Silent Auction ~ Cinch it Up Thermal tote & Wristlet Wallet

This week there is a Silent Auction benefiting Julee Turner who tragically lost her husband in a car accident on October 6th.   

I am auctioning a couple of my favorite yellow Thirty-One products! You can see other fun Thirty-One Products by clicking on my pink Thirty-One button on the top right sidebar of my blog.

I am in love with this yellow medley.  

One of my favorite Thirty-One thermal totes, the Cinch it up Thermal.  It is great for packing lunches, going to the movies or just packing medications that you don't want getting hot on a trip.

  It has a drawstring closure and a silver thermal lining.  

It is approx. 10.5"H X 9.5"W X 5.25" D 

Another favorite product of mine is the Wristlet Wallet.   I have several wristlet wallets and I love them because they are so easy to grab right out of your purse to transfer to another Thirty-One bag.  I also enjoy having just a few things and my phone tucked away in a wristlet for quick trips to the store or going out on the town.  It has an exterior pocket, interior zipper pocker, cleanr PVC ID slot, 4 card slots, zip-around closure and removable strap. Approx. 4.5"H X 6.5"W

Retail value of this package is $49.

How to bid on this package:

Place your bid in the comments section of this blog post.

Leave NAME, EMAIL, and BID.

All bids must be made in $1 increments. If the last bid is $9 then your bid must be $10.

Bidding will close on Friday night at 10:00pm(EST)

Highest bidder will be the winner.

Payment will be accepted via PayPal. 

Winner will be emailed a paypal invoice and once paypal payment has been made, you will be notified.

PLEASE NOTE: Auction open to US Residents only.  

All payments must be received by October 31, 2012. 

Happy Bidding Friends!

If you have any other questions about this auction visit Jenn's Blog!

random randoms on Saturday

I was born a glass half full kinda gal.  I typically have good days, and I'm thankful for bad days because they remind me of how many good days I really have. {I heard this yesterday from my friend Becky. Thanks for those words lady, Love ya!}  

I let the stresses of moving to another state and selling our house get to me on Friday.  It was a day of me pouting and being sad.  By the evening I was better, but I was really grouchy about the whole mess of moving.

Hayden was adding to my frustration.  He has recently discovered changing outfits.  He changed clothes at least 12 times yesterday.  Each time he threw the clothes he wore [for 5 seconds] into the dirty clothes pile.  Um whaa??  Those are not dirty.  Stop making work for me BOY!  He is so funny.  He'd get all dressed up including wallet, watch and back pack. He would also try on a pair of shoes each time and guess who had to help him put them on.  Uh huh.  Me.  Each time he'd jump on his 4 wheeler out in the backyard.  I guess he needed to see how all his accessories felt in the real '4 wheeler' world.  Oh Lordy.  That boy makes me laugh, but he has a stinkin' temper.  If he can't get his shoe on in a timely fashion he f.auh.reaks OUT!

Layla decided yesterday over breakfast to tell me I don't play with her enough.  This was after she got a fun treat...she slept in my bed with me.  Let me just say...This NEVER happens.  I bet the kids have slept in my bed maybe 3 times in their entire lives.  I like my sleep...hahah!  Anyway, Layla thinks all I do all day long while she is at school is play with her brother non-stop.  She forgets about who washes her clothes and cleans the house so it is spotless for showings.  She forgets that I empty the dishwasher and put her clothes away. (which by the way she does if she is here)  Soooo...she kinda added to my bad mood yesterday.  I know she didn't mean to.  I am the only parent here 100% of the time, so I took her words to heart, when really I shouldn't have.  She also forgets that when she was 4 years old I "played" with her all the time,  just like I am doing with Hayden.  She had 3 long years of just mommy and daddy.

Ok, so look at this new product from Thirty-One.  I love it!  It is so amazing.  It is the new thermal zipper pouch.  I have LOVED this thing and it's only $15.  I always carry water in the Jeep with us because I'm not even joking, we get halfway out of the neighborhood and one of the kids decides they are dying of thirst.  Even though we just left home.  Anyway, I have been sliding this thermal zipper pouch into the fridge in the garage loaded with 4 bottles of water.  The water stays nice and cool in the pouch while we are out running errands.  When we get home I put it back into the fridge with fresh water.  Yep...so cool.  You need one of these!  

The September special is still going on.  You get 31 % off of most items in the fall catalog after you spend $31.  It's a great deal!  Let me know if you need something. I have a friend that needs a few more orders to complete her party.  I can add your order right on!

And now I am heading to the kitchen to warm up some cinnamon apples for these little people.  I got tons of apples last week from our co-op and I needed to use them.  I decided to make cinnamon apples in the slow cooker.  It was the highlights of my day yesterday.  The cinnamon apples turned out so delicious!  I'll have to write a recipe post for what I did.  I didn't really follow a recipe, I just threw a few things in the slow cooker and it turned out good.  

Have a great Saturday!

First day of 2nd grade

Layla was excited and nervous when she woke up this morning.

I made her fresh strawberry muffins for breakfast.  She took a few bites, but didn't eat much.

I know I'm just her Momma, but I think she is so adorable.  She picked out this dress at Old Navy for back to school.  Last night she said, "Mom is it too dressy for the first day?"  

Um no!

Daisy seemed excited for Layla.  She was jumping all over her when I was trying to take pictures!

Hayden was very excited for Layla too.  After we dropped her off about 30 minutes had gone by and he was ready to go pick her up!  He has checked the clock 5 times today waiting for it to be time to go get her.  He really misses his best bud!  They got really close this summer.

I could tell Layla was nervous.  Bless her heart.   I'm sure once she got there everything was great! I remember those first day stomach jitters.

I just had to post a picture of her Thirty-One book bag and lunch thermal.  She designed them herself and she was so proud to show them off! 

I hope she is having a great day.  I can't wait to pick her up!

a whole lotta jibber jabber

The end of summer is coming up fast.  I can't believe school will be starting in just a two weeks.  

I am ready for fall temperatures, but who knows if we will get fall here in Texas.  This is the time of year when I get so mad about the Texas heat because the grass in our yard is so dry and dead.  It makes me so sad.  We use our water sprinklers, but the grass is still khaki and dry.

I was working on entering a Thirty-One order on Saturday and Layla was very curious.  She got so excited to pick out her school bag for the year.  She decided on a purple bag and a pink lunch box.  She said, "Mom, it's so cool that I don't have to go out and buy a school bag.  You own tons of bags and I get to create my own!"  I feel that way too.  I seriously could have one of everything Thirty-One sells. I love what I do!

Gary and I drink coffee together in the mornings before work.  I love my morning coffee.  Sometimes when I am at the store I try to buy coffee that is cheaper, but seriously there is no comparison   Expensive coffee is better.  Life is too short for bad coffee.  If only I could lose my Splenda habit.  I'm trying to stop using artificial sweeteners, but it is hard.  Coffee just needs Splenda!

Gary was out of town all last week.  It was a hectic week for me.  I tried to keep the kids busy, but that just made me tired.  By the end of the week I was so ready for a break.  These children are so cute and sweet, but they never stop talking.  They must take after their father. heehee!

We watched the season finale of Dallas on Saturday night.  I'm so sad it ended.  I love that show!!  I'm so excited to see the new season and I hope it's as good as the first season.   I'm ready for my fall shows to come back on TV.  

Hayden and Layla fight over TV.  He usually just gives in and watches what she wants.  Poor little dude watches more Jessie and Austin & Ally than any other 4 year old.   My favorite show right now on Disney is Good Luck Charlie.  I think it is great.  I love when they play back to back non-stop episodes.

I have been lazy with my camera lately.  I am posting this entry with zero pics.  GASP!!  

I will get back into snapping shots.  The end of the summer brain fry is in effect.  I've been a tad bit grouchy.  Good thing for me the grouchies don't last too long.  

And now I'm off to have my morning coffee.

camo lunch tote

I just had to share Hayden's new lunch box with y'all!

It is a Thirty-One lunch to go thermal.  It is a steal at only $15 and the monogram was $7.

You can order one by visiting my Thirty-One website.

He is beyond proud of it!

It has two side pockets with elastic.  It also has a smaller zipper area in the front.   

The dimensions are  6.25"H X 8"W X 4" D.

It is the perfect size for all his lunch goodies.  I usually pack him a sandwich, juice box, chips, dessert and a snack.  All of this fit with room to spare!  

It is a great little lunch tote and it keeps his food chilled nicely.  It is also available in black.  The good thing about Thirty-One is all the color options when it comes to personalizing.  You can pick a rainbow of colors to please anyone!

March is coming to an end quickly.  Be sure to place your order today to get the new mini utility bin for $8.  For every $31 you spend you can get a mini utility bin for only $8.  That is a $22 savings!

Have a great Tuesday!

my first fresh food co-op experience

I have heard so many good things about food co-ops over the past few years. 

 I wish I would have done it sooner.  I finally took the plunge on Saturday.

I got all these goodies for less than $30.  

This is how it works:

I went to Bountifulbaskets.org. at around noon on last Monday.  I registered for a Saturday morning pick-up of half fruits and half veggies.  There are so many choices.  You can get extras like bread, citrus bundles, and granola to name a few.  You also have the option to do all organic baskets.

Bright and early on Saturday morning I grabbed my Thirty-One large utility tote and drove to the elementary school.  When I arrived I saw the parking lot full of cars and a long line of people!   I had no idea this was so popular.  I was sad I have been missing out! There were volunteers working hard putting food into laundry baskets and there were volunteers at a table set up for the extra options.

It was really painless and it all went pretty quickly.  While standing in line I visited with veteran co-opers and I got tons of ideas of new things to get in two weeks when I get our next Bountiful basket!

Since it was my first time I got a regular basket and I added 2 pounds of granola.  

We love granola and this granola is good!

As you can see we got apples, bananas, mangoes, and kiwi.

We got butter lettuce, peppers, broccoli and bell peppers.  

See the granola?

We got a pineapple, cantaloupe, potatoes, cucumbers and brussel sprouts.

My neighbor got bread and so she shared a loaf with us.  It is really good 100% whole wheat bread.  The bread comes bundled so you get 5 loaves for $10.  That is a ton of bread, and it is all homemade.  Most of the people I talked to rave about the bread and typically they freeze it until they are read to use it.

I am excited to eat these peppers!  

So far everything we received in our basket tastes amazing.  The one thing I really like about this co-op thing is the variety of foods we received.  I wouldn't normally purchase butter lettuce or brussel sprouts in a weekly shopping visit.  Getting these in our basket is fun because we get to eat new and different things.  I found a few recipes I'm planning to make.  I already toasted the granola and I made homemade apple sauce in the slow cooker.  Tonight we are stuffing the peppers and we added mango to our smoothies this morning.  I never think to buy mangoes and kiwi at the grocery store.  I ate two kiwis all by myself.  I forget how good they are.  

All in all I love this co-op and I would highly recommend it to all my friends.  If you are interested you can go to the website to see if it is available in your area!  

www.bountifulbaskets.org

Oh and I must add, the large utility tote was the perfect size for all my goodies.  I got so many compliments while standing in line waiting for pickup.   There was a ton of food and it all fit perfectly.    There was a little bit of water in the bottom of the bag after I emptied the produce onto the kitchen counter.  I wiped the large utility tote clean and it is ready for my next pick up!  

  Visit my website to get yours today.

this and that about me

I am loving the kids ages right now.  They are funny and silly and they are both learning so much.  I laugh at them every day.  I am realizing how independent they are becoming.  Maybe I am doing a good job at this parenting gig!  Y'all...I can ride the stationary bike for an hour alone with my iPod.  It is amazing because I look forward to my exercise time. They don't do crazy stuff and I don't have to worry about them burning the house down.  I am finally getting some time to myself where I don't have to be watching them non stop all the time.  

I feel like when it comes to certain parts of my life in the past I put myself on the back burner.  I think it is a mom thing.  I will say I am getting better at doing things for me, but I always try to put my family first.  That being said...

I am embarrassed to admit, I have been wanting to whiten my teeth for years.  I started whitening them right before I got pregnant with Hayden.  I stopped whitening them because I worried about the chemicals hurting him.  I was a pretty by the book pregnant person.  I'm sure people whiten their teeth all through their pregnancies now a days, but back then I wasn't comfortable doing it. Anyway, since Hayden is now 3 1/2 years old I decided I put it off long enough and I have had a least a million cups of coffee since he was born, my teeth needed some attention.  

I worried about the cost of whitening my teeth.  I didn't really want to spend $250 or more to whiten my teeth.  I thought about Crest white strips and all of the drug store whitening remedies, but I wasn't sold on them.  One day while visiting with a friend she told me our dentist offered free teeth whitening.  Seriously.  I was so shocked and excited.  I went in and got my impressions and after 14 days I am done.  How cool is that?  Why am I telling you this?  Your dentist may do it too!

***

I don't watch much TV during the day.  I try to stay busy with the kids and doing chores, but I have made an exception.  I am loving the Dr. Oz show.  He has so many awesome tips and healthy ideas.  I am so excited about the changes I have made in my life when it comes to health and fitness, so getting good tips I can use makes me feel good! 

***

I started using an anti-aging cream about a week ago.  I love the way it makes my face feel.  I am not happy with the breakout on my chin though.  I'm sure it is just a random breakout, but I feel like the anti-aging cream took me way back to age 14.  haha!  Yuck!

I joined a mom's group at church.  We meet every other week and this week we started a Beth Moore study.  I am so excited about learning about the book of Ester and also about getting to know other moms.  We have a fun group of moms and all of us live around one another!  I think it will be great to get to know other moms and Hayden has fun playing with other kids.   Win win!

Finally, I wanted to share my Cindy tote with y'all.  I am loving it.  It is a Thirty-One tote and I'm super happy with it!  I have been wanting one since I started selling Thirty-One.   I am excited about our families upcoming camping trips.  I have so many fun totes to keep us organized.  Yay for Thirty-One!

this and that

Good Monday Morning to ya!  

It is freezing cold here, but we are glad.  Don't get me wrong we love to be outside playing, but we need some winter.  I hope we get more winter weather to get rid of all the buggy bugs.

The kiddos are safe at school and I am doing things kid free around the house.  It is clean sheets day and I am getting the weekend laundry done.  I'm helping a few ladies with Thirty-One orders and also ...  I am mailing Thirty-One NEW SPRING catalogs later today, so if you want one let me know.  I will be happy to get one in the mail to you this afternoon.  

If you want to see the new catalog online just visit my Thirty-One website. 

Let me just say I love my Dyson vacuum cleaner.  Gary and I have gone though so many $100 vacuum cleaners in our marriage.  I can't even count them all.  We bought a Dyson after Hayden was born and I have loved it.  Sadly it has been cranky lately.  It hasn't been performing like it did when we first bought it.  This morning I called Dyson customer support.  WOW!  They are amazing.  We did several things to my machine and now it seems to be working so much better.  The true test will come tomorrow after the filters have dried.  I'm hoping my Dyson Animal will be working good as new soon!

Yesterday was a fun day for our little family.  The kids were so excited about Super Bowl Sunday.  They loved saying up a tad later to watch some football and commercials.  Layla was especially happy to see all the commercials with dogs.  We also made tons of snacks and ate too much food all afternoon long.  

Sadly we all ate so much guacamole we weren't really hungry for the buffalo chicken bites we were planning on making.

AND...the bread we made was not good.

I baked a home made loaf of bread and we cut it apart and poured goodness into it, but it wasn't good. 

I will not give up though....

I will make this recipe better.  Hopefully I will share my version soon.  Gary and I haven't really been eating that much bread since we are both counting calories.  I have to say I was very disappointed that this didn't turn out.  I have been so ready for some good bread.  Oh well.  Like I said, we will try again soon.

The other part of the day that was fun yesterday was creating the kids Valentine boxes.  I can't wait to share them with you!  Layla also addressed all the cards for her classmates.  She had a fun time picking out Valentines for her friends and Hayden had fun pretending he can write as good as his big sissy!  And since we mentioned sissy...

Layla has a recent obsession with having me put her hair into a bun.  It really isn't that awesome of a bun  because she doesn't really have enough hair.  It falls into a pony tail really quickly,  BUT she loves it.  She said she wanted her hair to look like mine.  She also mentioned her teacher at school, Mrs. Aslin, sometimes wears a bun in her hair and she thinks it looks so cute.  We are so blessed Layla has an amazing teacher.  I am thankful for the amazing role models Layla has/had in her teachers.  Layla still talks about her kindergarten teacher.  We are blessed!

Have a great day!

another random post

1.  I am so excited!  I got a delivery of new spring Thirty-One catalogs yesterday!!!!!  Let me know if you want one...I can mail you one!  :)  There are so many fun and cute things for spring!  Layla is dying over a new pattern called Flutter.  It is butterflies and it is so stinkin' adorable! 

2.  The mailman hand delivered our mail to the front door yesterday because the catalogs were too large for the box.  Those letters and that package were freezing cold.  It is cold day here again today, but hopefully we will warm up to the 50's later today.  I am sitting right in front of the fire as I type.  I am a tad jealous of a few people tweeting about snow.  I hope we get snow again this year!

3.  My 6 year old address book is old and just plain messy.  I really think I need a new one.  I'm thinking I need another Erin Condren item in my life.  I am really loving my on the go life planner!  I think the address book has a perpetual calendar!  I need!!!  Anyone have an EC addy book?  The picture below is of my life planner!

4. In April we will celebrate 6 years living in this house, our house.  Gasp!  6  years.  That is the longest Gary and I have lived in a house ever.  I am really thinking it is time to change up a few things.  Since Christmas our mantle is driving me crazy.  And the window treatment in the living room....blah!  There are so many things we want to do to this house.  Part of me thinks it is time to move, but the responsible part of me knows we need to stay here a few more years.  Redoing things is what it is all about.  Layla's ceiling fan has been giving us fits, so that seems like a great place to start this weekend!

the day we moved in back in 2006

5.  Earlier this week Layla woke up at night because of thunderstorms.  She slept in our bed with me.  Two nights in a row we  had storms in January. When do kids out grow being afraid of storms?  She has probably slept in our bed  maybe 5 times in her entire life.  All these times were after age 3 and during really bad storms.  I have to say it was kinda sweet to have her sleep with me, but she said I am a cover hog!

6.  Gary has been out of town working all week long.  We are so ready for him to come home!!!  The best part....he is bringing us Wisconsin cheese again.  Whooo hooo!  I love cheese!  We all love cheese!  I can't wait AND he buys the kids string cheese that is to die for.  I am hoping for another block of Tomato Basil cheese.  Yum!

7.  What in the world is it about Spongebob that kids love?  Hayden begs me every day to watch it.  I can't stand that show at all.  He doesn't watch watch it very often so why does he want to??  I have said before it makes kids brains mushy.  I caved though.  He got to watch it yesterday.  Right after one show I told him his brain was getting mushy.  He turned it off.

8.  Ok, last number...

Yesterday Layla and Hayden each had a friend come over to play at our house.  There were four kids running and playing in our house.  It was so fun to see them all play.  For the first 30 minutes I got my feelings hurt.  Hayden and his buddy went into his room and shut the door, and Layla and her friend did the same thing.  I just sat in the living room happy but sad.  Happy for quiet and thankful for great friends, but sad because I wanted to play too.   I did get to play later, so not to worry.  What am I going to do someday soon when they just stay in their rooms with their friends and don't hang out with me anymore?  I am enjoying every moment.  I don't take a second of time with my kids for granted!  They just grow so fast.  It seems like yesterday I was standing next to Gary and Layla when we moved into our house.  Time flies!!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Thirty-One Holiday Specials

Today I am sharing the amazing sale that Thirty-One has going on right now...Let the Christmas Shopping begin!

For every $31.00 you spend you can choose one of these items for only $5.00.  

That my friends is a STEAL!  

Here is how it works...Let's say your total is $160.00.  

You get 5 of these fun items for $5.00 each. So no matter how many times you get to $31.00 you get another $5.00 item.

Are you with me?  It can get confusing!

The first choice is the All-in-One Organizer.  

The bag is shown AND to the right... all the colors it comes in.  See what I mean?  AND for only $7.00 you can personalize it!  You can put your initials or your name.  Or you can personalize it with anything you so desire.  What an amazing gift to give this holiday season.

I think this would make a great bag to give to a little boy.  The camo color with a movie, Twizzlers and popcorn.  Perfect Christmas gift for sure!  He could fill it with blocks or even Legos.  It is such a versatile bag!

Another choice is the Cinch Sac.  Layla has this in the Pink Circle Spirals color.  She loves it.  She carries it to sleepovers, soccer games and just when we are out and about.  It cinches up and the kids can wear it like a backpack. 

The flat iron case is also offered in the $5.00 special.  If you spend $31.00 you can get one of these in the color choices below for only $5.00.  Every lady needs a case for their flat iron!

This is the zip up pencil pouch.  I use this in my purse for all my misc items.  This too is one of the FIVE choices in the holiday special!

Lastly is the soft wallet.  I carry this lovely wallet and I love it.  It has plenty of room for all my necessities and also a side zipper pocket.  It put my change in that side pocket!  You can see the colors it is offered in below!

I know you are completely overwhelmed trying to decide what to get.  And I know you are asking what items you can purchase to get you above $31.00.  I am here to tell you there is a bag for everyone and every occasion.


My favorite bag {seen below} is $25.00.  When you personalize it with your name or initials, that adds $7.00 making your total $32.00.  That qualifies you for one of the $5.00 items!

See the color choices below to the right?  I want the black taylored stripe.  It has hot pink handles.  So I would put my initials ASJ in hot pink.  Then I would get the zip up pencil pouch in pink to hold my lipstick, mirror and other goodies. `

So for $37.00 plus shipping and tax I am all set...or I can gift this!  This bag is perfect for so many things...soccer mom bag, snack bag, shopping bag, makeup/toiletries.  I could go on and on!

Merry Christmas to me!

Are you confused?  If so email me. {angelajsipes at gmail [dot] com} I will be glad to walk you through the ordering process.  Act fast though.  If you want to order for yourself, friends and family for Christmas....you must order now!

Or if you just want to browse all the goodies Thirty-One has to offer got to my website...http://www.mythirtyone.com/AngelaSipes/

I realize I cut some of the color choices off on the right side, but I wanted to ensure you can see the bags in a large view!

(all of these images were taken from the Thrity-One online catalog)