$ave Money

Some of you know that Jake and I are leading a Crown Financial class. A woman named Barb told me about one of our church members named Kara Rozendaal who runs a website called PracticalSaver.com For a mere $25 a year, yes I said YEAR, she will email you weekly lists of grocery store (currently they are all Prescott and Phoenix area only) sales. She gives you tips on how to organize and use coupons, where to get them doubled, tripled or even quadrupled. There are helpful hints on how to cut costs around your home. Here is one item I am going to try:

Homemade Laundry Detergent This stuff is 13 times less expensive than store bought brands. I'm all about saving money anyway I can. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes.

There is a website called Soapsgonebuy.com that sells all of these products cheap and also in kits already to make. They have the Fels-Naptha already grated (for a higher price) if you prefer that. They have other recipes on there as well including a powdered detergent using the same ingredients. These products are also available in retail stores locally also. Kara wrote that the Fels-Naptha is the cheapest at Ace Hardware.

The ingredients are:

FREE MINERAL MAKEUP!!

I found this great website called www.everydayminerals.com They are an environmentally friendly company with 100% natural products- many are labeled as 'vegan' as well (but I don't know if they all are). They do not do animal testing either; even their brushes have synthetic bristles and renewable bamboo handles.

They offer a FREE test kit. On their home page, under "Kits" click on "Custom Kits". You will then see "Free Sample Makeup Kit". Clicking on this will allow you to click and drag 3 foundations (they are labeled as "Bases" on this website) to your shopping bag along with one cheek color and a concealor too. I ordered mine and it was $3.28 for standard USPS shipping for 5 items! I use Bare Minerals all the time and I love them but they are pricy. The Everyday Minerals seem to be less expensive. I'm going to give these a shot and see how they are. It's worth a try huh?

EVERYDAY NATURALS ENVIRO-FACTS

There are a lot of things you may not know about Everyday Minerals. And of course, these are facts that will make you feel even better about your purchase, being part of the Everyday Minerals family, and a contributor to a better tomorrow.

Here’s our pledge to you and our planet:

Everyday Minerals seeks to include the highest quality, all-natural and organic products sourced from sustainable environments across the globe, and to eliminate toxins and engineered material in our products.

Here are some internal facts you should know.

Environmentally Conscious Products

• We package and ship our products in 90% recycled tissue paper.

• All customer invoices and ‘general use’ office paper and folders are Recycled, 100% post-consumer content and chlorine-free.

• We are a chemical-free facility, to maintain the integrity of our environmentally produced products.

• Our products are 100% biosafe.

• The body skin care line comes in RPET containers.

Environmentally conscious workplace

Everyday Minerals wants to keep our planet pollutant free and that starts in the workplace:

• We provide free bicycles to our employees after 6 months of working with us.

• Financial incentives result in 85% of our staff cycling, carpooling or using public transportation to get to work daily.

• We subsidize our employee’s groceries by offering cash back if they shop at one of Austin’s local organic farms.

• Organic coffee and locally farmed fruit is provided weekly for our staff.

• We recycle our unused oil into biodiesel.

• Our paper towels and toilet paper used at the warehouse is made from 100% recycled paper.

Our Global Mission

Everyday Minerals also acts globally in addition to locally. To encourage organic and sustainable local farming, we donate to the sustainablefoodcenter.org. This organization promotes and teaches children and adults about nutrition, farming and sustainable practices.

Everyday Naturals WeCycle Program

We can recycle together. In doing so, reduce the amount of paper and plastic used when ordering Everyday Minerals products.

Everyday Minerals and Everyday Naturals is commited to improving packaging and reducing our carbon footprint. We are in pursuit of alternative packaging and reusable containers. The first week of September 2008, Everyday Minerals and Everyday Naturals will launch the new "Refill Program" that is all about reducing waste and ensuring that all jars and containers are eco-friendly and 100% recyclable. It not only helps out the environment but will save you money in the long run!

We recommend that you start keeping your jars and cleaning them for reuse in the near future.

I Love You Cesar Milan!

Dear Dog Whisperer,

My name is Alfie and I watch your show all the time. I just wanted to write and tell you that I'm your biggest fan!

I love you,
Alfie

World's Ugliest Cake

I made a cake for Jake's birthday party. It was so warm in our house after having the oven on that the frosting was melting as I spread it on the cake. Then, because it was melting, the layers of cake started to slide off of each other. Ultimately I ended up with the ugliest cake I've ever seen. It was crooked, lopsided, and melted. You be the judge. However, it did taste amazing!

Jake's Birthday Party

We had Saremy come over last night for a little birthday party for Jake. They brought over their puppy Diesel to play. As we were all playing the Wii, I looked back and saw Diesel like this:










How cute is that?

Our New Pool

You may not know it but out here in northern Arizona we have monsoons almost every afternoon. These monsoons usually consist of extreme thunderstorms and an obscene amount of rain. We got one of those the other day. It was a fatal thunderstorm... we found 4 dead birds in the front yard after the storm. And it toppled one of our trees! We also have brand new "swimming pool" in our back yard!

Jake's 26th & Babies

Well hello there. It's been a while huh? Yes it has. Jake and I now have a new internet provider and it's great. I can actually do things without it taking all night. So... here's an update: Baby Liam is doing wonderful. He is over 7 lbs now! Sam and Sara are expecting their first boy Aug 15. Here are some 4D images of him:

Isn't it amazing how detailed these pictures are? I'm eager to meet Baby Corder soon.

We went back to CA for Jake's 26th birthday. It was a great day. We went to Laguna Beach for the day and had lunch down there. Then there were about 15 of Jake's family and friends over for dinner later that night. Overall it was a good trip, pretty short though.

We went out with Saremy tonight. We went to a new burger place called Brown Bag Burgers and Frozen Yogurtz afterwards. The burgers start at 7 oz and go up to 20 oz! 7 was too big for me. Frozen Yogurtz is a frozen yogurt bar where you pay by the oz. So you can get as much yogurt and toppings as you want! Yummy!

Well, that is pretty much all I have for now. I'll be sure to update more often since my computer is so much faster now! Until then...