Summer is fast approaching. It was pretty warm yesterday and today the forecast calls for even higher temperatures. One of the bigger purchases on our list is a swimming pool as it would be great exercise and a fun way to beat the heat this summer. Plus a small-to-medium sized pool won’t break the bank. Besides, last year’s pool is too small to really be enjoyed by the growing nieces and nephews.

I remember when I was a kid it seemed the only pool treatments used chlorine. If we do get a pool, I would be against using chlorine since it was so rough on the pool, our skin, and clothing.

Having a salt water pool sounds like a good idea until you start reading more about it. First of all, imagine getting a mouth-full of salt water. That’d be just as bad as chlorine water. Ecosmarte says that a pool treated with their product is like swimming in bottled water. That would be way better to get a mouth-full of that instead of chlorine or salt!

Another problem with both chlorine and salt is that they can cause damage to the vinyl siding of the pool. The backwash discharge of a salt treatment is not good for your lawn or garden. Also, some make think that because it’s a salt pool that they are free of chlorine when in fact salt pools create chlorine.

By using a natural alternative, there would be many benefits to us and the environment. Not only is Ecosmarte an effective way to keep pool water clear, they also donate 5% to environmental charities. You get to choose where the money goes from your purchase.

Ecosmarte is firmly against using salt chlorinators and chlorine generators since both options are not good for your skin, pool, or your lawn. They offer plenty of information about both of these systems and why their pool filter system is better for you and the environment.

Here is how the Ecosmarte system works. It creates two sanitizing agents: copper ionization and liquid oxidation. Water from your pool travels into the Ecosmarte system and receives the ionization or oxidation, depending on the setting on the controller. Both methods sanitizes the water, killing bacteria, algae, and viruses. The copper level is perfectly fine and is okay if accidentally consumed. In fact, you could drink up to two gallons of pool water and only consume the amount of copper found in a multi-vitamin.

There is a lot to think about when purchasing a pool from size to pool filters. A pool would be something the whole family would enjoy, and I want to make sure that it’s as enjoyable as possible. I’m not interested in having my little girl swim in a chlorine-filled pool but know that I will need some pool treatment system. It’s good to know about Ecosmarte’s products that not only offer a safe alternative to chlorine but give something back to environmental charities.

Nothing will dull scissors faster than using them to cut paper. If you any amount of sewing, you know that sharp scissors are a very important tool to have.

My mom has a separate pair of scissors that are just used to cut cloth. She even has it marked on the handle so that they aren’t accidentally used for another purpose.

I don’t sew that much but I would imagine that I would buy a nice pair of scissors to cut cloth and would want them to be used just for that. Labeling the scissors is also a good idea so that everyone in the household will know that these scissors are off limits for all projects that don’t involve cloth.

Clutter is one of my biggest problems when cleaning house. It seems that any flat surface naturally collects stuff. If I can find conquer clutter, I’ll be very proud and will certainly share how I did it.

Yesterday I started to clear the buffet and then I will move to the bar. Once I have these area clear, I plan to put some baskets or storage cloth drawers to catch the clutter.

Most of our stuff just needs to go. We don’t have the room and we never use it. So, May will be my spring cleaning month and hopefully a productive one at that. There’s a lot to do and if I don’t get on top of things, I won’t get it all done.

Today I will clear more clutter from the buffet as well as the bar. It does make the house look neater when there is less clutter even if it really isn’t that clean.

Tonight we are celebrating Cinco de Mayo with an easy taco bake recipe. To make it even more fun, we are going to make homemade tortillas to use in the dish.

This is a recipe from High Five, a magazine from Highlights for younger children. It’s a good one that they can help with since the mixing is pretty straightforward and then they can help roll out the tortillas.

Here is the recipe:

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
vegetable oil spray
shredded cheese

Mix in a box the flour and salt. Then add the water and vegetable oil.

Mix until the dough forms a ball. Then separate the dough into 12 smaller balls. I was one shy of 12.

Next roll out the tortillas with a rolling pin until they are flat. I was running low on extra flour, so my tortillas wanted to stick. They turned out OK. They could have been flatter. Next over a medium heat, spray a pan with cooking spray and then cook tortilla for two minutes.

The next part of it we didn’t do since I was using the tortillas in another recipe. But once you turn the tortilla, add cheese. Take up from pan once the cheese is melted. Fold over tortilla, eat, and enjoy.

They turned out OK. The tortillas could have been flatter as when they cooked they were more like pitas than tortillas. Next time I will make sure that I have more flour and can keep the tortillas from sticking when rolling them out. Still it was a successful first try at a new recipe.

Sometimes it can be so hard to go shopping with a two and a half year old. Sometimes she is just fussy or tired. It’s definitely not the best time to do any shopping. Imagine being able to shop from home for products like carpets, window treatments, and hardwood flooring? These items really need your full, undivided attention to make sure you choose wisely.

Luckily there’s a company that sells these products that will bring samples to your house. I didn’t know anyone did this, but it makes sense. Empire Today is an Illinois-based company that has been in business for over 45 years. Today they serve 50 metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada. You might even remember this vintage Empire Today jingle(800-588-2300 Empire!):

Empire Today was formerly known as Empire Carpet. One of the Empire Today commercials was featured in the movie Wayne’s World. Here is one of their commercials from the 1980s.

Now Empire today not only sells carpets but hardwood flooring, laminate flooring, ceramic flooring, window treatments, and bath and shower liners. You might have seen some of their work on TV shows like Extreme Makeover Home Edition or Curb Appeal.

Empire Today will bring samples to your home, give you a free estimate, and then do the installation the next day. Since they don’t have a showroom and the extra overhead costs, they pass those savings onto their customers by offering warehouse-direct prices.

I would much rather shop for hardwood flooring at home since this could give you a very clear picture of what will work in your home. There’s no guesswork plus you have the undivided attention of one person, compared to a sales associate who might be waiting on two or more customers at one time. Get all of your questions answered and a free estimate. Ever since I became a mom, errands and shopping have become much more difficult. It’s hard to listen to a sales associate while listening and watching our for your child. I love the idea of having someone come to my house with samples of products I’m looking to buy. The kiddo is entertained because we are home, and I get to really talk to someone about this major home improvement purchase.

Also that Empire Today will install the next day is very impressive because once you buy new carpeting, you want it installed as soon as possible. Once the installation is complete, Empire Today will give you a care package on how to care for your new flooring or carpeting, warranty information, and more. They also have an 800 number from the catchy jingle (800-588-2300) for any post-installation questions.

For me, the only way I knew to shop from home was either through online or television. It’s good to know that with Empire Today there is at least one more way to shop from home.

It’s nice to travel but it’s  so good to be back home. I look forward to a good night’s sleep in my own bed. It seems the older I get, the more I like my bed.

I used to could sleep practically anywhere but not anymore. So, I’m looking forward to a good nights rest tonight.

We are traveling this weekend to a family reunion that is in another state. I tell ya it was like moving all of the stuff we had to take for just an overnight stay! We’re in south Alabama and with the rolling hills looks more like Wilmington NC real estate than River Falls, Alabama.

My dad always get a newspaper and today’s local paper is the one with all the sales papers and Smart Source coupons. Unlike our local Smart Source insert, these actually have coupons I will use.

So, my advice when traveling on the weekend is to pick up the local newspaper and look for the coupons insert. You might just find some that are useful to you, too.

What’s the craziest home remedy you’ve heard? I’ve heard many over the years and have even tried some. I remember changing my soap to to a gentler brand because I heard it was an affective acne treatment. That might not be that strange, but some advice I’ve been given I’m not sure I follow the logic.

My mother-in-law always said if you have a wart to cut a potato in half. Rub it over the wart and then bury the potato in the backyard under a full moon. Your wart would then go away. I guess maybe the starch does something to the wart and maybe the rest is just to give you something to do while you wait for your wart to go away!

One of my favorite products is foamy hand soap since it is so handy when it comes to washing the little one’s hands. I was sad when we finally ran out of it. Not wanting to pay the price for a new bottle, I thought our foamy soap days were over. That is until I was reading a tip of recycling/reusing on a message board.

Since I couldn’t bare to part with the soap container, (i.e. too lazy to throw it away) I still had it on hand and decided to try the advice on the board for making your own foamy hand soap. you’ll need:

Liquid soap and an empty foamy soap container.

Fill the container with 1/4 of liquid soap then fill the rest with water. It’s almost like these containers were meant to be refilled because on the side you can see just exactly how much soap is in it. There is also a “fill to here” line. I put in my liquid soap and then added enough water to reach the fill line. Next it was time to test it out.

It worked! Look at all the rich foam. I’m not sure how long the pump will last, and we will probably at some point have to buy more. But this is a great way to save money and save on waste.

Most days I enjoy living in a small town except when I try to find something that is just not available locally. It’s not only about shopping but think of how easy it would be to find a mover NYC compared to mover insert small town. There is just more available in big cities.

Good thing there’s the Internet since you can find basically anything on it. It does help that I can find those items not sold locally online but still it’s just more fun to shop in a store. Of course I do wind up spending more when I shop in a store compared to online.

Another problem I’m having with my small town is finding a local mom’s group. I joined one website that is suppose to show questions from moms in my area. The closet one I’ve seen so far lives in a surrounding state. That’s not what I would exactly close someone in my area.

Small town life is usually great. It’s just some days I wish we had more options.