Do you need a unique gift for Mother's Day? Are you looking for a special Mother's Day gift for your grandmother? Have their old home movies transferred to DVD.
It's the perfect gift! Just gather anything from VHS to 8mm film.

Send it in or bring it into Video 7 Production company.

Serving both Cedar Creek Lake Area as well as the Heart of Central Texas, please stop by or call (254) 666-6100.

Not in the state of Texas, that's no problem. Just call for a quote & information on how to submit your movies. ~Mention this ad & receive 10% off your order~

Mother's Day Special

Mothers Day photo montage special for $99 + tax. Special includes up to 30 pictures prepared into a "Slide Show" with graphics, special effect transitions and set to music. We will provide royalty free music or you may provide us the digital copies (or CD) of the songs (up to two) of your choice. Please contact for details.

Video & Web Design Company 254-666-6100

Square Foot Garden April 2010

I'm uber happy that I was able to transfer our garden to our new home. It looks so much more inviting in it's new resting place. I'm pleased to also say that I was able to score some MAJOR deals on plants at our local Ace Hardware store. There's not a final count but I know that there are over 70 plants & I only spent $22.







A cool trick to remember; when you purchase plants, be sure to look at the base of the plant. See if you are actually getting just one plant or a cluster of plants. I have found that the more expensive pots at home depot & lowe's, generally only have one plant. However, the less expensive ones at plant sales, Ace, neighborhood farmer's markets, often contain more than one plant per pot. Sometimes you can score 5 plants per pot. (Now that's a bargain!!!)

So here is the beginning of what I hope will be a very productive year. I have so many plants that I am going to plant the extra directly into the ground & see how they will do in this soil. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to till in the next couple of days. We've had tons of rain over the weekend & will NOT be able to till this soggy soil.

Paint, Paint & more Paint

As most people, we wanted to save money when it came to painting the new house. We were thrilled since the house is so large, that we would get to paint many different, harmonious colors. We studied & planned our color pallet. We felt happy with our final, husband approved choices. So we ventured to our local Wal-mart & purchased the affordable Color Place paint.

The colors were perfect to the swatches. We dreamed of how it would make the rooms feel & how beautiful it would look on the walls. To our surprise, it was thin, runny & did not perform as we had hoped. We are left with thin paint on the walls, multiple layers that do not cover the previous color & paint that began to wipe off when we tried to clean it with water two weeks after painting. UGH! What would happen if one of the children colored with crayons on the wall?! We'd have to wash it off & actually RE-paint.......not good at all!!

So in our frustration, I called & spoke to the assistant manager of the Hewitt Wal-Mart. I asked her if we could return the used & unused paint, to exchange it for the Kilz brand. Kilz is suppose to have a one coat guarantee. She listened to me & nicely told us to bring it in with our receipts.
So we did.
We took our empty cans, along with the full & partial used cans back to the service desk. We then proceeded to the paint counter & had the paint remade in the Kilz brand. We purchased fewer cans since it is suppose to cover better & is almost twice the price.

My advice:
Purchase name brand paint from Home Depot or Lowe's when you want to paint your home. We purchased one can, that was an oops paint from Home Depot.
We paid $5 for a can that was usually $25 & it worked wonders. It was a beautiful color & covered with only minor touch ups.
Do NOT purchase Color Place paint from Wal-Mart!
Don't let price determine your paint selection. We now have to put in twice the work to have good paint. We wish we had started with the name brand from the beginning. We've wasted time & money. Hard lesson learned :)

Simply Superb Pecan Pie

My great grandmother's recipe, for what I think is the best pecan pie recipe. I like chopped nuts the best but my mother prefers halved pecans. In Texas, we LOVE our pecans!

Simply Superb Pecan Pie by Grandma Lansford

1 Cup Sugar
6 Tbls melted butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 Heaping Tbls of Flour
1 Cup Pecans (halved or chopped)
1 9 inch deep dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat eggs with sugar, corn syrup & butter. Brush small amount of this mixture onto crust. Add flour & vanilla to mix. Add pecans.
Pour into pie crust. I like to cover the edges of my crust with foil, to reduce over-browning. Bake at pie on cookie sheet at 400 for 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 degrees & bake for another 30-45 min or until knife inserted comes out clean. Do not over bake. Pie will settle as it cools. Serve with vanilla ice cream for a real treat. Enjoy!

Nursing Necklace Giveaway!

Are you a breastfeeding Mama?!?
Does your little one come off the breast often?
Would your precious baby rather play than eat? :)

A nursing necklace may be just the trick to keep your little one focused.

Visit my Etsy shop to purchase one.

All nursing necklaces are under $10!

Want one for free?

Enter to win one of my nursing necklaces: Here

Thank you Jen for offering the giveaway~

Yeast Infection & cloth diapers

*I'm wanting to share a new problem & solution that we have been having with our darling daughter. She developed a rash on her bottom & lower girl parts that was very concerning to me.
At first it looked a little like a burn but began to blister with very tiny bumps, was red & shiny in places & turned white on some of the edges of parts of the rash. K was very cranky & waking up in the night crying badly. She seemed miserable!
Being a nurse, I was very alarmed & thought I had done something to cause this. After all cloth diapering is different than disposable but it's certainly better. Right?

Of course cloth diapering is best!!! After much research, looking online & thru my nursing books, I discovered it was a yeast infection. It was a result of yeast in her stool & nothing I did wrong. I began by trying to use diaper rash creams before I knew what it was. BAD IDEA! It only fed the problem. The "rash" grew in size, spread & developed "lesion like" areas.
Whether she used cloth or disposable diapers, she would have likely had the problem. In fact, if she was using disposable it would have been much worse.

Once I knew for sure that it was a yeast infection, I switched to gentian violet. (A God send!) I used it faithfully for about 2 weeks along with a homemade wipe solution & cloth wipes. Granted some of my prefolds & cloth wipes are dyed with purple in places, but a small price to pay for a home remedy that REALLY works.

Trying to get rid of a yeast infection? Remember: when trying to treat yeast to be consistent, clean the area fully & don't give up. Stick to changing diapers every two hours, faithfully. Apply the gentian violet at least 2-3 times daily for as long as symptoms remain present. Try not to use disposable wipes as they can "help" the yeast grow. The wipe solution I made help make the yeast environment less favorable to growth.


The same treatment can be used if you have yeast on your skin, vagina, rectum, breasts, under breasts or on nipples. Many people have skin folds & along with heat, will develop a red rash in the folds. This is very often yeast as well. Keep the area dry. Do not use synthetic fibers on skin, only cotton. Keep area clean. If using gentian violet, note that it is VERY staining to bathtubs, counters, clothes & towels. It will however, work wonders in getting rid of the problem.

Homemade Wipes Solution for Yeast Infection
(can be used for any yeast on skin)

3.5 cups of distilled water (boil water & let it cool, if no distilled)
2 Tablespoons of gentle baby wash
2 Tablespoons of Vinegar (apple cider or white)
2 or 3 drops of tea tree oil

Shake & store in container. Fill bottle with solution, i.e. a peri bottle. Squirt onto individual wipes as needed.

I do not moisten all of the wipes at once. It causes excess waste of solution. Sometimes, I need more solution to clean poo off & this allows me to dispense exactly what I need, when I need it. I continue to use this solution & am very pleased with the results as well as the frugality of it.


K is doing much better now & only has minor irritation at times. No more waking up screaming or crying when I change her diaper! ;)

*Always consult your physician, naturopath, chiropractor or practicing professional, if in doubt. This blog is only based on my personal experience as a human, mother & nurse.

Blog Birthday & the Swine Flu!

Today is my one year blog birthday! I truly can't believe that one year has zoomed right by.
I'm blessed beyond words, loving being a Mama, concerned about finances with my husband's job loss & inspired to create more goodies for my Etsy shop.

This week:
I'm off this week from keeping my great nephew. He & our niece have been struck with the swine flu, H1N1!!! She is a kindergarten teacher with sickly students. So she went to the doctor on Monday once she started running a high fever. The swine flu the test came back inconclusive. They gave her Tamiflu & sent her home.

She's a breastfeeding mama & was very concerned that if she were to take the Tamiflu, she would NOT be able to breastfeed. I suggested to her that she not take it if she was concerned. My thought was that she was already exposed and sick. It may only reduce symptoms a little. So she decided not to take it & keep breastfeeding her son.

Well, "C" started to run fever as well. In fact, 103.7 degrees of fever. She was concerned that he had what she had, so off to the pediatrician. There they confirmed it was the swine flu. Happy little lark, he didn't seem to be feeling all that bad. They told her that because she keep breastfeeding; he did not have to be hospitalized for dehydration, his immune system was stronger & he was much healthier! I was thrilled to hear that breastfeeding saved the day!

"C" still has a fever but my niece is already getting better. I'm hoping that they both recover soon & life returns to normal for them. Her husband has a heart condition, so they have to be extra careful that he doesn't get any flu.

We are praying that we do not catch this yucky virus!
Just for those who are deathly worried about getting the swine flu;
Remember: The BEST prevention is HANDWASHING!!!
Sing"Happy Birthday" while you wash, to ensure that you washed long enough. The recommended time is 15 seconds to kill germs.


I'm off to post goodies to my shop........Be healthy, happy & hopeful!