Cheap Way To Fix Scratched DVD's and CD's - Try The Public Library

As I have shared in the past few weeks, I have been working on putting all our family cd's on the computer and digitizing all our favorites. 

While working on this project, I have a few of our favorite CD's that got scratched over time and some of the files wouldn't transfer. I have a CD disc cleaner paste that works on many of the small scratches. However, there were four of the cd's that were more scratched than my cleaner could fix.

I have a friend that owns a Video Rental store who would do it for a few dollars but she is closing it down. One of her workers told me this week that the library got a new cd fixing machine and they will do each disk for 50 cents a disc. 

She said that the new machine is the best around and much better than the old machine they have at the video store. I thought it was weird that she would tell me that just when I had four cd's on my kitchen counter needing to be fixed. I didn't ask her about it or anything so I am not sure why she brought it up but I was grateful for her sharing that with me. 

I made a short video about it and took some pictures about how I use the bottle of CD cleaner I have. Check out your local library and see if they offer the same deal. 

Have a Blessed Day! 

Having Gifts Ready Ahead of Time - Saving Money Buying On Sale

I wanted to share something with you today that I thought was something everyone does for many years and then realized that I was different by doing this.

When I was growing up, my mother always had a closet full of presents. She had 8 children and if she had to run to the store every time one of us got invited to a birthday party or needed a gift for a teacher, she would have continually been running to the store. 

If we needed an item, she would just pull an item out of her closet. She had wrapping paper and we were able to wrap the items and be on our way to the party. Until the day she died, she had gifts in her closets. When I was cleaning out her estate, I took two large boxes of new presents to the funeral and let people take what they wanted from the new items and whatever was left, (I don't know how much as I was doing other things) was donated to a girls camp yard sale. 

Having grown up that way, I have always had  totes full of gifts. If my girls needed a present for a "secret sister" for drill or girls camp, or a birthday present, we could pull out the tote and they could pick a present. I would buy gift bags at the local dollar store or if I see bags of assorted giftbags at second hand stores, I will purchase those. I have many packages of new gift boxes and bags unopened that I have gotten for a few dollars that way. 

When I am shopping and I find a good deal on an item that is generic for babies or weddings, I will purchase bulk. For example, last month I was shopping at Walmart, and ran across a display in the back of the store near the little jewelry bags I purchase for my jewelry sorting videos etc. On the display, were all licensed baby Onesie baby outfits in a two pack. Each two pack was $2. That is $1 per name brand licensed Onesie! 

They had all sizes from newborn up and had lots of boys and girls sets. I made a video sharing that I have 7 siblings and between us, we have over 50 children. Many are newlyweds and are starting to have children. I have a shower a month or more for either weddings or babies and it costs me near $100 to drive to the event buying gas and food etc. I have a brother that lives far from family, but his wife has 10 siblings so with his seven, they have 17 siblings between the two. They budget $500 a month in gas due to family events.

With car issues / sliding on the ice / Migraines etc, I decided that I would make the ones I could make, but wasn't going to stress about driving up for an open house shower each time. I started taking up bulk presents for weddings and showers and leaving them with family members so that I would be able to give a gift at the event, but not have to drive 6 hours for the event. Of course I go for the wedding itself but for showers I am going less and less. I think it was before, it was an "event" where we would quilt a blanket for the bride or baby, but now they are all open house, snack food, in and out events. 

I have stopped using gift bags on many gifts now due to the fact they get so beat up in the car with luggage or sitting in someone's closet waiting to be given at the shower. 

I use tulle that I get at second hand stores new on the role for about $1 and bunch up two or three colors and tie ribbons around the gifts and stick a hole in a card and slide the card onto the tulle ribbon. That way, I can stack them, and before they give them the gift, she can fluff the tulle. I am covered on the gift but not spend $100 and 6 hours driving back and forth. They also stack on a closet shelf and don't take up as much space as the gift bags. 

I share in the video, how I do the same with wedding gifts. My "go to" wedding gifts are frames, photo albums, games, puzzles and puzzle keepers because they are square and stackable putting two or three items for each gift. If I know the couple well, I get them something specific to them. I also have lots of the girls friends getting married, and the girls are not around, so I don't really want to go to every shower or reception. So, I will drop off a gift as soon as I get the invitation except for close friends that I actually know well. We get so many invitations for class mates and the girls haven't seen them in years. 

I know things are different in different parts of the country as weddings were a much bigger deal when we lived near Boston. Just different cultures. 

I am glad I can find cute gifts that are fun and in my price range and am grateful to have such a large family. I am truly blessed. Have a Blessed and Family Filled Day! 

A New Gratitude Facebook Page, 111, In God We Trust, and More

I visited a Thrift Shop today and I was helping put back some stuff that people left in the wrong areas and the assistant manager said, “we should give you a salary” or something like that, and I said, “No, I am just glad I can get some jewelry sometimes.” 

I turn around and the manager is standing there with four bags of jewelry in his arms not anywhere near the jewelry case. He was looking at me like “I want to make sure you see that I am putting these out right now!” I take them and only have a few seconds to look and decide to get three of the bags at $15 each. 

I also find a car safety kit with about anything you could need in it for $35 and gave gratitude because I wasn’t feeling all that great about the kit, I made Princess Four a few weeks back when we had he car worked on over spring break. It was cracked and water had frozen and leaked onto everything and I hurried to make her a new kit but it was a mix of odd things. This will be a nice birthday gift for her. 

I then head to the checkout, and there is a penny on the floor right there. I pick it up and take a picture of it. I am checking out and my total was $111, and I started laughing. I feel like God is getting my attention. I get home just in time to grab a few items for the Church Women's Group  birthday party. 

They made a game where each person puts three items in a bag that represent themselves and then they pulled the items out of a bag and you had to guess whose bag it was. I enjoyed learning three things about each women In my bag I took a gratitude frame, a t-shirt saying, “you can’t scare me, I have daughters.” And a puzzle with a little globe for traveling and a picture of my family. I shared how I make t-shirt life quilts for each person and we like to do puzzles and games.

 I was getting ready to make a videos later that night and notice that the “Killer Bunnies” game I bought today for one of the girls for Easter has a note on the front saying, cards 111 – 162 included and laughed again noticing that. I made the video and shared lots of this stuff in there and also how I made a new Facebook page called, "The Secret Is Gratitude" where I hope people will be able to focus on things that they are grateful for and we can enjoy reading about each others blessings. 


My hope is that people will start to focus on the positive things in life and that we can enjoy sharing the things we are blessed with! I am also on Instagram and twitter at same name. I am hoping that at some point things will be moving more quickly on the health situation and I can just make quick posts on there rather than having to make videos about each thing. 

I also ended up getting a package in the mail from Princess Five on her mission today. She sent a cool little box that is a puzzle to get open and inside the box were some Vanilla Tootsie Rolls which are a favorite of mine. It was sweet that she thought of me. She sent a nice "thank you" note for all the packages I have sent her, and considering she has only been out six months, she has gotten more than her sisters got their entire missions as they were all in Asia and she is in the U.S. it is much less expensive to send them to her. So, that was an end to a good day.

Have a Blessed Day!

Chapter Two - Moving to Kearny - Missionary Monday

Hello Everyone!

Sorry I didn’t write last week; Hermana First Companion and I were busy cleaning out our apartment and packing because we were DOUBLED OUT! Which means two new missionaries who don't know anything about the area will be taking our place, we were sad, but I know in God’s plan, everything happens for a reason.

On Tuesday I said goodbye to Hermana First Companion, and sent her off into the real world, I'm going to really miss her, and New Jersey is going to miss her, she's such a wonderful missionary! She's the best trainer an Hermana could ask for.

Anyways, I have been transferred to Kearny! It is one of only two sister walking areas in the whole mission. It reminds me a lot of home, except every time I look down the street there is the most beautiful view of the NYC skyline! There are a ton of people who speak Portuguese here, as well as Spanish, and English. My new companion is Sister Companion 2. She is from the west, and she has only been out 1 transfer longer than I have (six weeks). So, we are learning a lot together. 

This week we have already seen so many miracles! And I would like to share a few.

1. We were knocking houses one night and called a brother from the congregation to pray with us. In his prayer, he asked that "we could find a family from Ecuador at the first door we knocked." Picking a door to knock first was a little nerve racking after that but we did, and.... a couple from Portugal answered the door, but we rang the second doorbell on the house and IT WAS A FAMILY FROM ECUADOR, and we have a return appointment with them on Thursday, how cool is that! I know it's by faith that miracles are brought to pass! WOW!

2.We were getting off a bus and not 2 seconds later this lady started yelling from her car, "Hey sisters can I talk to you!" So she pulled over, and said," My name is Valerie, I'm a member, I'm inactive, whenever I see missionaries I take it as a sign that I need to go back to church, I saw you get on the bus and followed you until you got off, can you have someone visit me?" So that was crazy, we got her info, took a selfie and headed to an appointment. I really hope she comes back to church and keeps coming back to church!

3. Last night, we were knocking doors down a street, and Hermana Companion 2 felt that we should cross down across a main street to keep knocking so we made our way down, and we stopped to talk to a man who was standing outside his apartment building his name Eric, he and his family just moved here from Columbia, and they don’t really go to a church, but love the bible, we shared Moroni 10:4-5 with him, and he started asking us questions and was really interested in The Book of Mormon. He told us we could come back whenever and teach his young family, so we are beyond excited for that! We are so grateful that sister Companion 2 filled the prompting to head down the street a little way!

God's hand is in all things and as you show gratitude for the things He gives you, and act on the opportunities He puts in your path, He will bless you with more!

One last funny story:  On Friday, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting. I was sitting in the congregation for the sacrament, and as I was about to take the water I dropped my cup and it spilled all over my lap. I don’t know how many people noticed, but as I walked up to the stand, my skirt was very noticeable wet. I hope the talk went well, all the members said it was great, but they are members so they have to say that.😅

That's all for this week folks, love you all!

My last days in Patty

Us after we were out contacting in the rain all day.

KEARNY!

Valerie, the lady from the car

Cute and Easy Personal Water Bottle Labels / Covers

I went to help a friend with her daughters homecoming from her mission. Her daughter served for 18 months and I was excited to give her a hug and get a picture with her to send to Princess Five. 

Princess Five and this girl have been best friends for many years. Here are the two of them in a post from many years ago. 

I arrived early and the mom had everything in place with little sticky notes inside each dish telling me what to put in the dish and they had everything cut up in bags in the fridge so we were able to get the entire thing moving really quickly. 

I loved that I was able to help keep the tables clean, the food stocked, the drinks full and putting out deserts as there was room. 

At the end, I was able to make plates of treats and put them into gallon baggies and then each person got to take a plate of treats home as they left. For many years I have done that as a way to thank those who brought food and helped at the event. It saves me having to write a thank you note as I just write "thank you" on the top of the bag or foil and it also cleans out all the treats which I can't eat anyway. 

While putting things out, I was so amazed at the labels that my friend made for the water bottles. She made personalized labels for the waters bottles. It wasn't until a little bit later I noticed it was on the condiment jars and the serving bowls as well as a cute display of some pictures from her mission. 

I thought she must have gone through a ton of ink printing out the black background and she told me that it was the price of a copy! She measured the water bottle labels to see how many she could get onto a sheet of paper. She figured she could get five or six on one sheet of paper. She then looked for a font she liked and typed the words she wanted onto a sheet of paper making five or six lines of words per page so she could get that many labels per page. 

She then took the print out to the coy or office supply store and had them print it in reverse image. She made up small labels for the water bottles, medium sized labels for the condiments and larger labels for the bowls of tortillas and chips etc. 

I made a video explaining all this and took pictures so you could see how they looked and she also printed out little frames in the colors she chose sharing that they could pick a type of shell or tortilla, then one for the four different meats and rice toppings and then another for the toppings like olives, tomatoes and cheese. 

I should have known she would make it amazing as she is always outdoing herself that way. I am glad there are people out there who go the extra mile to make things fun for their kids. I feel like I was way more into that with my older children and just got tired with my last few but everything is relative. 

Towards the end after everything was cleaned up and I was headed out I remembered that I wanted to get a picture with her friend to send to Princess Five tonight in my email to her. Her mom took the picture and I took pictures for her of the entire event as I had a second so I got some good candid pictures and a few fun panoramic pictures of the room during the party. 

I thought I would share her cute idea. It was so good to see Princess Five's best friend and give her a big hug. 

Have a blessed and love filled day!

Working on The Music - Enjoy a Jewelry Sort Today

I am working hard on getting the music CD's I have transferred to digital so all my girls can enjoy the music I spent years collecting. 

I am probably between 1/2 and 2/3 done with them and am really excited to get this project off my "to do" list which also helps clean off some of my desk which had about 30 cd's waiting to be transferred over. I'll let the girls take any of the cd's they may want but I don't know if it is worth holding onto them once they are all digital as everything is getting accessible that way now. 



I found a few bags of jewelry yesterday at a second hand store and made a video going through them both on one video. I found a beautiful necklace / pin which I really love in one of the bags. I have found many of that type of thing over the years but I REALLY like this one for whatever reason.

Enjoy and have a Blessed day full of sparkling things and amazing music! 

Replacing Parts on the Air Med Deluxe 8000 Massage Chair

I got a massage chair awhile back and with some great help from the repair man at the Company for the Air Med Deluxe 8000 chair, I was able to get a new part and put it in. 

For the past few weeks we have been enjoying sitting in my chair. It has been wonderful having some massaging while relaxing. I was sad when I heard some popping noises in the bottom of the chair and the repair man asked me to take a video and send it to him so I took some video.  

I do want to share that if you purchase a transformer to replace the one that isn't working, you don't need to worry about the placement of the new wires, just put the blue on the nearer plugs and the others where you took the others off. I worried that I had to get them in some specific order but the worker said it didn't matter. 

I thought I would also take the time to share my favorite settings and explain about the settings. I really have enjoyed the chair and hope I can figure out what is causing the clicking noise. 

Have a blessed day! 

A Little Bit Of Music Goes a Long Way - Going Digital For Music

If you read this blog, you will see that I don't like to do nothing. I am always working on many projects or on the go with kids and family events. 

I learned at a young age to keep busy and even when I watch a show or something, I am usually working on a project. It is VERY hard for me to sit and watch a show and not be working. I usually only sit and watch a movie on the big TV when my kids or guests are visiting and I give them pedicures etc.

One would think with that type of personality, that I would have an empty home and my house and yard would be perfect. For some reason, it has gotten worse and worse over the years as things come up, other things got set aside. 

If I start a project, I usually push through to finish. The only exception is when another big thing comes up and the first project gets picked up and put somewhere. I was working on my mothers estate items when Princess Five rolled her car and it took her a year to recover. At that time, all of my mothers items were stuffed into different areas and slowly one or two got worked on but I did more in the few days they were delivered than I have since they were put places, as other things tend to be more pressing when they are in the open. 

I have LOTS of cd's. Music has been a huge part of my life and I gave that gift to my children as my mother did to me. They are all singers and enjoy music. Princess One took her daughter to see a musical this week for a "date night" and she just turned five, so even my grandchildren are learning to love music. 

Because I have had so many things going on in my world, music took a huge back seat to taking care of house and home along with my mother, her estate, and my own family. I have had cd's I have never listened to in my home for 10 years. 

The music on my phone was a playlist Princess Two made early in her high school years. It got moved forward from phone to phone via SD cards and I have never taken the time to upgrade as my old computer had some issues with cd's and capturing them, and then when I purchased my new computer, it didn't have a cd drive.

Knowing I wanted to upload all my music, I purchased an external cd / dvd drive over a year ago. I also wanted to capture all my videos I put on DVD and digitize them, so I figured it would be useful for both things. I have had a stack of cd's on my desk for a few years now, and it has grown as I find something I like at second hand stores. I found "the greatest hits" albums for "the Beatles, Queen, Elton John, Billy Joel, Styx", and many other bands that I enjoy, so I have wanted to get them digital for a long time.


As you know, I have been working on a website for the parasite, my mothers history and book, and researching and trying new things to kill off the parasites. I feel like I am living to help others and have spent many years working on my mothers stuff with not much help from my family. So, I decided the other day to do something for myself. I rarely do something just because I want to and I would love to travel but funds are tight so I figured adding music to my world would be something just for me. I pulled out the back up drive and started transferring music onto my computer. I had a good library from many years back but it was mostly kids music as I put them on for the kids. I have probably finished about half of the cd's now and it has taken me over a week to get that much done. 

I am really enjoying the fun new / old music that I have transferred so far. I told my girls to bring home their cd cases so I can upload all their music as well, and then I am going to make back up drives of all our music for each girl so they can have any and all the music we have enjoyed all the years and have the kids music for their children when the time comes. 

I am really shocked by the amount of music we have that wasn't on the computer. It really has been a VERY long time since I enjoyed the music I own. I usually listen to audio books when working and now that Netflix is on any device, I listen to shows, but there is nothing like listening to pumped up music when I am working in the yard or painting. I also have a car that takes usb and SD cards so I am looking forward to enjoying my favorites as I drive! 

I feel so blessed that I have so much music available at my fingertips. I am looking forward to enjoying it more! Have a Blessed and music filled day! 

Princess Five Is on The Move - Her First Transfer

For some reason, I am struggling with my internet again today. Princess Five sent me a one sentence email telling me she mailed something home and she was going to call me later. 

She called later and said she didn't have time to write a group email as she is getting transferred to another city and had to get all her stuff packed as both she and her companion are moving. I asked her to at least send a few pictures so I could have something to post other than 

"she is moving."  

When she called me, she let me know that she is being transferred to a walking area. It is another lower economic city, as being a Spanish speaker, she will be living in many immigrant neighborhoods, so most of her mission will be similar type neighborhoods. She is fine with that, and is enjoying meeting all the different cultures that she wouldn't be surrounded with at home. She did mention that her current companion is headed home and then to school. She said she will miss having her as a companion as she speaks several languages and said her new companion hasn't been speaking Spanish for much longer than she has, so she is a bit worried they will have a hard time communicating in her new area with people, as they are both new to Spanish. 

She is excited for the change of city and companion but isn't as excited about the walking part as she has gotten used to having a car to drive. She did say she thought it would help her lose a few pounds as being stuck inside all winter had her gain one or two pounds. I think it is more of a tone up she is looking for and hopefully she will feel safe walking the streets in her new city. 

Have a Blessed Day! 

Seagate Nasal Spray For Sinus Infection - Mold - Flu - Cold Cure

I shared a few years back about a product I really love. It saved me when I got black mold in my sinus.

I realized that I never made a video telling the information and story about how I found the product and used it to cure my horrible mold sinus situation. I decided to make a video about this to share the information as many people only look to youtube for information and don't take the time to read blog posts. It is always good for a refresher as well. 

Here is a link for the blog post I wrote a few years back about Seagate Nasal Spray. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. 

Have a Blessed Day! 

David Archuleta Was HERE - Funny Story

I shared yesterday that I had a wedding. There were activities on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I took Princess Four and Two with me to visit a Temple for our church near my nieces home after traveling to her city.



When we pulled up to the temple, a car pulled out right as close as we could be to the temple and as we pull in, David Archuleta was six feet from our car. A girl was fanning on him and another saw him and walked over timidly as the other girl left. Princess Four says, “Is that David Archuleta?” Princess Two and I say, “Yes, it is!” and we all started laughing as he looks at us in the car like he wants to duck and run before anyone else corners him and then sees us all staring at him and he and smiled a bashful smile like, "Yes, I am cornered and yes, I can see you know who I am, and yes, I want to get away from the girl." 

We burst out laughing because it was really easy to see what he was thinking, and we get out of the car and you can hear him trying to be polite to the girl and we don't dare take out our phones to take a picture. We smile and walk towards the temple and he seemed relieved.  We didn't try and sneak one but we giggled all the way into the temple. He was cute with all the emotions in that few seconds of eye contact. 

Many years ago, I passed him in the hall of a different temple we were visiting, and he looked familiar but I couldn't place him. It was just he and I in the hall, and I smiled and said "hello" and he had a funny look on his face which could have been, "She has no clue why I look familiar or one of a hundred other similar thoughts. As soon as I turned the corner, I met up with my girls and they said, "These people just told us David Archuleta just left! 

I laughed at myself that day and laughed together with my girls this time. I took the girls to see him in a concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at Christmas many years ago. We stood in a cold line to get a few CD's signed by him. He was so cute with Princess Five and I was sad I hadn't gone back to get my camera in the car as I only got a few bad pictures on an old flip phone at the time, but I did post a blog about it so here is a link to that post. 

After the visit to the temple, I asked the girls if they wanted a picture in the spot where "David" was standing, and they both thought that was HILARIOUSE! We ended up taking a bunch of funny shots as Princess Four pretended to be her and Princess Two pretended to be David Archuleta and we hear he is short but haven't stood next to him so she just bent down to get into character. ha ha. 

The other pictures are showing how sad they were he wasn't there for our pictures. It was a funny situation as we really would have enjoyed talking to him, but wanted to respect his privacy. I just looked up his facebook page and I guess he is leaving next week for a tour so it was fun we got to see him before he leaves! 

Enjoy our rendition of "David Archuleta Was Here" and have a Blessed Day! 

Headed to a Wedding - Jewelry Sorting Silver and Gold Finds

I love having jewelry sorting videos ready to load for days that I have a busy schedule. I used to stress so much on busy weeks, about how I would get my blog done. I have a niece that has been engaged for many years and just decided to get married on short notice and I am SO excited for her to be making this big step in her life. We love them both, and are grateful they are allowing us to attend the wedding! 

I share on this video why I buy certain types of chains. I like the thicker silver chains as they don't hang in a V and disappear down my shirt. I also sort a bag of jewelry and did find a little silver and gold. 

I share about becoming friends with the workers and giving gratitude to them when they help you with things. I know that people in general want to help others and they are so good to tell me when something I am looking for comes to the sales floor, and I really am grateful when they do help me! 

Have a Blessed and Sparkly Day! 

Princess Five Teaching English and Knocking Doors

Hello all, It's basically second Christmas here in Paterson and I will explain why:

It snowed a ton at the beginning of this week, and whenever that happens, sister companion and I like to break out all the Christmas music we have, since we don't have much to listen to. 

We have been busy / lazy, and currently have, not one, but two Christmas trees up in our apartment. Fun facts about Hispanics, many of them don't like taking down their decorations from the holidays, so when we are knocking on doors, we often look for lingering decorations from passed holidays to know which houses to knock.

We've been getting a lot of food from members, which for some reason it mostly cereal, we have a box in our apartment dedicated to cereal now because there is nowhere else to put it.

I still don't have the best Spanish, so when a congregation member is talking to me, and I don't know what to say, I just compliment whatever they are wearing, so this week at church a sister who I sat by in Sunday school last week gave me the skirt she wore the week before because I liked it. 

Our neighbor also gave us some chairs....so yeah Christmas in March.

This week we have been super busy, we have had a lot of English classes, and lessons. Our church has a game night every Friday, and we went for the first time because we invited one of our English students, let's just say I'm not too good at dodgeball, or basketball, or soccer, but our friend really liked it. So that's good. Sorry this week was kind of boring, here are some blurry picture of us in a ghetto elevator and knocking in an apartment building👍🏼

Cuídense 

Hermana Princess Five