Boot Prints Military Wreath giveaway

A fellow Army wife blogger friend of mine is having a giveaway. Check it out!

A couple years ago when Mr. Army Man joined the Army I went in search of all things supportive. I was a new Army wife and I wanted the world to know how proud I was of my husband. I ran across Boot Prints Military Wreaths on Facebook and she made me this:

I loved it so much I purchased one for my parents that said "Proud Parents" in honor of my brother who is also Army. I ordered one just like this for Mr. Army Man's grandparents who have a son and two grandsons in the Army. And I ordered a Coast Guard themed wreath for my Aunt and Uncle who's son is in the Coast Guard. All of these wreaths were handmade and everything I could have asked for. My wreath is two years old and has been hung up inside/outside and it still in the same condition it was when I got it! I can tell that it was really well made. 

Now, here's your chance! I have teamed up with Boot Prints Military Wreaths to give you the chance to win a 12" American Flag themed wreath to show your American love. 

Contain your excitement for just one moment and make sure you enter the Rafflecopter below! Make sure to take advantage of all the entries to give yourself a better chance of winning. This giveaway runs 3/23-3/31 11:59pm PST. Winners will be announced on the Rafflecopter and via the email you leave! This giveaway is only open to the US. You must have a valid shipping address and respond to mylifetoarmywife@gmail.com within 48 hours of notification. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for this publication. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. My Life to Army Wife is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment.

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The worries of selling used items

Have you ever purchased something off of Craigslist or a Facebook flea market, only to find out later that it wasn't what you thought? Do you contact the seller to get your money back? What if it's usable but just not authentic? Now what if you've been using it daily for almost a year? What if the tag has been ripped off because it's been used so much? Do you demand your money back or file a police report? This is the situation a friend of mine is in, but she is the seller. What would you do?

My friend Ann (name held for privacy) received multiple messages yesterday from a person that she sold an Ergo to in April 2012. Ann purchased the Ergo through Amazon with some gift cards that she received for Christmas  2011, and received the Ergo January 7th, 2012. After a couple of months use, Ann decided that she wanted an Ergo Sport and she sold the Ergo to Jane (name held for privacy) for $90 on a Facebook flea market site.

Jane has used the Ergo daily since April of 2012 and discovered in the past week (it's now March 2013), the the Ergo is counterfeit. Jane has since contacted Ann wanting her to refund her money back or she will be filing a police report for someone selling her a counterfeit item. After multiple messages from Jane and a phone call to Amazon (amazon stated they can do nothing aside from send an email to the third party seller. They simply fulfill the item), Ann felt harassed by Jane and told her to please leave her alone, and she will contact the original seller on Amazon.

So my question for you is, what would you do? When you're buying or selling a used item, how much liability do you have in the situation? Are you expected to refund if things don't work out in a specific amount of time or once the transaction is over, it's over? Should we be drawing up contacts when we sell used items to protect ourselves from something like this happening?

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#DIY picture coasters

I recently created these beautiful DIY photo coasters that were really easy and look beautiful. I thought i'd share them on here with you so you could make some for yourself or to give away as a gift, as I did. The tutorial I used for the most part was from Two Girls Being Crafty but I think they may have gotten it from somewhere else if I recall.

What you need:

• Ceramic tiles (purchase at Home Depot or Lowes for $0.13 each)
• Photos (you could also use some pretty scrap book paper or even fabric)
• Modge podge
• Polyurethane spray
• Foam Brush
• Scissors or paper cutter (I prefer the paper cutter as I like it to be precise. Plus it's quicker.) 
• Felt for the bottom
• Hot glue gun

First thing to do is to cut the photo down to size. I don remember the exact measurements, but I believe it was 4in. I then put a layer of modge podge on the tile, put the photo on top, then another layer of modge podge. If you've never used modge podge before, it looks really cloudy and thick. You'll know it's dry when it's completely clear and not tacky. I waited till they were clear and then added a second layer of modge podge. This one I let dry till it wasn't tacky either. I then took it out to the garage and sprayed it with two coats of the polyurethane spray. I don't remember how long I waited but I believe the decorations said to do it in a two hour window.

I then took some yards of felt that I had from the local fabric store, and cut them down to cover the entire bottom of the tile. When the tiles were completely dried, I hot glued a felt square to the bottom of the tile.

This entire process, does take a little bit of time, but it is easy. I just did it in front of the t.v. to keep me entertained but this would be a fun project to do with a friend.

*Hint - Make sure to use enough modge podge on the tile before the photo. I had a couple of the tiles where when you push on the picture you can feel air underneath the photo. It's not a big deal, or hasn't seemed to be yet, but it bothered me. LOL. So just make sure you have a good layer and then push the picture flat to the tile.

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#Angrybirds Pig hat

 Recently we went to a birthday party for a friend of my son's. The little boy LOVES Angry Birds and was having an Angry Bird themed party. I found a tutorial online for a crocheted Angry Bird Pig hat that I thought i'd attempt to make and see how I do. I gave myself a month so at least I wasn't rushing and hopefully I could figure it out. I've only crocheted a few items so it was going to be interesting to see how I did. The tutorial is made for an adult hat but I just skipped step 13 and changed steps 11 and 12 to 10 and 11. So step 10 was actually 12. For the most part, I just kept building it out and sticking it on my son's head to get a general size and went off that. I really like this tutorial though as it had a video to go with it and I need videos to help me figure things out sometimes. (The little boy was turning 5 and the hat was just a tad too big, but room to grow without being huge)

Overall, I think the hat turned out super cute! Hopefully the little boy loves it as much as I do. I did the face on the wrong side of that hat, but I don't think anyone noticed but me so i'm not too worried. I'll just know for next time.

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Referrals that lead to waiting lists

He's on the list! Yah! Apparently they've changed things a little bit or perhaps we were under the wrong impression, but there's no appt with Urology. So once they accept the referral from his primary doctor, they add him to it. Now it's just the waiting game. I'm so thankful we're in Washington though because our list moves a lot faster then other places. They tell you six - nine months but other people who have had it done here say it really takes more like one - two months since they do the surgery here so often. So here's to hoping the wait wont be too long!

I can't believe how short my list has become!

What to do first/already completed:

• Soldier goes to his local aid station to get an appt with his doctor
• Appt with doctor to request referral
• Call phone number to get on list and make sure referral was approved

What needs done:

• Wait till our time is up on the list and then surgery! :)
• Start babymaking!

*Are you (or your husband) a soldier and has had a vasectomy? Do you want to have it reversed so that you can have children? It is possible! Tricare does not cover vasectomy reversals but specific military hospitals do the surgery for FREE on an on call basis. Once you get on the list, you wait till your name is on the top, and when they have a surgery that is cancelled, they fit you in. This means you will receive a phone call the day before to see if you can come in for surgery the next day. You will then wait at the hospital all day until they fit you in. Don't let anyone tell you it isn't possible, it is! Make sure to subscribe to Kinda Crunchy Mama (on the right hand sidebar) so that you can keep updated on my experience and follow along with all my fertility posts.  

Here's a great PDF from Madigan talking about their vasectomy reversals.

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#Wordlesswednesday and Angry Bird card

I went to an Angry Bird birthday party this last weekend and needed a card to go with my gift. Obviously I have no Angry Bird stamps so I decided to see what I could come up with in punch art. I found this Angry Bird card online that I attempted to replicate. I then found a random Happy Birthday stamp that I thought would work. Overall, I think it turned out pretty cute and was super happy with it :)

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Beauty School hair cut

I've been needing my hair cut for what seems like forever. I had a good 2in or so on the bottom of blonde that was grow out from the last time I had it colored. Goes to show how long it'd been since I cut it as well. I'd say at least a year and a half. Last week a friend pointed out a local beauty and barber school college that was near my house, that up until then, I didn't know existed. I decided that for the price I might as well try it. I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to my hair and I know that they have instructors there as well, checking on things, so figured, why not.

The hair cut cost $10 and they cut my hair from mid back to layers from chin to shoulders. Other then the fact the girl got a chunk of shampoo in my eye as soon as she went to wash it, everything else was good. She was friendly and seemed to know what she was doing. I still want it colored so  I am going back on friday when I have a little more time. I'm using the same girl to do my hair so we'll see how it goes but for now i'm happy.

You can't beat a $10 hair cut :)

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Referrals and surgeries

A couple of weeks ago I shared about my desires to have another child. Well as of yesterday, I am one step closer :)

Michael finally got an appt with his doctor and they gave him his referral to urology. The doc was super helpful, and has been through the process himself, of having a vasectomy reversal. He also said that they are pretty good about getting people through in a short amount of time. Something to do with a new surgery (haven't heard of this so not sure what it refers to, wasn't at the appt) and it making them look like they're more for procreation. My guess would be that some people have made it a big deal about all of the vasectomies that they do and being anti families/children. Which is awesome, because that's going to help me out! We have to call Wednesday for the actual appt to give enough time for the referral to go through, and then we'll see how long it takes to get an actual appt with urology. It should be 30 days at most but i'm hoping it'll be sooner.

I also found a group on babycenter for people interested in vasectomy reversals, which is really helpful. I finally feel like I have people to talk to that know how i'm feeling and can really understand. I also found some girls that had recent experience with their hubbies having surgery done at Madigan (our local military hospital at JBLM), and had some good advice/info. One of the girls was able to get on the list as soon as they had their referral, even before they had their appt with urology. That's what i'm hoping for. I'm going to call after he gets his appt on Wednesday and hope that we can get on it and skip some waiting time. Both of the girls, it took about a month and half after getting on the list! That's amazing to me!

What to do first/already completed:

• Soldier goes to his local aid station to get an appt with his doctor
• Appt with doctor to request referral

What needs done:

• Call phone number to get appt with urology
• Call urology to see if we can get on list early
• Appt with urology dept - get on list if not already on
• Wait till our time is up on the list and then surgery! :)
• Start babymaking! 

*Are you (or your husband) a soldier and has had a vasectomy? Do you want to have it reversed so that you can have children? It is possible! Tricare does not cover vasectomy reversals but specific military hospitals do the surgery for FREE on an on call basis. Once you get on the list, you wait till your name is on the top, and when they have a surgery that is cancelled, they fit you in. This means you will receive a phone call the day before to see if you can come in for surgery the next day. You will then wait at the hospital all day until they fit you in. Don't let anyone tell you it isn't possible, it is! Make sure to subscribe to Kinda Crunchy Mama (on the right hand sidebar) so that you can keep updated on my experience and follow along with all my fertility posts.  

Here's a great PDF from Madigan talking about their vasectomy reversals.

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#PirateParty

My goal for Gideon's birthday party was to have a fun pirate party that had a fun theme, but wasn't super overboard with the theme. You can look all over Pinterest for a ton of ideas, and while cute, they tend to take a lot of time. I wanted to do pirate crafts at his part as well and was worried my house wasn't big enough so ended up doing it at a local pizza place. It wasn't my ideal location but as everywhere else was super expensive to just book a room, at least the price I was paying at the pizza place covered food as well. I would have loved to have done some themed foods but oh well. I did what I could. The room I booked was supposed to be for 35 people but I wish I would have done the bigger room for 50. It was a little too cramped for my comfort as I wanted some more wiggle room for the kiddos, but it did work. Also without hubby there, I had to do it all with a little help from my sister so I didn't get as many pics of the actual projects as I would have liked. So I apologize for the lack of detailed photos.

For the invitation, I took some pirate maps that I ordered from Oriental Trading and created a word document that I printed onto the map. That I crumpled it up, burned the edges, and taped it onto a piece of black cardstock paper. I originally planned on rolling them up but ended up leaving them flat as the cardstock was too thick to roll. They turned out really cute though. I was actually pretty impressed with myself.

Don't burn holes in the middle of the paper. They rip when you crumple. lol.

I asked everyone to dress up in pirate gear if they had it, if not brown/black pants and a white shirt. I had a few people who did that and one little girl who came in an actual pirate outfit. Super cute. But otherwise nobody did. Oh! I made a costume with some stuff from goodwill and some halloween fabric at Joanne's that was 60% off since it isn't halloween. The skirt was not perfect by any means but worked for the costume anyways. My sister also dressed up in her pirate costume from Halloween and some of the kids were a little scared of her. Ha ha. My mom attempted as well.

My attempt at a grumpy pirate face

My sister

I took some of the halloween fabric that I had and cut them into long strips so the kiddos would have pirate sashes. I only think a few actually wore them but they were easy, cheap and cute.

We bought face paint and drew black mustaches on any of the kids that wanted it and also had a pink paint crayon as well so any of the girls could have pink mustaches if they wanted :) My friend Sheila also drew in a pink beard on her face. 

My snooty little pirate :)

To complete the outfit, I ordered pirate hats from Oriental Trading that were really cute. The reviews said they fit the adults as well as the kids but the ones I ordered were a little too tight for an adult. Even though I do think a couple of my friends made it work. I ordered enough for everyone and not everyone wore them so I have an entire package left over, but eh well.

Now for crafts, I went easy. Which was good since I didn't have a ton of room. Also, the majority of the parent's didn't really participate so i'm glad there wasn't anything too difficult. My sister and some of my friends, and a couple parents helped out the kiddos that needed it though. So my advice is to try and have people there to help if possible.

The most popular craft was the treasure chests. I bought some cheap chests at Joanne's (Michael's didn't have cheap ones) and spray painted them gold. I did a mixture of these wooden ones that were the most durable and some thick cardboard ones. The cardboard ones looked the most like an actual treasure chest though so those were the most popular. I then bought some foam  pirate stickers and some sticky rhinestone jewels. HUGE HIT! I mean HUGE. Even the adults wanted to make one. So have lots! Also, make sure you have lots of jewels for them. The kids pretty much covered every square inch that they could with them. I had I believe 300 jewels if not more and between 10 boxes, they used them all! LOL.

I also had a cute parrot craft. I had found two when I was originally looking and the one I really wanted to make was with a toilet paper roll but when it came down to it, I couldn't find the tutorial :/ So instead I went with the easy printable that I found. I got some pretty cardstock to print them out on and bought some feathers at Joanne's. Then used some googly eyes that I had and some tacky glue and let the kids decorate. Then the children needed adult help to cut the parrots out (cut ahead of time, I should have) and then taped them to their shoulders. Make sure to have lots of tape! They turned out pretty cute when the kids wore them. Some of them just took them home as is.

Gideon's parrot lasted while opening all his gifts

I also found some easy pirate sticker sheets that I ordered from Oriental Trading. Nothing fancy but it helped the kids stay occupied until everyone showed up.

For the goody bags, I found a simple drawstring bag tutorial and found some cute pirate fabric and made treasure bags! I've never made a bag before and the fact that i'm still a sewing newbie, I think they turned out cute and were relatively easy. I then filled with some gold coins, colored necklaces, and some other random pirate goodies that I ordered from Oriental Trading.

Pirate Booty!

 I debated long and hard about the cake for the party. I had found some cute ideas on Pinterest but honestly, I was a little worried that I could actually make any of them. And to order a cake from a fancy bakery, is way more then I wanted to spend for a kids party. I ended up going to a local grocery store and found an easy template that they had and then they personalized it for me. I think it turned out really cute and was definitely happy with it. 

He was so cute. Kept his eyes on me the entire time while we sang.

Overall, it was a great party! One of my friend's told me it was the best party she'd been to which of course, really made my day. I hope this helps you in planning your Pirate party!

Trying to get a group photo, posed issues. This was the best I could do

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