Update: Travel/Restaurant Kit for Our Grandkids

I'm updating on the Travel/Camping/Restaurant Kit for our Grandkids that I created to show how I fit everything inside the bag. They will use it for the first time next weekend as we are taking them to Jellystone's Yogi Bear Camping Resort. Our granddaughter did play with the box of magnetic dolls and ended up taking it home with her. It worked out fine and everything fits better inside the bag. Thankfully, I haven't shown them the entire kit yet. I did use a few things that I already had, along with the stuff I purchased thrifting and at the Dollar General. The metal trays that I spray painted look great. The total spent on my travel kit was $40, including the bag.

 

You may be interested in: 

Crafting for the Grandkids

Travel/Restaurant Kit for Our Grandkids

May 2018 Reading List

Aloha -Four Romances at a Hawaiian Hideaway
Love Suite Love by Colleen Coble
Fixed by Love Carol Cox
Game of Love by Denise Hunter
It All Adds Up to Love by Gail Sattler

Clutter Busting Challenge May 2018

I'm purging 8 items this month. It's not a lot but it's something. It's very nice to be in maintenance and not have to be searching for thing that need to go.

My Purge Pile:

Sweet Carrot Salad

1 pound carrots, grated

1 cup crushed pineapple

1/2 cup raisins

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons mayonnaise, or to taste

In a large bowl, mix together the carrots, pineapple and raisins. Stir in the honey, mayonnaise and lemon juice until evenly coated. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to let the flavors meld.

Alternative sauce- 4oz. vanilla yogurt instead of honey/mayonnaise

Our May Home Projects

We did a few projects around the house in May. It's nice to do projects and freshen up our space.


I took up all the register vents in the house and spray painted them. I did a couple rooms at a time. It took almost 2 weeks to finish because I could only do enough vents that would fit on my cardboard. I used ColorPlace Gloss Spray Paint in Black.

  















The door fell off our fridge and my husband repaired it and put it back on.  

We painted the living room and refinished the floors in April. I painted the Entertainment center in the living room this month. I used Behr Alkyd Satin Enamel. The color is Granite Gray and I did 2 coats of paint.

I purchased the round table for $5 at the thrift store in April for the family room seating area. I'm going to paint the table soon. We're working on painting the family room and redoing the floors so I won''t be able to put it into use yet. I'll be using Behr Alkyd Satin Emamel. The color will be Granite Gray.

My husband got a new computer that our oldest son build for him for his birthday in January. He had been using a laptop and my computer in his office. The new desktop computer is better for gaming. He moved his computer that he had temporarily set-up in the family room to his office. He moved things around in his office to make room for his computer and monitors. I believe he is enjoying his office much more.

My husband moved my computer into my office from his office, 2 weeks ago. My office didn't have internet access before so he ran it so I can use my computer. I moved things around in my office to make room for the computer. I got new speakers, a mini USB fan, and ordered a mouse pad but it hasn't arrived yet. The window in my office doesn't have a screen and so we're going to have a custom screen make for it at Home Depot. I hadn't realized the joy that I was missing out on by not being in my pretty little office as much as I am now.

We got the camper ready to go for the Summer too. Our first camping trip will be Memorial Day weekend. We are camping at Twin Acres Campground in Whitehouse, Ohio and visiting Sauder Village for 2 days, Oak Opening Nature Preserve, Toledo Botanical Gardens, and the Blair Museum of Lithophanes.

 

Waldorf Salad

 

3 apples, cored and diced 

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 cup raisins

1 cup seedless green grapes, halved

1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries

1 1/4 cups vanilla yogurt

In a large bowl, combine the apples, celery, almonds, raisins, grapes and dried cranberries. Pour the yogurt over the fruit mixture and stir gently until evenly coated.

Our Finished Outdoor Overhaul

My husband and I finished our Outdoor Overhaul last night. I worked quite a few hours multiple days while he was at work. In the evening and on weekends we worked together. It was a lot of work but we're glad it'd done. I have a few things I'd still like to do but we can enjoy our Summer in our outdoor spaces. Our home renovation projects in the living room and family room didn't get the full attention on most day while doing the Outdoor challenge. We'll get back to that and try to finish it up by Memorial day weekend. We're excited for camping season to have getaways in our camper that we bought and renovated last Summer for our 25th Anniversary.

Our list of things we did:

 • Edged the sidewalks.
• Level the ground were the ground hog dug tunnels.
• Fill the holes with dirt near the road.
• Swept the sidewalks and side porch.
• Remove dry grass build up around foundation.
• trim blackberry bush and tie up.
• Picked up trash in the yard.
• Picked up sticks in the yard.
• Burn sticks in firepit.
• Reset the decorative bricks around the flower beds.
• Clean out both window wells for the basement.
• Weeded the flower gardens.
• Mow the grass.
• Swept the sidewalks.
• Tilled the vegetable garden to prepare to plant Mother's day.
• Weeded around the boarder of the vegetable garden
• Put a bag of wildflowers seeds in the backyard rock bordered area near vegetable garden.
• Set backyard lawn furniture out.
• Washed the backyard lawn cushions.
• Set out the flower pots.
• Set up the tiki torches.
• Dig up mini trees that sprouted in front garden.
• Clean bird feeder and fill with seed.
• Wash bird bath and fill with water .
• Clean and fill squirrel feeder.
• Created a Fairy Garden.
• Make garden stones.
• Sweep front porch
• Sprayed down the front porch and decor.
• Washed the front porch lawn cushions.
• Sprayed the lower left side of the house down and scrubbed off mold with a brush.
• Weed behind barn.
• wash out the outdoor trash cans.
• Wash the cars and truck.
• Organize and purged in the shed and barn.
• Swept the barn of leaves and debris.
• Clean the outdoor toys for our grand-kids.
• Put training wheels on the bikes for our grand-kids.
• Pumped up our bike tires.
• Hung the hanging baskets on the front porch.
• Planted flowers in pots around the yard.
• Plant vegetable plants in the vegetable garden.
• Set out tomato cages for tomatoes.