It's been a bit since I've had a great tip for everyone, but I thought/came up with one last night and I just had to share.

Did y'all know that your refrigerator is one of the biggest energy hogs of your whole house? I suppose that makes sense since it's on all the time, working hard at keeping your food fresh and all, huh?

Now, my next question is did you know that the seals on your fridge can wear out? I honestly never thought about it until last night when I put my hand along one of them and felt the air leaking out! What? How much harder is that fridge working? Which means how much is our power bill going up? How much more wear and tear is happening on an already old fridge? Well, I don't know the answers to that, but I do know how to double check to see if your fridge seals need to be replaced and it's super easy! Ready?

Open up your fridge/freezer door and then take a dollar bill and place it right along where the door closes and close the door. Now, take hold of that dollar bill and tug on it. If it pulls out really easily, guess what? Your fridge seals are leaking air and ought to be replaced. I checked ours last night and ugh, total fail on both the fridge and the freezer! I've already added replacing those seals to my household to do list.

So, how do your fridge seals stack up? Today's challenge is to go check them out!

Hey everyone! I'm back with another post...but without my camera cable. How annoying is that? I have tons of great pictures to download and can't! Hopefully I'll remember where I put it soon so I can show off my birthday present that just arrived today (and only a week late! *grins at the sender*). It's super fabulous and awesome and I can't wait to show you! Plus, I have new kitty pictures and new pictures of the kids and just tons of new stuff! C'mon cable, come out of hiding!

But, until I can show y'all some pictures, I'm going to talk about the swish and swipe. What's that you're probably asking...but hang on, I'm going to tell you right now. The swish and swipe is something that I do every morning in my bathroom after my shower. After I shower and get dressed, I take my damp towel and swipe it across the bathroom counter, edge of the tub and the toilet...yes, the toilet. Then, I take the toilet bowl brush and swish it around inside of the toilet. What does all of this do? Well, it keeps my bathroom looking clean until Saturday's when I do a proper cleaning. So, even if the rest of my house is a disaster, my bathroom is always company (and emergency illness!) ready! And, it only takes all of about 30 seconds.

What works for all of you? Do you have any secret tips? Leave me a comment here and make sure you head over to We Are That Family to sign the Mr Linky there!

Happy Wednesday! Is it a lovely day where you are? It certainly is here! The air has just that lovely little nip of cold in it which tells me that Autumn is truly here and I love it! I love sweaters and cozy blankets! I love hearing the leaves crunch underfoot as I go for a walk. I love hot chocolate and cold cider and nummy donuts that you can only get this time of year. Know what else I love? My crockpot!

Every year, about this time, I seem to remember what an amazing piece of technology my crockpot is. It's probably (oh goodness, this is dating myself..) 13 years old now but it still works like it did on the day I pulled it out of the box. It doesn't have any bells or whistles. There's no timer or digital anything on it, but I love it! It's seriously probably my most favorite kitchen "gadget" that I own and I own more than a few!

So, what's so great about my crockpot? It does the work for me! Yesterday, I made an Irish stew. Now, the recipe originally called for me to spend all this time in front of my stove and oven. Did I want to do that? Nope! So, instead, I layered all of the ingredients, just like it said in the recipe, into my crockpot and turned it on low and I walked away. Eight hours later, I opened up that lid again and it smelled divine! It tasted pretty good too!

I love the fact that I can throw my ingredients into it in the morning and then walk away until dinnertime and not have to worry about it. In fact, I'm thinking that next week's menu week is going to be an all crockpot week. I have some incredibly delicious recipes for the crockpot and I can't wait to share with all of you and to enjoy them, myself!

Oooh...I can't believe it, but I almost forgot! I'm the guest poster over on Forever Daisies blog today! Go and check it out! She has some great giveaways and posts happening all week for Creative Week!

Until tomorrow,

Routines are the cornerstone of my life. Some of the people who know me and those who have been reading here for a while know that I suffer from bouts of depression. One of the things that can set that off is me becoming overwhelmed. This move had a huge potential for sinking me, but my routines have totally saved me.

Each morning, I have a routine that I follow and then I have another one that I'm working on building for before bedtime. So, if I wake up and I'm feeling low or I just know that there's this huge list of things to get through, I always have a starting point. I've found that as long as I get up and I do my routine, things seem to be that much easier. Sometimes the hardest thing is to just get moving and with a routine, I always have a starting place.

The kids and I also have household routines. The garbage always goes out on Tuesdays. They feed and water the cat first thing after they get up. This helps keep our household moving smoothly. They know that on Friday's, they're going to clean their room and if they're headed to their Dad's, we're going to pack up their bag so everything is ready when he picks them up.

So, I encourage all of you who may be feeling overwhelmed by life to start building up some small routines. As soon as these become habit, they're going to make your life soooo much easier.

Ok, so I'm doing a two in one post today. Aren't y'all lucky? Ok, perhaps not but I love this blog and I'm so excited to be back and posting every day! So, let's start with the Works For Me Wednesday bit...you'll never believe what I have for you this week! hehe...Ready? No, seriously..are you ready?

Ok..here it is...how many of you still buy paper towels and end up with those tubes and don't know what to do with them? How many of you still get plastic shopping bags from the store? Do you have trash in your car and never seem to have a bag to toss it in? Did you answer yes to all three? Woo! Then, I have a great tip for you! I discovered that those paper towel tubes are perfect for holding plastic grocery sacks! Just decorate your tube anyway that you want, then feed the plastic bags up into it. I think I fit about 10 into the last one that I did. Then, just tuck the tube into your car and then whenever you need a new trash bag, just pull one out!

This week's never Wordless Wednesday is made up of three of my favorite pictures that I downloaded from my camera this week. I am loving this new house and loving that I am out of the basement dungeon that I was trapped in for two years. It amazes me just how much happier I am since being out in sunlight again. It's such an incredible feeling to look around and even though there are a million boxes in this house still, to know that it's all of my things and they are all in one location. Plus, having the flower beds is fantastic! I cannot wait until next summer when I have the time to really dig in and get them all gorgeous again. Enjoy this week's pictures, fresh from my camera!