ease when the time comes to try for a house, I wont have any issues!

House Ups and Downs:

I found the perfect house for sale right next to the school, been on the market for awhile.  Once I told my husband we needed to work on buying it, boom it sold.  I told my husband we need to stop and get our ducks in a row before we tried to buy again.  (Which means I have to stop looking but it is hard!)

Easter:

Joey’s party is on Friday March 30 and I still have a ton of work to do.  Here is the break down of what I have planned and the teacher approved.

1. Pin the tail on the bunny : Black poster board with a bunny drawn on.  The tail is cotton balls with tape attached.
   1. I draw bunny onto poster board.
2. Bunny on a stick photo prop: Paper plate with holes to look like a bunny.
   1. Cut paper plates in half.
   2. Cut eye holes in each plate.
   3. Glue the stick to the plate (It is prek so need to do half a majority of the work done)
   4. Cut out whiskers.
   5. Cut out bunny ears
3. Baby Chicken puppets.
   1. Cut big circles out of card stock.
   2. Purchase yellow feather
   3. cut feet out of orange paper.
   4. cut nose out of orange paper.
4. Easter Coloring pages
   1. print out 17 pages.
5. Easter Bowling
   1. Rinse out the 2 liter coke bottles.
   2. Spray paint half the bottles white/ other half yellow.
   3. Decorate the bottles to look like Bunny’s and Chickens
6. Egg toss
   1. Get a box to fit the Red Solo cups in.
   2. Get Red Solo cups
   3. Decorate the box to look like grass and eggs
7. Feed the Bunny
   1. Get a big box
   2. Decorate box to look like bunny with mouth cut out
   3. Blow up balloons
8. Egg balancing walk – walk and try to keep the plastic egg on the spoon.
   1. Get wood spoons
9. Easter Lunch:
   1. Bunny Shaped PB&J sandwiches
   2. Tye Dyed Deviled eggs (another mom is doing it)
   3. Easter shaped fruit
   4. Bunny pudding cups
10. Easter Snack
    1. Rice Krispy multi colored eggs

 

Unilever Sampling 16

Tags

codintioner, crowdtap, free samples, Shampoo, Suave, Suave Professionals, Unilever Sampling (16)

I was approved and received the Unilever Sampling 16 from Crowdtap.   It is my first samples of 2018! These bottles were all full size samples.

1. Suave Professionals Dry Scalp Care $3.48
2. Suave Professionals Intense Moisture $3.99
3. Suave Professionals Itchy Scalp Relief $Unknown

Suave Professionals Dry Scalp Care

Suave Professionals Anti-Dandruff +Pyrithione Zinc Dry Scalp Care 2 in 1 Infused with Eucalyptius Extract

This shampoo had an ok smell and it worked pretty good.  It was my least favorite product of the three that was sent to me.

Suave Professionals Intense Moisture

Suave Professionals 2 Minute Super Conditioner Intense Moisture

This one my favorite product. It has a good smell to it and it left my hair feeling really soft.  I have really coarse curly hair and this is not an easy thing to achieve with most conditioners.  If you haven’t tried this one before I would recommend you give it a try!

Suave Professionals ItchyScalp Relief

Suave Professionals Anti-Dandruff +Pyrithione Zinc Itchy Scalp Relief 2 in 1 Infused with Invigorating Mint

The was another favorite product for me.  This product smelled great and worked really well.  Winter has left my scalp feeling really itchy and the build up on my scalp was pretty bad.  I worked this into my scalp and it left it feeling clean and itch free.  If you are looking for a new product to try, this is highly recommended!

All products were provided for free for me to test and provide my honest opinion.

 

I can't wait till my free samples come in! #1 of the new year. #crowdtap #unilever16 #freesamples

A post shared by Meggan (@created.by.meggan) on Jan 4, 2018 at 3:47pm PST

 

#crowdtap #samples #suave 1st sample of 2018!

A post shared by Meggan (@created.by.meggan) on Jan 18, 2018 at 7:17am PST