DIY Upcycled Pantry

Since we moved, our new place doesn't have any kind of pantry for food storage so I was using a metal shelf temporarily in the kitchen until we happened by a nice solid unfinished wood armoire at the thrift store on sale for $50. By nice I mean falling apart but perfectly fixable. We measured it and went to the hardware store to get a new back panel and extra shelves cut.

Then took it home where I stained the whole thing with a nice cherry mahogany wood stain 

We then put on the back panel and the shelves then applied a wax finish on the entire inside leaving it with the stained finish. Next I painted the outside with a antique white after the first coat dried I lightly sanded some edges so the stain peaked out just a little, painted the second coat and lightly sanded those same spots again, let it dry then moved it into the kitchen. 

The doors took the longest just because of the dry times on either side for each coat. The backside I just stained then applied the wax finish and on the front side I stained then painted two coats with very lite sanding at the edges once that dried I applied the wax coat everywhere but where I was going to paint on with chalkboard paint. 

Our Review of Tinker Crate

   I gotta tell you I have worked hard the last 6-10 years getting my kids interested in all things STEM, Science, Technologies, Engineering, and Math. I will continue to do what I can to keep them interested because science is important. Heck, not only is it important but it can also be loads of fun. Also as a public school parent I believe it is important to continue educating my offsprings even when they aren't at school because, well, they are kinda my responsibility and all.

  Anyway back to the point of this post, I finally ordered my kids a Tinker Crate, it is a monthly science kit delivered to our mailbox, after debating on it for several months and seeing cool projects they had sent out like a hydraulic arm or a motor that the kids can build themselves with the help of a blueprint included.

Well we received our first one yesterday and the girls were super excited. Our first kit was a build your own drip irrigation system with an information book on the many different forms of irrigation used for farming. This kit had perfect timing because we recently moved to a new house and were able to plant our first real garden a few weeks ago. Now they have a small garden in their bedroom with sunflowers, watermelon, peas, and wheat grass. Hopefully their watermelon will sprout well and make a good replacement for the one I may or may not have killed in the big garden.

If you are interested in trying out the Tinker Crate you can receive $10 off here.











I was not compensated for this post in any way, These are my own opinions, I really just like the product from what I have seen so far

Update: less than a week later 

TEAcher Appreciation Craft and Printable

  It's hard to believe just how fast this year is flying by, my youngest is graduating kindergarten this next week and my oldest will be in 5th grade next year! My parents warned me about how fast they grow but you know, I'm still their kid so of course I didn't listen ; )

  Anyway my girls wanted to do something for the last day of school for their teachers so we went to Michaels and picked up a few supplies costing less than 8 bucks total.

  We got some small unfinished little crate boxes for $1 each and little wooden birds to apply for $1 and some paints and paintbrushes. The paintbrushes were the most expensive at $4 something but most of the craft stores including Michaels have up 40% off coupons on Retailmenot.com and you can scan it from your phone.

  The kids did all the painting themselves because that was kind of the whole point of this gift and picked out some teas to include. Click Here For The Free Printable Gift Tags

Upcycled Painted Dresser

   

My cheap old thrift store dresser really needed a bit of a face lift so I finally got around to sanding and painting it using a couple cans of Valspar Color Radiance in Blindfold. It's a really nice bluish grey then I sealed it with a clear coat and added a vinyl cut out I made. I really liked using Valspar for this project because the sprayer on their cans are bigger and didn't hurt my finger (Gah! pesky bones aging!) near as much as the little ones on other cans and made the task a lot easier. 

Home School Fridays

   So because we just moved to a very small town apparently their budget only allows them to have school four days a week so the kids now get three day weekends. Well that just didn't sit right with me and as I thought more about it the more OK I became with it because guess what? I am their parent and I can make sure they are still learning on Friday and everyday for that matter. It is not the sole responsibility of the public school system to teach my children. So here we are with Home School Fridays. I think we will mostly be focusing on science and space for the time being. We will learn about NASA through their fun website set up for kids http://spaceplace.nasa.gov and I will be ordering these fun Tinker Crates where it is a monthly experiment in a box delivered to your home where you explore science, engineering, and technology.
 

 

If you follow my link to TinkerCrate you can receive $10 off your first month.

Our First Garden

   Well we recently had to move and ended up going for a rental home in small town Idaho to be closer to our grandbabies. It was quite the adventure making the transition from one home to the next because there was a gap between when we had to be out of one and when we could get into the next. We had to move everything we owned into a storage unit and stay in our overcab truck camper with two kids, two dogs, and two cats.

The girls were so excited to be "camping" till we finally got the ok to move in. The house is beautiful and newly remodeled with a large upstairs balcony with a cat door 😻 and a huge back yard with an area already spaced out for a garden. We have always wanted a vegetable garden so we decided to go all out since it is spring now and we have the space and time.

There was plenty of weeds to pull out wich was pretty easy once we got the dirt tilled. 

Then we put up a short garden fence just tall enough to keep the dogs out and made enough rows in the garden to plant everything I could possibly want. We are starting some from seeds and some already growing from the store. Right now we have planted giant sunflowers, corn, tomatoes, various peppers, cabbage, carrots, spinach, onions, strawberries, small and big watermelons, cantaloupe, squash,zuhchini, and pumpkin oh and catnip on the other side of the fence. Like I said, all or nothing baby. I can't wait to see what we get out of all our hard work put in. 

Thursday Giveaway Link Up Party

Click on these links to enter great giveaways from bloggers all over and link up your giveaways to get entries.

To return to Ginger Sweeps instant win game list CLICK HERE

LINENSPA pillow review and GIVEAWAY

 LINENSPA, an online bedding company that sells everything from sheets to bed frames recently was kind enough to sponsor a giveaway and review of their amazing Gel Convolution™ Pillow by Z™ I received my pillow two weeks ago and have fallen in love. Now, I am one of those sleepers that surrounds myself with pillows. One under my head, one to cuddle and one between my knees. I love being surrounded by softness, but I must admit I have been a cheapskate when it comes to pillows and now I realize that was silly because this new pillow has honestly changed my sleep and my mornings. I usually wake up with a dull neck ache that through the day leads into a migraine, which I have been attributing to stress and work but now I realize all I needed was a good pillow because I have been waking up feeling wonderful. Seriously.


Here's what I love about this pillow.

• It has a gel infused memory foam in the middle of the pillow itself, The Dough® memory foam is infused with Z™ Gel for a cooler sleeping option. this pillow offers three different comfort options, and is encased in a Tencel® moisture-wicking cover to enhance the cooling effect.
• The Memory Foam Formula makes it the softest, doughiest memory foam that is both comfortable and therapeutic. Coupled with the zoned pin-core design, this pillow provides superior pressure relief to eliminate sleeping pain. The open cell formula means this pillow will maintain its original form and won't lose its shape over time.
• The pillow around the foam is super plush, down-like but hypoallergenic
• It complements any sleeping position
• The kings size comfortably fits myself, my cat, and my daughter who inevitably ends up in my bed. 

 Visit LINENSPA for amazing deals on your linen needs. Don't forget to check out their Sale section too. They have king size satin sheet sets for a total of $15.63 with coupon code SNOOZE15 and everything is Standard FREE 5-7 Day Shipping.

Now for the real fun. A GIVEAWAY! Enter below using the rafflecopter. The winner will be able to choose what size/loft they prefer for their new pillow.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Having One of Those Days

   Have you ever had one of those perfect days when you wake up on your day off ready to get the family fed and the house cleaned, maybe take the kids to the park on a beautiful spring day to play and get a blog post or two written? Then life happens and BAM the day is ruined and panic ensues. Yeah I just had THAT day.   

    We have been renting a really great house in a really great culdesac for 4 years now the last two years have been month to month so I knew eventually we were going to move and we have been budgeting to get ourselves out of debt and able to buy our own house at a good rate. Plus I really want to move back to Texas but we need to be financially sound to make it work. Well our landlord decided they are selling and we have 30 days. I fully understand it's their house but I wish they would've given us more notice especially being the middle of the school year. So I spent most of the morning crying because I'm gonna miss this place but mostly for my kids because they have really great friends here and I can let them play outside and always see them and not worry about them being run over.

   

   Moving is such a big decision when you have kids, there are so many factors. We spent the whole day looking online, making calls, and driving around. So far our choices are

House A: Down the road behind our current neighborhood but tiny, rundown, and more expensive. They would stay at the same school and still be close to friends but the immediate neighborhood looks a bit iffy to say the least. 

House B: Big nice house but far from everything in a very very small town that I'm not too sure about especially the school. 

House C: Not real close to where we live now but also not too far it is much smaller than our current house but has lots of upgrades and a huge backyard that backs up to a huge playground/ common area. Walking distance to what seems like a nice school and lots of kids in the neighborhood.

 

    I actually really like C but we found it after the rental office was closed so I don't know what our chances are of getting it. My hopes are up but until the morning I won't know. Uhg I hate not knowing, so meanwhile I have already gotten a few things packed and have so much stuff to get rid of if we are downsizing. The problem with having a big house is that you tend to fill it with more stuff. As for right now I'm going to try to get some sleep and maybe watch just one more show on Netflix. ;) wish me luck. 

$100 SpaFinder Gift Card Giveaway EXP 03/31/15

  Ginger Lady Luck is giving away two SpaFinder gift certificates this month.

*One lucky Grand Prize winner will receive a $100 SpaFinder gift certificate and

*One lucky first place winner will receive a $25 SpaFinder gift card. Good luck everyone.

   P.S. stay tuned to my blog for another awesome giveaway sponsored by linenspa.com coming soon so don't forget to follow by email up in the top right corner of this blog.

   P.P.S if you love entering giveaways and sweepstakes you will love my sweepstakes list at www.gingersweeps.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway