Thirty-One Mystery Hostess Giveaway

Back to school time means it's time for new supplies, including lunch boxes and backpacks. You can take care of a few of the items on your list right here, from the comfort of your own home...and possibly win lots of great, free items for yourself! :)

The Thirty-One Special for August includes some adorable lunch boxes (only available in August): 

To help you prepare for Back to School, I'm hosting an online, Mystery Hostess, party! Follow these guidelines and you could win ALL the hostess benefits without any of the work:

*Place a minimum of a $31 order (total pre-tax & shipping), under the Mystery Hostess party here. 

        **You will receive one entry in the drawing for every $31 spent ($62=2 entries, $93=3 entries, etc)

*Order must be placed between August 1-August 11 (midnight cst). 

*Drawing will be held by 10am on August 12 and winner will be contacted. Winner must contact me with their hostess order by noon on August 13 or a second drawing will be held. {party total must be a minimum of $200 for drawing to be held}

The winning "hostess" will get the full hostess benefits for the party (the more you share this with your friends, the bigger the party grows and the more the winning hostess receives)! The hostess benefits are as follows:

These are the hostess exclusives that you can only purchase as a hostess. See the catalog for various fabric patterns. 

Also, in August, as a hostess, you can purchase the Take A Break Thermal for only $5.

Want to skip the contest and guarantee yourself the hostess rewards? Contact me today to host your own online party! 

Many items are retiring in August and will not longer be available. Click here to see those items!

Happy Shopping, and don't forget to share this opportunity with all your friends!

Take Me Out To The Ballpark(s)

We love to travel. We love baseball. Most summers those two go together quite nicely when planning our summer vacation. This summer was no different, and was probably our most baseball-themed vacation, yet, in our four years of marriage. :) We embarked on an eight day road-trip with a 20 month old and survived to tell the tale....

Louisville, KY
The eight hour drive from Kansas City to Louisville went much more smoothly than either of us expected, and we got in much earlier than anticipated (only made one stop for lunch). I should also mention that food is usually a highlight of our travels --- meaning we eat at local, out of the ordinary types of establishments (think Man vs. Food, No Reservations, Bizarre Foods, etc). Our first dinner was at Game. We got there about 10 minutes before it opened and there was already a line. Seating is pretty limited so arriving early is highly suggested. Chris started out with bone marrow as an appetizer. For dinner Chris had a kangaroo burger topped with foie gras.  I had an angus burger {this is probably where I should clarify that it's Chris who tries the crazy/new/bizarre foods when we travel, and I enjoy the atmosphere}. We both had the duck fat french fries. Both meals were excellent.
Following dinner we headed to the Louisville Zoo since their twilight hours went until 8pm. I highly recommend the Louisville Zoo, especially if you have young children. While it looked huge on the map, it was not spread out.  You were able to see animals all along the paths (unlike some zoos where you have to walk forever between exhibits).  All of the exhibits were close to the sidewalks so the animals were up close and easy to see.  Beckett could also see well from his stroller -- there weren't railings or bushes down at his level getting in the way. Also, most of the exhibits had multi-level viewing areas so you could get a good look no matter where in the exhibit the animal was.

Louisville Zoo

Beckett loved chasing the goats around to pet them!

Sunday we ate at the Wild Egg for breakfast.  We had about a 30 minute wait to get in but it was well worth it. After breakfast we headed to the Louisville Slugger Museum. It was Father's Day, so Chris got in for free. :) For the most part, the museum and factory tour really frustrated Beckett. He loves "playing" baseball so much and could not understand why all the bats and balls were behind cases or attached to the wall.  Luckily, before we left, we found a little kid-sized batting cage so he was able to play a bit.

Louisville Slugger Museum

Our lil slugger!

Following nap time we headed to Churchill Downs and managed to see a couple races.  Beckett even got to get up close to a horse.  For dinner we ate at a BBQ place called Mama's Mustard, Pickles & BBQ. It was Kansas City-style BBQ. While it's not Arthur Bryant's or Oklahoma Joe's, it met our approval. After dinner, we took a stroll across the Big Four Pedestrian Bridge. It was a nice walk and allowed for some great views of the city.

Churchill Downs

Cincinnati, OH
We only stopped in Cincinnati for a few hours. We toured the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and then took a ballpark tour. The Hall of Fame was very nice and quite large. They were also nice enough to add a little clubhouse complete with a slide for kids to play on.  The ballpark tour lasted about 2 hours which was probably an hour too long. They spent a lot of time showing us seating areas and suites opposed to behind the scenes places.

Kid's Clubhouse in the Reds Hall of Fame

Cleveland, OH
We spent one night in Cleveland and attended a Cleveland Indians game. Once our seats were in the shade it was pretty enjoyable. The best part was getting to watch a fellow Baylor Bear (David Murphy) play. The following morning we took a stadium tour. It only lasted about an hour and a half and was very enjoyable -- I highly recommend it.

Our favorite Cleveland Indian!

Sunset from our seats.

Detroit, MI
Our evening in Detroit took us to the Royals/Tigers game. The Tigers stadium has some fun perks --- like a baseball ferris wheel and tiger carousel. Beckett loved the Carousel and since he was under 2 and free, we rode several times. The Royals win that night put them in 1st place in the AL Central so the hubby was a very happy guy that night.

Riding the baseball ferris wheel. 

Outside the Tiger's stadium...there are tigers everywhere.

Dearborn, MI
Our second day/night in Michigan was spent in Dearborn. We visited Greenfield Village. I thought it was a bit pricey but had some unique features. We rode a steam train around the village. We were also driven through the village streets in an actual Model-T; I think that was Beckett's favorite part. We also enjoyed the wooden carousel and several houses that were previously owned by some famous people in history (Noah Webster, Heinz, Robert Frost, and many more). Following the village, we headed over to The Henry Ford where we got to see lots of old cars and memorabilia from throughout American History.  We attempted to eat local this night and asked someone at the village where they would recommend. Lesson we learned, when someone from Michigan says," I know it sounds crazy to say there is good Mexican food in Michigan...," our correct response should have been "yes, that is crazy!" We went with her recommendation and were not impressed. I will stick with Texas for my Mexican food!

Greenfield Village

Henry Ford's home; right before a storm rolled in. 

Illinois
The rest of our trip was spent just outside of Chicago visiting with family and attending a wedding.

 We had a great vacation and got to experience a lot of firsts for Beckett.  After this trip our family ballpark count is at Beckett 6, Chris 19, and Cara 11.  Two days after getting back we headed up to Omaha to visit my aunt, and to see our friend, Tyler, play baseball.

We love getting to watch Tyler play & the game-winning double was a bonus!

Continuing the tradition of summer visits to Aunt KK's.

Corn O' Plenty

I have always loved my grandma's fresh corn. It's just so much better than the stuff you get in the can, especially in the middle of winter! A few years ago I did freeze some corn myself but I only ended up with a few servings as I didn't realize how much it takes to get a decent supply of frozen corn. The past couple of summers I have failed/forgotten to get corn on the cob to freeze.

Today my trip to the farmer's market produced 2 dozen ears of corn and, lucky for me, I was able to get my grandma to come over and help me fix it up to freeze! :)

My great-grandma taught my grandma, so I felt like I was getting a lesson from a real pro today. She doesn't really have a "recipe," so I'll share the written instructions she sent me a few years ago; they are pretty much word for word what she kept telling me today!

"The way I do my freezer corn is the way that Grandma Hart taught me.  After cleaning the corn, cut off the cob and put in large heavy cooking pan.  Cover the corn with enough water to cook and let the water cook down some.  Add salt (don’t put too much salt because you can always add more after you taste it and see if you need more) and some margarine.  Depending on how large amount of corn you have, depends on the amount of margarine you use.  I use stick margarine and usually put at least ½ stick.  I also add sugar and again it depends on how much corn you have.  Then cook the corn until about done.  You can taste to see if you have enough salt, margarine and sugar, then add more according to your taste.  After it has cooked, let it cool completely, then put in quart size freezer bags.  The reason you need to add sugar is that when freezing, the natural sugar taste is diminished by freezing.  When you take it out of the freezer to have for a meal, you will put in a pan, heat and if it needs a little further cooking or adding of sugar etc. you can do it then.  Now, this sounds like a big process, but it really isn’t.  The hardest part is cleaning the corn and cutting it off the cob.  Once that is done, the rest is pretty easy."

We added about 1/4c sugar and 1/4 stick of butter to each batch. 

The secret she told me today isn't typed out above, but it's to scrape the cob one more time after you cut the corn off because that's where all the sweetness is in the corn. 

We ended up with 8 bags of corn to freeze from the 26 ears.  I'm hoping to make at least one more batch before the summer is out. 

Beckett's Play Space

Since moving into our house last August, painting and sprucing up the basement has been on my to-do list. We finally got around to it this summer, and I would consider the project about 95% complete. I haven't quite gotten everything put where I want it, yet, and there are a couple end tables I am working up the nerve to paint.  Our basement is basically one big, open room. While completely open and without any doors, the back part does look like it's own separate space.  Chris has tried to convert it to his "man cave" but my plan all along has been to make it a play area for Beckett. Since converting the space, this little area has quickly become my favorite spot in the house. It's fun & colorful and gets lots of LOVE during the day, and after Beckett goes to bed, I get to go down and put everything in its place -- call me crazy, but I thoroughly enjoy putting everything in its proper bin and organizing all the toys!

Before we started working on the basement, it often looked like this:

The area in back, on the left side, is the new play space. 

Beckett's toys were just lined up along the couch or walls (or more often, scattered everywhere). Until we moved all of his toys to the back, I hadn't realized how much smaller having all the toys out front had really made our basement look.

Since his new play area was going to be out in the open - not a traditional playroom where you can close the door and not have to look at the chaos, I knew I wanted something that looked like it belonged with the rest of the basement decor while also kid-friendly and practical. I also wanted something that would be functional for several years, not just work with toddler toys. I found this idea on Pinterest and knew right way it's what I wanted.

You can read about it here.

Since the shelves pictured above are from IKEA and our nearest IKEA is 8 hours away and I couldn't get the shelves shipped, I had originally thought Chris was going to have to build them for me {he tries to run and hide every time he hears "there's something on Pinterest I want to show you."}. Luckily, a road trip through Chicago coincided with us starting our basement project this summer so the timing was perfect to make a shopping trip to IKEA! Here is the result:

My absolute favorite part of the original idea was the cushion to make a bench, but as you can see we have no cushion. Beckett loves pushing his trains and cars along the bench so much that it seemed it would be a waste to cover it up!

Here are the items I ended up with to create Beckett's play space:

*Kallax Shelving Unit {we bought 3 & they were super easy to assemble}

*Kusiner Box {comes with 3, they can also be attached to one another but I use them separately}

*Drona Box {comes in a few colors}

*Bekvam Spice Rack  {click here for other book display ideas}

*Lillabo Play Mat

*The picture frames for his artwork are also from IKEA. I couldn't find them online. They were a great deal at only .99 a piece!

*Your Way Cube with lid {Thirty-One}

The column in the middle we painted with magnetic paint bought at Home Depot and then painted over with the same color as the walls. The magnetic paint is oil-based so it's smelly and can be messy. The magnets are Melissa & Doug and were found at Target and Kohl's. 

Overall, I would say this was a fairly simple Pinterest project that makes a big statement. It's very functional for keeping things put away as well as creating an inviting place to play!

The Elusive Perfect Swimsuit

Let's be honest; I'm not so sure the perfect swimsuit really exists but I am a loyal customer when I find something I like! I first fell in love with Land's End swimsuits over a decade ago and have not strayed since. I love that I can find a suit that covers EVERYTHING I want covered without looking like I'm wearing a muumuu. :) The great thing about Land's End is you can mix and match tops and bottoms to find the "perfect" match for your body type plus they have tons of fun colors and patterns.  If you haven't ever checked them out, then you should. I do suggest filtering by size because to fall in love with something only to discover it's no longer available in your size is not so much fun.
I share all of this because I love a good deal & prefer not to pay full price for clothes if I can avoid it.  Right now, Land's End has all their swimwear 50% for the entire family. Shipping is free for purchases over $50.  Plus you can get an additional 3% back if you shop through ebates. If you are not an ebates member and you buy anything at all online then you are seriously missing out...I suggest you head to ebates right now and sign up. :)  Happy Shopping!

P.S. I have no vested interested in Land's End...just happy to share a good deal. :)

And So It Begins...

 For a couple of years now I have toyed with the idea of starting a blog. I really don't have a reason to -- I'm not traveling to faraway lands, I'm not the queen of DIY projects, I don't invent new recipes, and while I have fun finding good bargains, I've never gotten my toothpaste for free! I simply enjoy reading blogs and thought it might be fun to put my random thoughts out there as well as share things as I figure them out. :) I'm sure my mom will cringe anytime I make a grammatical mistake but I hope the rest of you, if you choose to read, will forgive me. :)
The title for my blog (Imperfect Progress) comes from a women's Bible Study I recently went through at my church.  In the book, Lysa Tyrukesrts, talks a lot about Imperfect Progress in terms of making positive changes in our lives.  We don't have to get everything right the first try, and change most likely won't happen overnight, but with each step forward and with each mistake we are making progress towards our goal.  I think these two words sum up life pretty well -- at least for me in this stage. I'm not a perfect wife (although Chris may say I am :)) and being a mom is a lot more difficult (and fun) than anyone ever tells you but I would like to think that each day I am making progress to being a better me than I was the day before. So, in this blog you're likely to get a huge array of ramblings from me as I am not tying myself down to one topic. And I can't promise that blogs will be consistently published but I hope if you decide to follow along you will find them enjoyable. :)