I'm practically addicted to home renovation TV shows. I love seeing how people can transform a nonfunctional home and turn it into something amazing! There's something about seeing the transformation process that is really entertaining! Often times, older homes are a huge part on these awesome transformations because they can be purchased for a bargain price and renovated into a dream home and bring instant equity to the homeowner. Renovating an older home can also be risky. You never know what you'll find lurking in an older home. Things like... Asbestos. Today is the 10th annual Mesothelioma Awareness Day. Mesothelioma is a cancer that is ... read more
Overcoming Pressure To Be The Perfect Mom
I'll be the first to admit that I don't have it all together. In fact, I sort of adopted that as my slogan for Carrie This Home. I gladly point it out on my bio photo: Why do I do this? I want Carrie This Home to be a place of encouragement. I struggle with things just like you do! I want to be the Mom my kids deserve but sometimes feel I'm not measuring up. My living room is usually a mess. I'm lucky if I get a shower. I struggle with having healthy confidence. The constant mountain of laundry causes me daily stress. The list could go on. I am willing and happy to share my struggles with my readers in the hope that I can also ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 94
If you want to make sure you don't miss a party, subscribe to my email list & you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to head over to the other blogs to see some more lovely features! This Week at Carrie This Home There's a few things that get me really excited. One of them is when I discover a recipe that tastes great, is easy to make, and doesn't force you to buy 10 million ingredients. Let me introduce you to Orange Cream Fudge for Under ... read more
Orange Cream Fudge For Under 5 Dollars
This dreamy Orange Cream Fudge For Under 5 Dollars proves you can make a delectable dessert without breaking the bank! You can't go wrong with the taste combination of orange and cream, right? Orange and Cream has to be one of my top flavor combinations. When I bite into this fudge, it reminds me of those orange creamsicles my brother and I used to get from the ice cream truck when we were kids. Weren't those awesome? This amazingly easy fudge will satisfy any sweet tooth. The taste is beyond wonderful but the best part is you'll be able to make this for under $5! Tasty, easy, and inexpensive? Now that's my kind of recipe! Orange Cream Fudge is ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 93
If you want to make sure you don't miss a party, subscribe to my email list & you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to head over to the other blogs to see some more lovely features! What I've Been Up To Earlier this week I shared a simple tip I've done over the years. It's all about how to Play With the Kids, Clean and Exercise at The Same Time! Talk about multi-tasking! It's worth hopping over to check it out just for the video! ... read more
Play With The Kids, Clean & Exercise At The Same Time
Some days I feel like I'm drowning under my to-do list. Spending time with my kids verses getting things done are constantly battling over my time. I have two energetic kids that love to play. I also have a house to clean. And a body to take care of. And bills to pay. And people to take care of. You get the idea. Most days I have three things I try to accomplish: spend more time with the kids keep the house somewhat presentable exercise It's difficult to do well at all three of these on the same day. If I do really well with spending quality time with the kids, the house gets ignored. When I do well to get the ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 92
If you want to make sure you don't miss a party, subscribe to my email list & you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to head over to the other blogs to see some more lovely features! This week at Carrie This Home I shared my all-time favorite hair care tip. I'm one of those people who takes a long time to get ready in the morning. By the time I shower, put on makeup, blow dry and flat iron my hair, an hour has gone by. I don't always have ... read more
Get Rid of Greasy Hair In 10 Minutes
Have you ever noticed your hair getting greasy but you don't have time to shower? Me too! A shower would solve the greasy hair problem but it takes a lot of time to go through the whole process. I have great news! I recently found a life hack that that solves the greasy hair problem so well it's been a huge game changer for me! This tip is perfect for busy women, new mothers, and for people like me who need a quicker solution. My hair gets VERY greasy if it's not washed everyday. My hubby jokes if I go too long without washing my hair, it looks like I've put hair gel in it. I guess I can't blame him when it looks like this: There are ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 91
Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you all are in the midst of enjoying this long Labor Day Weekend! We have plans of relaxing as a family and going to a local fair. Going to the fair is always entertaining. Maybe it's the good food, the rides, or the mullets. Mullets? Yes. Mullets. State fairs are the perfect place to count mullet haircuts. The hubby and I have made a silly game of counting the number of mullet haircuts we see each year at the fair. I know. We're pretty strange, right? Okay....moving on! This week at Carrie This Home I shared our Budget Deck Makeover. Investing some money into our deteriorating deck has proved to ... read more
Budget Deck Makeover
(**See the bottom of this post for a two year update on our deck!) I'm kicking myself that I didn't do this project earlier. We've lived in our home for 7 years and we are just now starting to use our deck. Our home was unoccupied for an entire year before we purchased it. Several things went without maintenance and the deck was one of them. I don't think any of the five previous owners stained or maintained the deck at all. Our wood deck was structurally sound but was it was splintering badly. We were so worried about getting splinters that we wouldn't walk on it without shoes on. We could have replaced the deck. We also could have installed ... read more
Tour Through Blogland
Happy Monday! I hope you all are having a great start to your week! Today I'm doing something a little different. I've been nominated for the Tour Through Blogland! I'm going to share a couple things about myself and introduce you to some other great blogs! I was nominated by the lovely Katie from The Casual Craftlete. She is a sweet girl who has an amazing talent for creating sweet treats and cute crafts. She's also shared a lot of her experiences with running. Katie and I have known each other for years, and our friendship has grown closer since we both started blogging. It's so fun to have a friend like Katie to share blogging ideas, ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 90
It's official. I have a Kindergartner in the house! Life is a little different now that I only have one kiddo for most of the day! Last week I shared a pretty cool story of how God made our last day of summer pretty special. Let's just say I was really surprised by God! Now on to the party! If you want to make sure you don't miss a party, subscribe to my email list & you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to head over to the ... read more
Surprised by God
I've been a bit of an emotional mess the past two weeks. My daughter is starting Kindergarten. She will be gone ALL DAY 5 days a week! Part of me is beyond excited. I'll finally get some time to myself! But the other part of me is a mix of sadness and guilt. She's not a baby anymore and what if I didn't spend enough time with her? I was feeling a lot of "mom guilt". I've had a lot of struggles with my daughter lately. I haven't had much sleep which brings my patience to an all-time low. My daughter is very energetic and she's beyond ready for school to start. Put those two together and you've got a recipe for disaster. I never wanted to be ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 89
What an emotional week for me. Being a little sleep deprived lately, I've gotten upset at my kids this week a lot more than I'd like to admit. I also sent my firstborn to Kindergarten this week. I'm excited for her and also a little worried. Thankfully God has reminded me that I can let go of her and trust that He's going to take care of her. If I have time next week I may try to share some stories and photos of my daughter's first day at school! Now on to the party! If you want to make sure you don't miss a party, subscribe to my email list & you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. ... read more
How To Sanitize a Hotel Room in 5 Minutes
Today I'm showing you all a different side of me. My name is Carrie and I'm a germophobe. Or maybe I'm just "germ conscious". Either way, germs gross me out. All jokes aside, I think we can all agree that hotel rooms can be the perfect place for unwanted germs. Think about all the previous people who have used that room and what they've done in it. That's enough to give me the creeps. There is hope for germophobes out there. You can travel and use hotel rooms without fear! Here's how: Fighting Germs Starts Before You Book The Hotel Research your hotel and the rooms before you book. If you see some of these words ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 88
Good Evening! I hope the weekend was great for all of you! Welcome to the Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop. The party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time. If you want to make sure you don't miss a party, subscribe to my email list & you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to head over to the other blogs to see some more lovely features! This week at Carrie This Home: I gave all my readers a little glimpse into my crazy family in my ... read more
Rappers Delight Lip Synch and Life Lately
Today I'm going to give you just a little glimpse of how crazy and fun my family is. One thing I love about my Hubby is how he makes me laugh. This guy is seriously crazy (in a funny way). I'm the more serious one so sometimes he has to help me let loose a little. This was one of those times. This summer a group of friends from our church issued a lip synch in the car challenge. We took this challenge somewhat seriously. The hubby and I spent an entire evening trying to find the perfect song. The song had to be funny. Something memorable. Something family friendly. We finally decided on the song Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 87
Hi Friends! I hope you all are doing well. I cannot believe it's August already! This is going to be a big month for my family as we watch our firstborn go to Kindergarten. I'm so excited for my little girl but sad to see that she will be gone most of the day. Welcome to this week's Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! This party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time You can subscribe to my email list to ensure you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so ... read more
Car Bed Makeover for Under $60
We just moved my son into a big boy bed. The thought of not having any more 'babies' in a crib made me sad. Especially after seeing this: My baby is not a baby anymore! But one thing got me really excited about my son being in a big boy bed. We did a makeover of his car bed and it turned out AWESOME! I was literally jumping up and down once I saw the finished project and couldn't wait to see it in his room. My hubby and I are car people--in our free time we love to watch Top Gear UK and imagine what it would be like to own a fancy sports car. So if our son is going to have a car bed--it's going to have to look epic. This is what it looked like ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 86
Welcome to this week's Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! This party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time You can subscribe to my email list to ensure you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to head over to the other blogs to see some more lovely features! Lovely Feature Posts From Last Week's Party Cheesy Supper and Breakfast Biscuits from An Extraordinary Day Some parents are great at thinking of ways to entertain little ones at home. ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 85
Welcome to this week's Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! This party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time You can subscribe to my email list to ensure you won’t miss a thing! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to head over to the other blogs to see some more lovely features! In case you missed it, here's what I've been up to at Carrie This Home Ever have one of those moments when you can't fulfill a promise you made? Yep. I had one of those this week. Sometimes ... read more
Summer Spotlight on Carrie This Home
Today I'm being featured on the Summer Spotlight hosted by Kenarry: Ideas for the Home, View from the Fridge, Oh, My! Creative and One Krieger Chick. The Summer Spotlight showcases great ideas from a different talented blogger each Friday throughout the summer months. I encourage you to swing by and check out the feature about Carrie This Home as well as the entire Summer Spotlight series. You can also follow the hosts online to see the great ideas they share year-round: Carrie of Kenarry: Ideas for the Home Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Google+ Katie of View from the Fridge Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Google+ / Instagram Susan of Oh My! Creative Facebook / Twitter / ... read more
My Apologies
Doing the right thing can be hard. In one of my last posts, I said I would share a fun tutorial showing you how to make a Frozen Inspired Birthday Party Invitation. I'm sorry to say I can't do that. {I will be sharing a free printable so hang with me...} I had the post all done and was really excited to share it with you. As I was about to publish it, something made me stop. I hesitated to click on the Publish button. Why was I hesitating? Then the thought hit me. This invitation was inspired by a blog post I saw online. I saw someone else make a Frozen Invitation that she was selling. I got really inspired to make my own version with my own ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 84
Welcome to this week's Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to check out the other lovely features! This party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time You can subscribe to my email list to ensure you won’t miss a thing! In case you missed it, here's what I've been up to at Carrie This Home My daughter just turned 5. I can't believe how fast time flies by! I shared all the details of her Frozen themed party at the park. It was a lot ... read more
Frozen Inspired Birthday Party
I know every single parent on the planet has said it before...but I'm going to say it anyway. I can't believe how fast time goes. In some ways, it seems like it was just yesterday when my daughter was born. I blink my eyes and now she's FIVE. How did that happen? My daughter sings "Let It Go" on an hourly basis and constantly pretends to be Elsa, so naturally the theme for her birthday party this year was Frozen. We decided to have a Frozen inspired birthday party at the park. The kids were so excited to help make the goodie bags for all their friends! I made cupcakes with blue frosting to fit in with the Frozen theme. My daughter had a blast playing ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 83
Welcome to this week's Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop! Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to check out the other lovely features! This party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time You can subscribe to my email list to ensure you won’t miss a thing! Lovely Feature Posts From Last Week's Party Crystal & Co. showed us how to make Homemade Carpet Freshener. This version even kills fleas--which will be good for our pet-owner readers! The Diary of a Real Housewife shared ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 82
Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to check out the other lovely features! This party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time You can subscribe to my email list to ensure you won’t miss a thing! In case you missed it.... Since Summer is in full swing, I shared some beautiful looking Refreshing Summer Drinks. Just looking at the pictures is making me thirsty! Most of the drinks featured in this post came right from the Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hops from the last couple ... read more
Google+ Grow Your Circles Link Party
This week I'm happy to be co-hosting the Google+ Grow Your Circles Link Party! It's one of my all-time favorite parties because of all the inspiring posts I see and the new friends I make! This party has been BY FAR the best and easiest way to grow my circles. So without further adieu, let's get to the party! Welcome to the mommy is coocoo circles hop. Interested in google+ training? Look here!*Update we've created a facebook group for Creative bloggers who google+. Message me here with your email address if you would like to be in to the group. Now it's time to party! If you want to be ... read more
Refreshing Summer Drinks
It's already in the low to high 90s here in the Midwest. That's all fine and good with me as log as I have shade, a breeze, and a cool drink to enjoy! If you've been a reader of mine for any amount of time, you've probably noticed I host the Frugal Crafty Home party each Sunday night. One of the best parts of hosting a link party is seeing so many inspiring ideas in one place! Lately I've seen a lot of my blog friends sharing some of their favorite summer drinks so today I'm going to share some of my favorites with you! I can just imagine myself sitting on the porch in the shade enjoying the breeze with one of these lovely drinks in my hand. Can't you? If you want ... read more
Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop 81
Thanks for joining me and Jordan from Lily White. Designs, Amy From A Blossoming Life, Sara from Sneaky Spoons, and Katie from The Casual Craftlete. We each pick different features each week so be sure to check out the other lovely features! This party starts each Sunday at 8PM Central time You can subscribe to my email list to ensure you won’t miss a thing! This week at Carrie This Home The hubby and I LOVE to go out to eat for good food and good conversation. But going out doesn't always happen. So this week I shared a recipe for Fried Rice that makes you feel like you're eating out from the comfort of your own home! It's easy ... read more