A Brief (Pathetic) Tutorial on Making Invitations

Not everyone knows this, but in my spare time I moonlight as a dreadfully inexperienced graphic designer. I have a BA in Art and Design so I'd like to have something to show for it every once in a while...or Josh starts to complain about how the only thing I went to college for was to get my MRS degree and find a husband to marry...which is actually about 85% true and I'm not ashamed. NOT ashamed.

To date, I've successfully created wedding invites, invites for parties at work, baby shower invites, Thanksgiving save-the-dates, and of course...personal shower/wedding shower/bachelorette party invites. Just a  sampler platter of everything anyone would ever wanted to be invited to...

So today, I'm sharing how someone as Photo-Shop challenged as, me manages to pull of pretty dang adorable invitations...

They're cute right?!

Step 1: Search for some Pin-spiration. I found a number of invites I liked on Pinterest, pinned them to my 'SHOWERING Friends with Gifts' board, and started to form a theme. The theme for the shower starts with the theme on the invitation, so I like to make sure everything is cohesive and consistent from beginning to end.

Step 2: Realize that, 'Oh I can  buy these from someone on Etsy! Wow! Maybe I should do that because they are cuter and not that expensive and NO BAD IDEA I can make these myself and it will be way cheaper (because admit it, people are just going to throw them away so having a paper bustier covered with crystals and laced with ribbon for a bachelorette invite isn't really necessary).

Step 3: Copy (as best you can) the exact invite you found on Pinterest in Microsoft Publisher. I'm much more comfortable with Publisher because it's comes in the Microsoft Suite...which means it's not a flobbity-gillion dollars like the Adobe Suite and Adobe Photo-Shop. Also, I used Publisher a lot in high school for yearbook/newspaper/school projects, so I'm just more familiar with the program. Judge me all you want amazing Photo-Shop users...THIS is as good as it gets when I'm in charge of invitations.

Step 4: Print the invites in color and cut them apart. I usually tie some twine around mine or toss some glitter in the envelope for some added pizazz. Then stuff, stamp, address, and seal them while watching The Bachelor on Monday night at 7:00.

MmB

MMB 4 BLC: Snow Edition

Josh's home away from home in the wintertime. Especially this winter.

It occurred to me the other day that Boersma Lawn Care has been getting the shaft on the blog lately. Of course I usually talk about the handsome CEO I'm sleeping with in many of my posts, but BLC has been through a whirlwind this winter (Josh has pushed snow ELEVEN TIMES!), and I thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on what that looks like for us.

Some of you may remember this post from last May about some of the annoying frustrating interesting customer scenarios Josh deals with on a daily basis. Turns out this much snow brings about the same 'interesting' issues.

{Disclaimer: I am not referring to one specific customer here...these situations literally happen again and again, season after season}

{Scenario 1}

Josh touches base with his customers after a light snowfall where we only accumulated about an inch of snow. He asks if they would like any ice melt put down or their sidewalks touched up (Josh doesn't go out unless it snows 2+ inches as a rule). A few customers say 'yes' they would like that service, so he goes to Ankeny to do some shoveling and salting for the customers who have requested it.

After he's home and showered and it's 8pm and we're eating frozen pizza, a customer who said they didn't want Josh to come service their driveway/walks earlier, says they've changed their mind and they would like him to come now that it's icy.

Hmm...no.

Sometimes I ride along with Josh if a blizzard comes on a weekend. This is what it looks like diving down to Ankeny
 in the middle of the night in the middle of a blizzard. I wouldn't recommend it.

{Scenario 2}

It snows six inches overnight. This requires Josh to head out in the middle of the storm and push at least two times. If there is a lot of blowing and drifting, he will need to go back to a couple places to take care of their drifts...resulting in two and a half to three pushes of snow. He charges his customers a fair rate for these services.

Customer is mad he came to push sooooo many times. Why couldn't Josh wait until it was done snowing and then push all six inches at once so he only charges for one time?!

Hmm...no.

Customer doesn't understand that waiting to push all six inches of snow would actually end up costing MORE because it would take so much longer to move that much snow at once. Josh is actually saving the customer money by pushing snow the way he does.

This is one of Josh's 'driftiest' accounts. You can see he had already pushed and when we came back four hours later,
it obviously needed to be done again.

{Scenario 3}

Josh quotes accounts and plans for snow removal for months. He meticulously calculates how long each account will take, marks the curbs with orange poles, and hires some sub contractors for shoveling. He has to make sure he doesn't take on too many accounts so he's able to get to all of them if the snow is falling abnormally fast or it's going to snow a foot, etc.

On the morning of the first snowfall, Josh gets a call from an unknown number asking if he can come and push their driveway before they have to go to work.

Hilarious.

Hmm...no.

Most of the time when Josh pushes snow, I'm stuck at home. It's hard to enjoy a blizzard
(and this pretty view!) when my husband is out working hard and I feel like a lazy bum.

{Scenario 4}

A nice snowfall of three to four inches means Josh will definitely be pushing snow for all his accounts. He still touches base with a few of his non-residential customers to make sure they're planning on him coming out. They all say YES. Josh shows up to his first place (a regular account where he has been pushing snow for four years) and after he's finished two driveways, someone flags him down and says, 'we don't need you, we're all going to shovel ourselves.' Obviously wanting to avoid paying the snow plow guy and save some green.

Josh is confused but he leaves because that is what the customer has asked him to do.

Later someone falls and their family calls to complain and ask Josh why he didn't come push snow and shovel their steps and sidewalks? Josh feels horrible. He explains he was told to leave after he arrived to push their snow.

Now that he's back in Ames and done for the day, they would like him to come back and do everything he had been told NOT to do in the first place.

Hmm...no.

People are mad when he doesn't come and should have.

They're mad when he does come and shouldn't have.

They're mad when they told him he didn't need to come put ice melt down and then their G'ma slips and falls on the ice and breaks a hip and that is obviously Josh's fault because he should have done the opposite of what they told him to do.

I know he just wrote a post complaining about the weather people being wrong (AGAIN!!!) and that complaining might be annoying to some of you who don't care when/where/how much snow we get...but cut him some slack. He's a young business-owner trying to please 12 snow removal accounts; 100+ lawn care customers; quote new business for summer 2014...and keep his wife happy...ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

MmB

Shower Planning 101

I recently had a realization that for the foreseeable future, because of the stage of life I'm in...planning baby showers, wedding showers and personal showers are inevitable. So I've decided I better get good at it. With a house to host, and a knack for crafting, I actually find myself volunteering for these kinds of things (as long as there is another capable co-host to handle the food, because we all know that's where I fall short).

In the upcoming six months I will have helped, planned, hosted, or attended SEVEN shower-esque gatherings...which is a lot. The weddings have slowed down a bit, but it seems the baby train our friends are on isn't stopping anytime soon. Which means it's time to buckle down and start pinning adorable boy/girl themed showers. :)

Last month I had the opportunity to help plan/decorate for a baby shower at my home church for a dear friend from high school, his wife, and their new baby Noah!

What I love about my home-church is that it's. a. family. It's grown a LOT since I left home, but seriously. These women know what's up when it comes to planning and hosting showers. Julie (far left) and I started talking about throwing a shower for Michael and Lauren back in October, and with weather, and holiday's, and baby appointments, January 11th was when we finally got it on the calendar. I can't even believe how blessed I am to have been raised in a church family that comes together so easily when it's time for weddings and babies...and I loved being able to play a part in the shower-planning back home.

On to the important stuff... :)

Colors: Mint green, gray, navy, tan (I'm a firm believer that the 'baby-blue' theme is too overdone)

Food: Brunch: Egg bake, muffins, fresh fruit cups, orange juice, coffee

Committee: 10 + ladies, 25 women total attended

Decorating Expense: $20.00

Here's a look at how we handled set-up/food/decor:

Most of the decorations I gathered from my house...blue Mason jars, twine, glitter pine-cones, Scrabble letters, burlap...and I just printed some big letters from Pinterest to spell the 'Noah' banners.

I have a hard time 'buying' decorations for showers because it's a one-time ordeal, and it can get super expensive. That's why I find it best to buy onesies (on sale) and a package of diapers to double as decorations AND as a gift the couple can take home after the shower.

I don't want to say I bought these mint pants just for this shower-hosting occasion... but it may have been a factor in my final purchasing decision. It only made sense to match the theme!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

MmB

Adventures in Homemade Detergent-Making

"Josh I'm making our laundry detergent!" - Mollie
"With cheese?" - Josh

This was the response I got last night when Josh walked in the door and noticed the Fels-Naptha I was grating looked like I was adding cheese to my new Pinterest-recipe-detergent (in his defense, I'd never seen/touched/smelled Fels-Naptha until last night when I cracked open the packaging...and I was also shocked at it's cheese-like resemblance). So immediately he was skeptical. He was even more skeptical after I told him each load will only take 1-2 tablespoons. "And you're sure it's actually going to get the clothes clean?"

Well no. But the 10 ladies on Pinterest plus the blog I religiously read all said it does. And they said it will last for an entire year.

Then again, those ladies don't do laundry for the Boersma Enterprises CEO...and his. laundry. is. nasty. It gets pretty real at our house in the summertime.

Perhaps in the summer I'll need to throw in a few extra tablespoons. I'm still in the experimenting stages...so obviously I'm qualified to write a blog about making homemade detergent.

After some research, I decided that spending $20 for a big tub of Gain is BOGUS. We do a surprising amount of laundry at our house for it being just us. We have a lot of visitors who spend the night in our guest room, so I wash more bedding and towels than I imagine the average childless couple does. That being said...we're not exactly 'childless.' College kid's bring their laundry over, and about half of them remember to supply their own detergent 100% of the time. Add my sister (our favorite college student/roommate/visitor) with her laundry, and our summer beach towels, and there are seasons where we burn through a tub of Gain at an alarming rate.

I haven't been great at tracking this, but if I had to guess I'd say I buy laundry detergent, on average, about every 1.5 months...so buying detergent eight times per year, means we spend $160 per year on detergent.

I could have gone a slightly cheaper route with this homemade detergent, but I took what I liked from all the recipes I found, and combined it into one, BIG recipe that smells amazing. The laundry scent was most important for me because I don't appreciate fresh, clean, towels...if they don't smell like fresh, clean towels. This whole endeavor wasn't about being gluten-free or saving the earth or using fewer chemicals in our house...it was purely about saving us some cash-money. And if I'm going spend time researching, shopping, and making detergent...darnit, I want it to smell good too.

I'm not a Wal-Mart shopper, but yesterday, in the name of saving a little extra money, I was.

Downy Unstopables (2): $6.97/ea
Borax (1): $3.97
Fels-Naptha (2): .97/ea
Arm and Hammer Baking Soda (1): $2.24
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (1): $3.24
Oxiclean: $9.24
Dove Bar Soap: $3.10
Big Jar: $9.97
***FYI, the exact same jar costs $16.97 at Target...this jar is literally the only reason I ever set foot in Wal-Mart, and it was the only reason I chose buying my supplies at Wal-Mart yesterday vs. my one true love, Target...and then do you want to know what happened...THEY WERE OUT OF STOCK...classic. Lucky for me, I had one of these  jars at home filled with pinecones so I just ended up using that instead...I'm still annoyed about it, can you tell?***

TOTAL COST: $48 (I won't have to buy the big jar for future batches, making the actual cost $38)

After I had gathered my supplies, it was time to crank dat Katy Perry and start dumping everything together. Some sites recommended mixing in a 5-gallon bucket, but it was cold last night and rummaging around in the garage did not sound appealing...so I decided big mixing bowls would do the trick. I used two mixing bowls, eye-balled dumping 'half' of everything into each one, and stirred the power together with a wooden spoon.

I grated two bars of the Fels-Naptha (I kept the third one on hand for stain removal), and one bar of the Dove soap over a piece of tin foil, then dumped that in the bowls too. The dumping process took about 45 minutes, just enough time for me to get it all mixed up before we needed to leave for Connection Group!

A couple of things to note...Downy Unstopables pellets and Dove bar soap are optional. They added about $17 to the cost, and if I'm being honest, I could have done without them. While I was shopping I got worried that our laundry was going to smell all weird, so I grabbed some extra stuff for good measure. In the future when I make this recipe, I'll probably just throw in one bottle of the pink Downy pellets and call it good.

The amount of Oxiclean I used is also up for debate...some recipes suggested using a small tub of Oxi, and some suggested using a big tub...I went for the medium-sized tub and figured it couldn't hurt if it makes a slightly bigger batch and lasts a teeny bit longer.

If I could, I'd choose to mix this up outside on the deck because my counters and stove and everything got pretty dusty. Josh legitimately scolded me for accidentally inhaling some of the dust which resulted in a coughing fit...but it was negative 20 and homemade detergent is  ON THE LIST FOR FEBRUARY! Seriously though, I wanted to get started on this project since it's still early enough in the year to gauge how it will affect our budget in 2014.

Even after I over-did it on the 'extra' smell-good stuff, we're still saving $122/year on detergent. Over the next five years we'll potentially save $610 (more if I cool it on the Downy)...And we can do a LOT with that much extra coin.

Plus, how pretty does this jar look sitting on my dryer?!

Happy detergent-making! :)

MmB

Basement Storage is my Nemisis

Making progress on this list!

Don't get me wrong, I am soooooo thankful we have some storage space in our basement...it means I can collect random things for future DIY projects and it also means I can collect free Christmas trees on a whim, knowing I'll have room for them in the basement...somewhere...but I like pretty things. And basements are anything but pretty. At least ours was...

Until today (insert evil laugh here) MUAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

For those of you who haven't had the privilege of having Josh tour you around our basement when our renter isn't home...you're in for a special treat. I typically avoid the basement since our renter is down there during the day...making it tough for me to get down there and organize when the 'mood' strikes. In fact, neither of us enjoy going to the basement because it usually involves hauling a million Christmas totes, aaaand let's just say I haven't kept this space impeccably organized. Making 'putting things away' miserable.

This space functions as storage for many different things for our life. Everything from empty gift boxes to Josh and Mollie high school keepsakes; from an absurd number of Christmas trees to wedding/honeymoon memorabilia...this area of our house has to pack a LOT of rando-crap into a small space. In the winter months, Josh even uses this space to house some temperature-sensitive chemicals and equipment...and while I  realize it's completely necessary, it just adds to the organizing headache.

You're about to enter the Belly of the Beast. Behold...the Embarrassing Boersma Basement...

Seriously...does ANYONE know how to efficiently store a power washer and back-pack sprayers.
My organizing talents are limited when it comes to Josh's special toys. So there they sit. 

Let's play a game...how many Christmas trees can you spot?
The answer to come at the end of this post...and it might surprise you.

As you can see, walking in this space had become a challenge. Sooooo inappropriate for someone who claims to love organizing as a hobby. Probably why I had been avoiding this project for so long. BUT NO MORE!

Last week, I made a bunch of labels. I kept the font BIG and BOLD and took inventory of all the totes that needed labeling and their contents. I borrowed my boss's incredible laminator, and went to town because I wanted to make sure the labels would last. I added Vel-Cro to the back because sometimes when I'm undecorating and re-decorating, totes change seasons. The pink tote used to have 'summer' contents, and now Halloween stuff lives inside...I wanted to be able to change the labels as necessary.

I avoid using black Sharpie marker to label plastic totes and tupperware and cassarole dishes because that's how my dear Grandmother's used to label things. And it's bothered me since I was six.

These were my top priorities tonight while I was reorganizing:

1. Unused stuff should go to the bottom or the back.
***Then promptly re-evaluate why it's even in the basement wasting space if it's going unused***

2. Breakable stuff (like Christmas dishes) should stay close to the ground...if something goes terribly wrong, they have less distance to fall and break. These totes also got a 'FRAGILE' label.
***Note dear friends: If you carelessly handle these dishes during the Christmas season, resulting in something breaking...you have a death wish***

3. Keep totes with the same seasons together. 

***This seems obvious, but it was mayhem down there, people***

Here's the finished product:

 Here we have the Christmas section of our basement. I'm quite self-conscious admitting that all of that (plus the not-pictured totes on the top shelf) is Christmas...but it be what it be. I have a few wreaths out of totes (notice all the plastic sacks, ewwww), but I only buy wreath boxes when they're on sale for 50% off at Target after Christmas...so far I have four...and I need eight. I have a problem. And I'm admitting it which is the first step...I'm not fixing it though...

Spring/Summer decor and fall/Halloween decor totes. So straight. So labeled. SO PRETTY.

Anyone have a good solution for storing dried, real hydrangeas in the winter months? Covering them with plastic sacks is the best I've been able to come up with. Ideas appreciated!

I think we've done an excellent job of 'saying goodbye' to most of our childhood/high school crap...but this section is full of things neither of us can part with. Books, toys, picture albums, American Girl dolls...you know. The really special stuff. Along with some of my favorite princess-y things I've been saving for our future daughter. Yes, I've been saving that princess suitcase and princess tin for the past eight years.

Totes are expensive, but SUCH a perfect way to store things in a neat, safe, way. I don't have to worry about any of my decorations or precious scrapbooks getting ruined during a sump pump or washer malfunction, or second guess setting totes on the floor or in the corners of the basement...because everything is in plastic and is perfectly safe!

Someone was a genius and built excellent shelving in the sump-pump closet. And I can't bear to let is go to waste. So luggage, Josh's old running gear, some post-Christmas sale stuff, and gift boxes live in here.

Some organization motivation for your Monday. Happy tote-shopping. :)

MmB

And there were three visible Christmas trees in that picture...go ahead...scroll back up and tell me I'm wrong...I'm not.