headed to the beach

OK, so this photo is not at all related to anything I want to say. I swear I never saw this one before. That is my Tanner. Wholy cow! Where did the time go? He turned eighteen months old the other day. OMG, I am getting teary. Can't think about it.

Anyway, I made it. We are 90% packed for vacation tomorrow. I have the house almost all clean. I cannot believe it. We'll be on the beach tomorrow! Yahoo! When I was little my mom went to Florida with her girl friends and she told me it was "the land of sunshine and beaches." While she was gone I told everyone she was in "the land of sunshine and b*tches," OOPS! We still call it that, is that wrong?! I am so excited. I luuuuuuv the beach, the sand, the heat, the flip flops, the pina coladas, the salt water, the birds, and everything about it, obviously. It always makes me want to move there forever, maybe someday.

See you all in a week or so...

seriously?!

beach babe

sandy baby

prefers the pool boy

OK, so these pictures are from last year but you get the idea...

In a day and a half I am supposed to be at the beach. I am so not ready. I have really procrastinated this year, I am hardly packed, hardly organized, hardly mentally ready. I think it is because we are flying this year and I really prefer driving. I like knowing I can cram as much as I want in my van and hit the road. Having to scale things down into a few suitcases is too much for me to comprehend. Actually, it is my family. Seriously. It is. They do not get it. In the past few days, I have been making a list of what we "need" and it is so big I want to tear it up and say "screw it, I am not going." What my family thinks they "need" for a vacation is ridiculous. I keep telling them we are going to the beach!!! We don't need that!!! You will live for nine days without ____!!! They are driving me crazy. Can I just go by myself? Well, I would miss them so much but this whole packing thing is super annoying, way more annoying than I remember it being in the past.

I am so excited to go.

I hope there is no oil in our part of Florida. I hope we have sunny days and we get to see the 4th of July fireworks over the ocean. I hope I get to see some pretty birds. I hope I get to take some good family photos. I hope I get to read a magazine. I hope I get to eat some good sea food. I hope no one gets sunburned. I hope we don't spend all our money too soon. I hope we get to relax. I hope I can get all our stuff crammed into our suitcases (oops, I went there again). I hope the plane rides are uneventful. I hope there are no no-see-um bugs, I really don't like those guys. I hope it is just wonderful.

from trash to fab

I think I am addicted...

Here is another altered gift idea. Sorry if you are bored of these.

This one is a Weight Watchers cheese container, duh, you can see that right? I promise I am not trying to be insulting, I just get excited to share my crafty-ness. (I think the Laughing Cow kind are the same) I made this one because I was on my way to put it in the recycling bin (it is made of cardboard) and I got a phone call. Somewhere between answering the phone and the garage, I got a wild hair to try this.
I think I saw some really crafty girls do this before, maybe on a blog or something, so I cannot take total credit, nor can I site the original artist. I used some leftover paper from a recent scrapbooking class I took with my buddy, Kristin (shout out KP!), basically because it was on my desk, not put away yet. ;) I cut some circles, one for the top and bottom, one for the inside, added a flower and brad and a word sticker and voila! Impressive huh? I also added teeny strips of patterned paper to the edges but you can't see those. I plan to use it for a gift card, with small candy inside. For now it is getting filed away until I need to use it.

watchin' my weight Wednesday

All the information I have been reading lately, books, magazines, on-line, even tv shows like "Losing It with Jillian" and "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" have all said that the key to healthy eating is fresh food. Real food. Whole food. That makes total sense when I read it and thinking about it makes even more sense.

I truly think I was raised on packaged food. Fake food. "Edible foodlike substances" as Michael Pollan (sorry if I spelled his name wrong) says. This is not a bad thing, I think it was my generation. We liked our Kraft Mac and Cheese (it's the cheesey-est) and our Velveeta cheese. Chips, Oreos, Fruit Loops. And those microwave meals, I lived on those as a single girl teaching for a couple years I think. So it is no wonder that we have to teach ourselves how to eat all over again. It's hard not to think there are no snacks in the house if you are out of Pringles or granola bars. Snack on an apple? Whodathunkit? Seriously, I think this is a learned thing. You live what you have learned. I learned that a snack came from a box. Of course I know so much more now.

I have always loved vegetables and I am trying to help my family to love them too. (That is Zoe peeling a potato.) We have pretty much eliminated packaged food from our snack selection. I do have some fruit snacks which are pretty much like candy, I know. I am letting them have these as we wean them off. We are still buying a small treat bag of chips at the swimming pool every now and then, I don't want to make these foods totally taboo and therefore very alluring, you know what I mean. The kids know they have these choices for snacks: yogurt, string cheese, fruit, carrots, smoothies (made by me), popcorn (again, made by me), goldfish crackers (it's not right to not have "fishies" for the kids- at least they have whole grain ones now!), or a homemade cookie. They haven't complained a lot, just a little sometimes, but like I said, we allow little occasional treats (at the pool) because I don't want them to feel like they are totally deprived. I don't feel too guilty about it, I made the kids watch Jaime Oliver, they go to Weight Watcher meetings with me, they know I am trying to do what is best for them. I know I am doing what is best.

Switching to eating whole, real foods has been a challenge. It takes a long time to prepare things. Last night I think I worked on dinner for almost an hour. But it was so good, totally homemade, loaded with veggies and everyone ate it up. I guess I have to admit it is worth it. Having that peace of mind is definitely a good thing.

late spring cleaning

Does anyone do real, true spring cleaning anymore? The kind like our grandma's used to do?I think they used to put it off until spring because it is so stinkin' hard! Well, I'm pretty sure I would make my grandma proud most days. My house is relatively clean and tidy for the most part. Nothing can compete with her immaculte home but I do try. I actually like to clean, I know I am weird. I get a good sense of accomplishement from some visible vacuum lines in my carpet. Shiny wood furniture gets me all excited. And a tidied up room makes me feel at peace. I know, I am really weird. I guess I don't necessarily do the "spring cleaning" thing, I just clean year-round, or so it seems.

There are however, some jobs I really do not like to do around the house. I detest cleaning my bird's cage, so much so, I will nag, yes, nag my husband to do it. Cleaning bathrooms is another job I loathe. Yuck. If we ever strike it rich, I am hiring a bathroom cleaning lady right after I buy my Corvette.

And another job that stinks is cleaning blinds. Oh how it makes me grumpy. For the past two weeks I have been cleaning blinds (and therefore windows and curtains/window treatments). I have been doing a room a day. We have gobs of windows. Seriously, when we built our house we added them out the wazoo, what were we thinking? Well, besides the glorious natural light and views, they can be a pain.

I saved the family room until last. It has 5 large windows with blinds and transom windows everywhere. Jeez, it was overwhelming. See...

My method, surely not the best in the world but it works, is to clean and hose off the blinds in our driveway. Then the sun air dries them and I can clean the windows as they dry. This has been working for the past two weeks, no problem. Until yesterday.
Here are my blinds all drying looking good, then the kids and I were headed upstairs to get our bathing suits on for a good couple hours of pool time. Boom! Out of nowhere a freakish storm hit and my pool plans were cancelled and the blinds got extra clean, wink wink. In fact, it rained so much they had to stay outside all night to dry, then, it rained on them again this morning. Ugh, I might never get them back up.

I wanted to call my grandma and tell her this whole spring cleaning is for the birds. But I didn't, thankfully this is my last room of blinds to clean. I still have a few windows to clean but they are easy so it won't be bad. Then I think I will wait until next spring to do anymore heavy duty cleaning!

still for sale

Our home is still for sale

Selling a house stinks so much, it is making me such a grumpy person. I don't think prior to trying to sell our house I would have never been described as grumpy, well maybe not never never, but almost never. Now I am grouchy all the time, well, a lot.

Reasons why I think selling a house is torture:

• all Realtors that we have dealt with are awful (sorry for you or your relatives who are Realtors, our experiences have been complete disasters with these "professional" people)
• people think you are desperate to sell or you are about to be foreclosed on so they offer you ridiculously low bids
• no one wants to put any work into a home, they want it to be completely turn key ready to their decorating standards
• people are mean, they say mean stuff about your personal things, not thinking this is not just a house, but your home
• showing scheduling is never at a good time and they never give enough notice
• keeping your house neat and tidy all the time is not normal, not possible and downright wrong, we still LIVE HERE!
• no one else can sell their home so they can't try to buy your home and so many people are afraid they are going to lose their jobs that they won't take risks in housing
• despite what the media says, the housing market is NOT picking up, I have been doing this for a year and it is as slow as ever
• price sells a home, people want a big box with little regard for the upgrades or updates you may have, so they will, again, offer you a ridiculous amount to purchase
• right now our house is priced $61,000 less than what we paid, we will be losing all our equity if we sell at this price and we will essentially be starting from scratch at our next house, we won't have a big down payment and we wouldn't even count as first time home buyers even though our situation is very similar to that
• did I say, Realtors suck!
• I hate not having pictures of my kids all around, it makes me cry to know I have have all these wonderful pictures of Tanner (and Z & P) but I haven't been able to look at his cute baby chub since he has been born basically, you know how you marvel at their cute 3 month old chubby cheeks as they get older? because my house has to be "depersonalized", whatever!
• no I do not have granite countertops, no I am not going to buy them so don't tell me you won't buy my house because of that!!! screw you
• I get sick of trying to find things to do with the kids for hours at a time while people come through the house, I love doing things with them but I want to do it on my time, when I want and not have my dog with me. No offense Max.
• I don't like feeling like a renter, in my own home, can't do any projects, can't make it personal, don't feel like I am "home" because we are always waiting for that one buyer. I feel very unmotivated to do anything home-y.
• By the way, please don't tell me it only takes one buyer to buy your home, I am not an idiot, I am just sick of this nonsense.
• Because all Realtors stink, we have our house for sale by owner, like I need more work to do!
• I feel bad for my kids, I think they are feeling a little of the same displaced feelings I am. Grr.
• "the government" doesn't seem to be doing a lot to help those of us who did the right thing and invested in a home, paid our bills on time, and are being penalized by those who didn't do the right thing, makes me so mad
• I want to hang up some pictures of my kids!!!
• I hate Realtors.

OK, sorry for that tirade. We have a showing today and honestly I hate it. I really want to not care but I do. I want this to be over. I want to move on literally and figuratively. I am through with this situation. **sigh**

so proud

There's my hubby. Yep, him on the big screen. He just finished his first year as principal of one of the top high schools in the state. I am so proud of him. He worked very hard to get this job and it was a great year for him. He had ups and downs as always but he is so happy in his current place that it was ok, he is thriving and I am so proud.

Just felt like braggin'.

watchin' my weight Wednesday

Life is about balance.

Everything in small doses.

Little bits add up to a lot.

As summer begins here, I find myself saying those things to myself with regard to just about everything. I want to take the kids swimming every day. I want to go get ice cream every night. I want to go to the park every afternoon. I want to do it all! Seriously, I want to cram in all the fun while I can before it is back to school time. Just knowing we only have a limited amount of days about sends me into a frenzy.

I had high hopes of getting up every day early and working out before the kids get up (like I do when they are in school) but just like the pool wears them out, it does me too. I cannot get myself out of bed. Maybe it is entertaining three kids all by myself all day that is wearing me out. So I have resorted to exercise DVDs in the morning and late night walks when I miss my early morning workouts. Have you ever noticed how many times Mari Winsor says "buttocks" in her pilates DVDs? I hadn't either until I did it with the kids.

Just in case you were wondering, there is no way to teach your kids not to pick up your dumbbells, they will do it every time, they only way they learn is to drop one on their foot, just ask Parker, he is well versed in this practice. So my hopes of being a wonder body for this summer are being squished as I enjoy fun activities with the kids and squeezing in workouts where I can. I am enjoying this fun but I do miss my daily runners high.

I am making sure to do some sort of physical activity every day. I am continuing to monitor my weight and watching my "Points" for Weight Watchers, I will also be attending meetings so I am sticking to my plan for the most part. It's just all that darn summer fun calling my name!

Some things we are indulging in periodically:

sidewalk chalk, thank goodness for our massive driveway

popcorn (well I don't let Tanner eat it anymore since there was this bad article in the paper that said tons of kids are dying from choking on popcorn!)

naps, well only Tanner and Max do that, but I can pretend

bike riding, the kids ride I chase them up and down the street begging them to "slow down" and "be careful" and "watch out!"

ice cream (for the kids- darn lactose issue for me)

watching tv when it is too hot or stormy to play outside

eating way bad for us cereal, just because it is summer and we love it (I don't, this is strictly for kids- have you tried Fruit Loops as an adult, wow! they are sweet)

How have your summer fun plans changed your usual routine? Just something to think about.

makin' dreams come true

Parker has wanted a desk forever, I think since Zoe got a hand-me-down one from the in-laws downsizing. I found this set at a junk store in our down town. Funny thing about the store, they always have "stuff" sitting outside and as I drive by I have almost wrecked several times trying to see it. I finally went in one day and I was so glad I did. I think this is actually a sofa table or foyer table but it is small enough for a little boy's desk. And it has a drawer for his treasures.

I wanted to keep the chair this green color but Zoe told me and Parker it looked like vomit so he wouldn't let me. I love this chair so much. I love its little turned legs and its charm. Don't you think it has some stories to tell? I kind of have a thing for chairs. Parker wanted his desk to be blue so here it is...
I think the green chair would have been so cute. Maybe when Parker is done with this, he'll let me have it and I can go green again. I love makin' dreams come true. He's been sitting there working like crazy, making drawings and turning the light on and off. He is very proud because he helped me sand and paint it. Total cost for desk and chair: $40! Woo!

did you know?

Did you know you should take your eggs out of the styrofoam or plastic containers they are sold in and put them in the old fashioned paper ones for storage in your fridge? I did not know this.

I guess the philosophy is to keep food out of plastic as much as possible. Store your food in glass containers if possible and never heat them up in plastic. Somehow chemicals in plastic leak (for lack of a better word) into your food the longer they are in plastic and especially if you heat it up (i.e. the microwave).

I have been looking at thrift stores for old pyrex dishes with lids to use for storing leftovers, I'll be looking at garage sales too this summer.

The more I read about the icky stuff in our food the more it scares me to death. Lately, I have been reading "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels, very good info in there.

watchin' my weight Wednesday

Congratulate me please... it has been 17 days since I drank a diet Dr. Pepper! This was one of my 2010 goals- to reduce or eliminate diet soda, was the actual goal I set for myself.

Well, 17 days ago I woke up and said, nope, I will not have any more. I won't even begin to tell you how much I was drinking before I quit, it's horrible, downright shocking. I don't drink coffee and being a sleep deprived momma, I figured I needed the caffeine so I just kept drinking and drinking.

Well, since I began the quest to eat better my own research is showing that drinking diet drinks do not help you stay slim. And I have a tendency to swell from too much sodium, and diet sodas have sodium in them, could this be the reason I always have a pot belly? (I can tell you that after 2 1/2 weeks of no diet pop therefore no extra sodium the pot belly is still there- oh well, at least I answered that question.) I also am trying to eliminate all fake/fake-ish food from my family's diet so I felt like a big huge hypocrite saying "no" you can't have those fruit snacks but I am going to chug this 20 ouncer I just got from Speedway.

I felt the caffeine withdraw bad for about 4 days, which coincided with that time of the month (I know, TMI!) so I was popping Tylenol like crazy to deal with headaches. Once the headaches were gone I didn't have any more withdraw like I thought I would. I do however crave the sweetness and oh how I love Diet Dr. Pepper, our love affair is long and torrid. I have allowed myself to have one of those Crystal Light drink mixers a day, just to get over the hump, that sweet craving is intense! The Crystal Light doesn't have caffeine and sodium so I am hoping to break my "fake" sugar habit next. I can't say I'll never drink a diet soda again but I do feel a teeny bit better not drinking any for now. Personal victory feels good!

some teacher gifts

Ah, the end of the year teacher gift. I kind of dread them. There is a lot of pressure to give a thoughtful, meaningful, but not too extravagant gift. I honestly love it when one energetic mom decides to collect money for a group gift from the whole class, but this year, no one stepped forward. I then donate to the energizer mommy and buy a very small gift for my child to give.

I bought this Longaberger basket when they were having a one day only sale (it helps when one of your best friends is a consultant- it was so hard to keep it in my closet and not just adopt it as my own, like the puppies at the pet store! I finally had to put it in a dark box so I could kind of forget about it. Incidentally, I already have this basket for myself, but you know I can hardly resist a good Longaberger!) and I put a whole bunch of pink stuff in there, no reason, I just thought she would like them. (pink stuff: water bottle, sunglasses case, note pad, ankle socks, crossword book, chocolates) Later I covered this with basket cellophane and of course added a beautiful bow but I did not take a picture, oops.

The gym teacher at Zoe's school is a man so I filled a water bottle with kisses instead of the other gifts I made for her lady teachers. The tag (which you cannot see- sorry) is tied to the top with his card.
The lady teachers (music, art, library, bus driver, school nurse- Zoe went to see her a lot) all got these little goodie bags. They had cute matchbook notepads, kisses, and a gift card to our local ice cream shop. I wanted to include pens but I forgot.
I made these little kiss bags to put in the goodie bags. These are tiny jewelry bags with the paper folded over and stapled on top. I love these. I have made these for so many occasions. Valentines treats are perfect in here. Don't you just love this bicycle stamp? It is a way old one from Stampin' Up (so are the word stamps).
Please ignore my unmanicured hand, so not pretty (just FYI I want my hands to look like those ladies on QVC. Don't they just look so pampered and nice?)

I included the ice cream gift cards in everyone's gift. I also wrote personal notes to each teacher which is probably what they like most of all.

I know I am a bit late in posting as some kids have been out of school for a couple weeks. I thought maybe you'd like to file this one away for next year.

things to do

Things I want to do this week:

• clean all the upstairs windows (downstairs next week)
• clean my desk- it is a disgrace after making all those end of the year teacher gifts and graduation cards
• take a load to Goodwill
• plan/list what we need for vacation (in 3 weeks!)
• get our gift for big papa for Father's Day
• mail f. day gift to father-in-law
• fill this thing up, I really hate empty cookie jars! where do they all go? certainly not in my belly!

I am feeling like I won't get to post much this summer. These kids are keeping me so stinkin' busy already! I have great dreams of posting Monday-Friday, we'll see. Anyone else feeling like their mommy jobs just got a million times harder with kids home all day?!

Watchin' my weight Wednesday

Oops, I didn't get to post yesterday, and it isn't Wednesday, sorry. It was Zoe's first day home for the summer and we were busy bees.

Watchin' my Weight

So it is berry season and I am buying up all the organic berries I can get my hands on. All the kids love them. Tanner would eat blueberries until he was literally blue, so cute. I put some on Paul's oatmeal every morning, aren't I such the best wifey? And they are one of the best "perfect" foods you can eat, full of yumminess so good for you. A cup of berries isn't the same as a cup of M&M's but I am learning to love them just the same.

I mean what I say, I am literally buying them buy the boatload. Last night I went to the grocery and came home with about nine pints of different berries, late at night Kroger only has a few organic things out, what Kroger can't late night shoppers eat healthy (say this in your best Snookie, Jersey Shore voice please)?! Anyway, I wholeheartedly know we won't eat all of these before they get all mushy and gross but I have learned the fine art of freezing berries. I know, duh Jenny, how hard can it be? Seriously, people until about a year ago, I think I lived on M&M's and nachos, trying to eat whole, real foods is a learning process.

So right before the berries get all soft and gooey, wash them, dry them, or if you are like me, leave them on the counter while you play with the kids to dry. Once they are dry, lay them on wax paper on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Don't let them touch each other or they will freeze together. Now once they are frozen put them in a big ziplock bag and you will have berries for muffins, smoothies (our favorite), cakes, pies, etc. Love this!

Moving Q/A

A couple of my new blogging buddies have asked why we are moving so I thought I'd share that so if you already know feel free to move on, have a great day!

A year ago, my husband got his dream job at one of the best school districts in Ohio. He is the high school principal and he hopes to move up to superintendent someday. The small community has schools that are like private schools but they are public, education is highly valued and everyone supports the schools. And the bonus, the neighborhood/town is an absolute dream come true. It is a walking community. No school buses. All the kids walk to school. Every house looks like something from "The Truman Show." It is like Mayberry came to life there. The people say it is like living under a dome, it is like stepping back in time. People are out all over the place, it is gorgeous everywhere you look, perfect landscaping from the million dollar homes to the teeny postage stamp ones, happy people walking dogs, roller skating on the sidewalk, block parties in the summer, gourmet shops in the little "downtown", perfection.

THAT's the kind of place I want to live, THAT's where I want my kids to go to school, THAT's what all of us envision (I am guessing) when we talk about the house with the picket fence. Now the problem is, this town is 45 minutes from where we live now. My husband has to commute now because of the stinking housing market sucks (don't get me started). 45 minutes isn't a long commute one way, it's doable, but he is a high school principal. Those guys (and gals) have so many events, not just football games. There's concerts, debate team stuff, plays, art events, all sporting events, club events, fundraisers, board meetings, community things he has to go to, tons, literally, tons of stuff he is expected to attend. So he is gone a lot, poor guy, leaves at 6something AM, sometimes comes home at 11ish PM. THAT's why we want to move. We miss our big papa and who wouldn't want to live in small town bliss. (Ok, I know appearances are deceiving, and like anyplace, our future hometown will have issues. We sincerely believe this is the place we want to raise our kids, we'll deal with the drama later I guess.)

That's why we want to move. I do love my home now, it is massive and beautiful and we'll never have a house like this again. But really dealing with my husband's work struggles and successes have taught me that your house is not your home. Home is where your family is.

al fresco time

I love my yard! :)

We love our yard and our patio. We'd better. Every blade of grass, every plant, every tree, every flower, is there because we put it there. Every single brick of our patio was touched by my hands, in fact, I carried everyone of those suckers from the big pile dumped by the rock place to its home in our patio. My husband is the landscape designer, I just add my professional opinion where needed, which pretty much means everywhere.

When we built our house we had trouble selling our other home, we had two mortgages for about 6 months, I still don't know how we did that, sheer will I guess. During that time, my poor husband wanted to go to the nurseries and Home Depot every day, he loves working in the yard. I just wanted to make sure we paid our bills and had food, you know the basics. So for about three years or so, all, and I mean, all of our extra money (ha, like anyone has "extra") went to our landscaping.

We live on a golf course and everyone (almost everyone) has phenomenal landscaping, this was definitely a case of "keeping up with the Joneses" for a while. We felt the pressure to not look like the hillbillies on the street with half dead plants and empty flower beds.

Now after living here for six years, I finally feel like we can enjoy it. No more deciding how to spread our budget to finish off an area that desperately needs some green. We spend our time pruning, weeding, smelling (you would love to smell my magnolia right now- heaven! yes it is mine, hubby bought it for me because I really want to move south and live in warm weather), and gazing at our handiwork/hard work!

These red trees are Japanese maples, we bought one a year for Paul until we had four, for his Father's Day gift. The daylillies I snagged once in a McDonald's drive thru, I begged the landscaping guys who were tearing everything out to let me have them. They gladly loaded them in my truck (yes, I had to drive a truck for a while- so annoying for a shorty like me).
Look at this lushness! Uh, fugettaboutit, it's perfection, to me anyway.
Brick by brick, I carried all of them as Paul and I built this patio. So much heavy lifting, digging, measuring, but so worth it. Those wet streaks are from me watering my pots (see yesterday's post, wink wink!).
My hubby's bonsai trees, yes, he is a weird bird guy and a weird bonsai guy. I guess I have to overlook those things since he lets me buy tons of Longaberger baskets and scrapbooking stuff. We all have our "things" right?!

The things we planted and definitely this patio will be some of the things we miss most if/when we ever move. Until then, we are going to keep enjoying our lovely oasis. Tis the season to dine al fresco at my house! (Thanks to Kristin's donation of the picnic table for the kids, we are eating outside every day!)

diary of a mad housewife

Dear Diary,

When all else fails, cut the darn thing off!

OK, so maybe that doesn't work all the time (just ask Lorena Bobbit) but in this case it did. See the nozzle for our hose laying on the ground, yep, I got so mad at it, yes you can get mad at a hose nozzle, that I cut the sucker off.

I've been asking/nagging my hubby to set up our rain barrel for about a month or so and he kept putting it off. He is holding out hope that we will see our house and he doesn't want to have to undo and redo it. Whatever honey. The housing market stinks, we won't be moving anytime soon. AND this darn nozzle (from the cheapo hose he bought from QVC- that I have never liked by the way because it is a coil and who the hell moron thought a giant coiled hose would be a good invention? and for that matter who the hell planted a tree that was supposed to stay tiny right in front of the hose bib and now the tree is so big only fairies can get to the hose bib- I am totally ranting right now) got me soaking wet everytime I used it.

So like any madwoman, I grabbed my scissors and cut it off. Now I can water our patio pots with a nice little trickle of water instead of getting sprayed and swearing at everyone and everything within 20 miles.

I like to call it survival of the high school principal widow, I do what I have to do when my hubby is gone to school all the time and I am here battling at the home front.

Actually, I felt really relieved to get rid of that dang nozzle, I do however prefer to use the rain barrel, way better for the environment and plants just like rain better.

Signed, Jenny, official madwoman of the house