Thirty-One Organizing Utility Tote Review

My friend Dana recently became a consultant for the popular company Thirty-One. Thirty-One was started by one woman who wanted to help other women make a difference for their families by having their own home business and the name is inspired by Proverbs 31. The company has really grown over the past few years and provides top quality purses, totes, bags, and other items.

I received the Organizing Utility Tote from Dana to provide a review on. I'd drooled over the catalog before so I knew already that I wanted the cute Circle Spirals pattern. I was planning to just use it to keep all my school books and things organized at home, but when I got it I found out it was the perfect size to fit my laptop (plus books, notebooks, etc) and decided to actually use it as my school book bag since my previous bag was too narrow for my laptop. Plus I figured it would be a good test of the tote's durability to be hauling around my laptop, 2 thick textbooks, notebook, and pencil case. And it's soooo much cuter than my old bag!

The bag has held up so well. There has been no loose seams, pulled stitches, or parts falling apart after so much use. The fabric is very sturdy and strong, and the straps are strong as well. It has 5 fabric pockets on the outside as well as a mesh pocket on each end, which provide plenty of areas to put my keys, phone, water bottle, etc. The only downside to using it as a bookbag is that it doesn't close at the top, and there were a few days I had to put my coat over it to keep the snow out. But other than that I am completely in love with it!

Be sure to check out Dana's Thirty-One page to see all of the amazing, cute items they have!

*Disclaimer: I received one Organizing Utility Tote for free to review. All opinions are my own.

Ready for sunlight

One thing (out of many) that I hate about Winter is how pale I get. Last Summer I was nice and tan because of the UVB treatments I was doing for my psoriasis. I haven't done those for a few months though so I'm back to pasty. Of course if I really wanted to be tan I could go to a tanning bed or a spray tan machine. Mostly I just want to be able to go out in the nice warm sun again. The kids are itching to be outside more as well. Silly Utah weather likes to go back and forth from cold to warm for a few months in the Spring before it decides to go straight into hot Summer. We had a pretty nice week in the 60's but will probably have snow tomorrow.

Leprechaun Traps

My boys love St. Patrick's Day. Every year on the night before it I help them build leprechaun traps to try to catch a leprechaun. We put shiny things and coins in them to lure the leprechauns to the trap. Unfortunately the tricky leprechauns can never be caught but they always leave treats for the boys. I tried to buy gold coins like those chocolate ones, but I couldn't find them. All I could find was Easter candy, so I grabbed a couple bags of Easter candy and picked out all the green and gold wrapped ones to put in the traps. Which left plenty of the candy for me lol. This morning I gave them green milk, then dyed their ramen noodles green for lunch and made green pancakes for dinner. It was a fun day. :)

Overflow

Having 7 people in the family has made our coat racks overflow. We have one by our front door with 5 hooks. That obviously isn't big enough because we have 7 people who have thicker winter coats plus jackets plus backpacks for the school kids, and then some hats and things. We have another 5 hook rack by the back door but don't use it as much because we always go out the front door, so it holds less used jackets and hats. Our coat closet has 4 hooks on the inside of the door and I've started putting the boys backpacks in there. There's a bunch of other coats and jackets hanging in there. Either we need to get a new coat rack from CoatRacks.com or maybe it's time to purge some of our outerwear lol.

Upgrading phones

Hubby and I are thinking about getting iPhones in a few months when we are eligible for upgrades. I'm excited to try out stuff that they have on them that we don't get on our phones. There's just a lot more apps and stuff for iPhones. They even have card reader things, like a mobile Retail POS System, that just snap in and can read credit cards. Not that I need something like that lol, but it's pretty cool. Plus they have better quality camera and bigger screen than my current phone. My only worry is that everyone I know with an iPhone has the screen break at some point. With how much my phone gets dropped and mauled by children, I worry about it getting broken really quick. I will definitely get some kind of protective cover.

Playroom = mess room

Getting my boys to clean up their messes is so difficult. There are some chores they like to do, like dishes or vacuuming, but picking up their toys is just asking too much. We try bribes, threats, games, etc but it is just a huge headache. By the end of the day we are grumpy, it's still a mess, and I feel like I need some migraine treatment like a big glass of Mtn Dew and some chocolate lol. If we have them clean together they just play and make more mess, and if we split them up at least they slowly make some headway but it's veeeery slow. They have been doing better at doing chores ever since we set up a system where they earn minutes on the computer, but the playroom still remains the one room they refuse to clean up without a fight. Good thing it's in the basement where most people don't see it lol.

Some more catching up- Thanksgiving... kind of

And... this is about all the pictures we have from Thanksgiving last year lol. I felt awful that we didn't take any pictures of the twins first Thanksgiving. It was just so busy and with two babies to keep happy and feed, I just never remembered to pull out the camera. We went to Hubby's brother's house. The food was yummy and we got to meet more of my brother-in-law's in-laws. This pic was taken a few days later at Grandma Cindy's. We had a little mini Thanksgiving before we headed back home. The babies loved the stuffing and having Grandma share with them.

Fun toys

It's funny the little toys kids get attached to. For Christmas my oldest got a couple yo-yo's from my dad. They were just cheap little kid ones, not like yomega yoyos, but he loved them. Unfortunately my kids are not always very gentle with toys and they were both broken within a week. But it reminded me how much I used to love playing with yo-yos. I'm going to have to remember they liked them and get some more soon. And it makes me think back to other toys and things I liked as kids. Like pogs. Remember those? We had sooo many. Fun times. :)

Maybe soon

I know I keep promising to post some pictures and updates from the last few months and I just keep forgetting. My poor neglected blog. I will try to make that a priority this weekend. My mother-in-law is here so maybe while she entertains the kids tomorrow or Sunday I will do some updates. I also have another review and giveaway to do that I keep forgetting. I even almost forgot to pa electricity and internet and other bills this month. My brain just seems to be really mushy. I blame calculus. I don't think I've worked my brain that hard for years! Oh, but at least I got an 85% on my first test, which was so much better than I was expecting. My goal is to just pass with a C or better, but if I could manage a B that would be awesome. An A would be really pushing it lol.

Clean up on all aisles

Over 7 years as a parent and it still amazes me how quickly kids make messes. You can spend hours getting one room spotless and shining, and in the meantime they are destroying every other room. The destruction increases exponentially with each added child. And it's hopeless to even try cleaning a room the children currently occupy. Most of my cleaning gets done when the older 2 are in school, the twins are napping, and the 3yr old is either napping or at preschool. I definitely can't do dishes when the babies are awake because they want to help. It would be great to have something like cleaning services cary nc to help me out. The only time we get it really nicely clean is when people are coming over lol. I've joked that I need to invite people over every day, then I'd have to clean more. I'm working on getting the older boys to learn how to do stuff to help. They like vacuuming. They aren't very good at it but I let them anyway while they like it lol. They also love to help me with dishes. Hopefully with them helping more I'll be able to stay on top of things better.

Prodigy

Today I read an article about a 12 year old boy who is a prodigy at playing piano. He's only been playing 1.5 years but is amazing. Those kind of stories always amaze me, kids who have awesome gifts and talents. I play piano a little bit, and I used to know how to play guitar and violin a little, but I never developed those talents. I would like to at least get better at piano, maybe when my kids are a little older and I have more time to practice. I've also been thinking of putting my kids in piano lessons. I don't expect to have a child prodigy, but it's a nice talent to work on I think.

Essentials Lotion and Creme Winner!

The winner of the Essentials All Purpose Creme and Feet TreatMint Foot Lotion is...

#1 is Adrianne! Congratulations Adrianne, I will be contacting you about your prize!

Thank you to everyone who entered. I will be having another contest coming up hopefully in the next few weeks.

Time to pin

I know I haven't posted pictures from Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the babies' first birthday yet, but tonight it's not going to happen. Too tired to go through pictures to find them. Before I know it Valentine's Day will be over too and I'll need to post pictures of that as well. We don't normally do much for V-Day, but I've seen some cute ideas on pinterest that I may try out. You can find everything from valentines day gifts for gfs to meal ideas to cute decorations on there. I'm really loving that site, but need to stop letting it suck away at my time lol. It's really easy to go to it for just a minute and 2 hours later realize you have more important things to do. :)

Calculus gives me headaches

I'm taking calculus this semester. I still don't know why it is required for my major, but it is. And it is much harder than I remember it being in high school. It's amazing how much of that you forget in 10 years. Most of the other students in the class seem to understand it a lot easier, and I'm sure it's because they've taken the prerequisite classes a lot more recently than I have. It makes me feel so old. I think if my brain wasn't so tired from getting up with babies I'd have an easier time understanding it, so hopefully they will start sleeping better soon. Caleb sleeps good some nights, Isaac not so much. I've been getting all A's since going back to school, and would love to keep it up, but I don't know if I'll be able to in this class. I'm hoping that I can pass it at all.

Quick and Easy Chocolate Banana Shake in a Jar

I love making my own shakes at home. Cheaper than buying one, plus I don't have to drive somewhere. And I can choose exactly what I want in it. I had some leftover vanilla ice cream from the twins' birthday party (I actually completely forgot to serve the ice cream at the party, so I had plenty leftover!) so I have been using it to make myself yummy shakes. My favorite lately is chocolate banana, though I did almost make it with Oreo's today. Mmmm.

Anyway, I read somewhere (a blog? pinterest? Facebook?) that a regular canning jar can fit on a regular blender. What?! Who would have thunk it? I decided to give it a try because then I wouldn't have to dirty up my whole blender for one little shake, plus the jar would double as my serving cup. Less dishes is always good!

First, choose what you want in your shake. Mine has vanilla ice cream (about a cup), Nesquik (2 big spoonfuls, mixed with a little milk so the powder wouldn't stick to the sides of the jar, learned from last time), and about half of a banana, sliced up.

Put all your ingredients in the jar. I would advise you not to put the ice cream in first, it can stick to the bottom of the jar and not want to go down and blend as smoothly, in my experience.
Then screw the mixer part of the blender on like a lid, and put it on the blender base like normal.
Mix on low until all blended and to desired consistency. That's it! Remove from blender, carefully take off mixer blades, grab a spoon and enjoy!