Tag Archives: family

Nov1

Creating A More Healthy Home

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Creating A More Healthy Home

You want your home to be a healthy and safe space for your family to live in and there are plenty of things you can do to make sure your home is more health conscious. Whether it’s being more environmentally aware or making better choices with your food, here are some tips to make a healthier home:

Shop Healthy:

Grocery shopping for healthy food is a great way to start the improvement process. Try to create a list beforehand and have your meal options ready so that you can shop for all the necessary bits and pieces you’ll need to make it. It’s worth trying to find healthy alternatives to anything unhealthy that you buy as you certainly may find that there’s more available now than ever before. With an increased focus on different dietary requirements, you are likely to find a lot more suitable options out there that are going to taste good whilst also being very healthy.

Keep Up With Home Maintenance:

Home maintenance is important to keep up with as they can often affect your household’s health if you don’t look after it. For example, ensuring your heating and air conditioning units are working properly and that any necessary filters have been cleaned in order to keep the air nice and clean. It’s worth getting a company like River City Heating and Air who can help with any home maintenance or fixes that need doing. You should also be looking at other machines in your home like the washing machine and dishwasher, for example, to check that they’re being deep cleaned on a regular basis. Failure to do so might result in damage to the machines but also problems with your health in what clings to clothing or what’s found in the filters of your dishwasher.

Sometimes, however, problems will occur in your home that can’t be avoided with regular maintenance. It is a good idea to compile a list of professionals that you can call when a situation arises. This can include emergency electrical services, emergency plumbers, locksmiths, a garage door repair company, roof repair professionals, and tree removal specialists. Time is of the essence when a home emergency takes place and knowing who to call can only help you and save money when avoiding further damage.

Go Green & Save Money:

Going green can be helpful in creating a healthier home that’s not only beneficial for you but can also help you to protect the environment too. Look at the ways in which you can go green and how you might be able to save money at the same time. One example is to consider solar energy and installing solar panels onto the property in order to generate its own electricity. If you decide to go green with solar, we suggest maximizing the system efficiency by hooking up the panels to a battery storage. That way you can store the excess power and use it when your panels are not producing electricity.

Solar panels are amazing for the environment and can prove to be a huge money saver in the long run. This is an especially good option if your home gets a lot of natural sunlight. If you are interested in learning more, simply enter a search for “solar panels houston” (or your local area). A consultation with a team of professionals can answer your questions and provide you with the next steps to take.

Speaking of electricity, you could also consider a change in your commute with an electric vehicle. This is not only good for the environment but good for your wallet too. You can even use the help of Residential electricians in your area to install an EV charging station for you so you never have to worry about tracking one down. Finally, you could start recycling more and embracing a paperless and plastic-free home. Both of these are easy to do, and it just requires a bit of extra work and effort on your part.

Free Your Space Of Clutter:

If your home is full of clutter, it’s a good idea to try and find ways of freeing up your excess items where possible. Look at what you have in your areas now and to do a declutter every so often. You may be best to do it at the start and end of each season, seeing as we can end up bringing in a lot of stuff into our homes over time. Be active when it comes to staying on top of clutter, and you’ll have a much more enjoyable at home experience because of it.

Transform Your Garden:

Transforming your garden is one area of the home that often gets overlooked. However, you could do many things in your garden and that includes growing your own food. Improve your garden in different ways and make it a more livable space for you and your household. Whether it’s entertaining guests around a fire pit or pruning the garden with your children, the garden can be a great place to keep yourselves healthy.

Creating a healthy home is important, so use these tips to begin a positive change today!

Featured Image By: Pexels

Nov1

How To Deal With A Home Damage Emergency

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How To Deal With A Home Damage Emergency

A home damage emergency can happen at any time and, like many things in life, they can often come at the wrong time. It’s worth making sure you know how to deal with a home emergency, however big or small it may be. With that being said, here are some tips for dealing with a home damage emergency so that life can return to normal as soon as possible:

Check Everyone Is Safe:

It’s important to know that when home damage occurs within your home, that all of the household is safe and sound. Whether it’s a kitchen fire or a constant flow of water coming out of the bathroom toilet, it’s good to take scope of everyone in the premises. Checking in to see if your children and partner are safe is important because then you can focus on the matter at hand. It might be that some home damages are caused by a member of the household, and they possibly could have injured themselves as a result. That’s why it’s important to check that everyone is okay and that no one is seriously harmed.

Do a once-over of any family members and guests, and then you can get any information necessary about what happened. This can be particularly important in scenarios where someone might be stressed out over what’s happened and needs calming down.

Assess The Damage Yourself:

Next up, it’s important to assess the damage that has been caused and whether or not it poses an instant threat. For some, like the boiler breaking down or becoming compromised in some way, could be dangerous to your home and therefore need you to vacate the property until the professionals arrive to look at the issue further. There also might be occasions where the damage is possibly very minimal and, as a result, you don’t need to call anyone out and instead may be able to fix the problem yourself. However, care must be taken when it comes to fixing things yourself because there is a chance that you might cause further damage. Be sure you know exactly what you need to do before going through with it. Otherwise, it may end up being a more costly fix.

Call Emergency Services If Needed:

When it comes to emergency services, it might be that you need to request their help in a situation where a family member is injured or you need authorities to take an account of what happened. There are times where property damage has been caused by someone else that doesn’t live in your household and is needing to be found or dealt with. The emergency services are there as and when you need them so if you need them, don’t be afraid to call.

Call In The Professionals:

When it comes to property damage, some jobs might require more than what you’re capable of. With that being said, it might be necessary to call in the professionals to get the job done. Again, attempting to do it yourself may not be something that is possible or that will end up going correctly. And so it’s worth hiring a property damage restoration company to come in and to assess the damage themselves so that the right work can be carried out. As much as it’s nice to think that your skills and experience expand to this level of expertise, it’s not always the case.

Try To Keep Life As Normal As Possible:

Finally, when it comes to property damage, it can end up throwing off the normal routine that you and your family might have. Try to keep life as normal as possible whatever home damage has been caused. The sooner you can get it fixed the better, but it’s something that shouldn’t impact your way of living for too long. Keep everyone happy and focused on other things until the problems can be solved.

Dealing with a home damage emergency can often be a challenge, but if you’ve got the right people to do the job, then it’s going to get done in no time at all! 🙂

Featured Image By: Pexels

Oct30

There Are Good Ships, There Are Bad Ships…

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There Are Good Ships, There Are Bad Ships…

You know… I think the best ships are Auntships and yes I definitely made that up on the spot, lol. This past weekend, I had the absolute joy of watching my sweet niece Miss Valerie Jane. Val Gal is almost twenty months old and she is my sister, Kristen, and brother in law, Ramon’s, little girl. Valerie is honest to god my best friend and my life has been so much happier since she was born.

Despite having Blue’s Clues on in the background for the entire evening, Val and I had the best time playing, snacking, and enjoying a pajama party while her mom and dad were at work. Between her French lessons from her auntie, reading books, putting puzzles together, working on her flash cards, and cooking in her pretend kitchen we had a jam packed Saturday night!

I love being able to see Val’s happy and silly personality continue to develop every time I see her. I swear, she is always giggling, belly laughing, and on the move and I don’t know how her parents keep up with her. Especially considering that Kristen and Ramon have five pets, as well. Three dogs named Tydus, Winston, and Platinum and two cats called Mary and Gloria (All rescued). 🙂

I know I’m biased because Val is my niece but I am just so proud of her, Kristen, and Ramon because she’s legit the best kid on the planet. In fact, I tend to not like children that much to begin with but I wish I could see Valerie every day.

Being able to go to chez Kristen and Ramon’s for an evening and do nothing but make Val laugh hysterically from the “Where’s Val? I can’t find her anywhere” game was a high point of this entire year, lol. I was so tired after caring for a constantly on the move kiddo but all I have to do is think about our “auntie and me” time together and it never ceases to put a smile on my face.

Being an auntie to lil Valerie Jane is one of the best gifts I’ve ever had and I really do think the best ships are Auntships. ❤

Are you a proud aunt or uncle? Which TV shows are the kiddos in your life obsessed with? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct26

Making Sure Your Children Get The Best Education

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Making Sure Your Children Get The Best Education

The responsibilities you take on when you become a parent seems almost endless, and it can often be hard to keep up with their various needs and demands. One area which you may believe needs little intervention is their education, as many parents feel relief dropping their child off at school, knowing they’re in ‘good hands’. This isn’t always the case, and your child should not have to struggle through their education all alone with nowhere to turn for support or guidance besides their teachers, who are commonly too busy to help.

We will be discussing further what you can do to assist your child in their education. However, if you feel like their school is truly lacking what your child needs it doesn’t hurt to shop around! Resources like School Guide helps you compare schools to see which options suit your child best. You can also schedule an appointment with their guidance counselor for any additional advice.

Ensuring your child can get the best education needn’t be difficult, as there are a few key areas in which you can focus your efforts to encourage them to thrive. So, if you would like to find out more, then read on to uncover some of the best top tips and tricks that you can make the most of today:

Make Things Fun:

One big issue that mainstream education can’t seem to overcome is the fact that learning must be fun. Children will never develop an interest in the topic that they are being taught unless they are somehow inspired by the process, as their imagination is at its peak during early school age and this should be taken into consideration. Turning learning into a game is such a great way to motivate your little ones to get more involved with schoolwork. You could even make learning feel like playtime with kits from KinderLab Robotics, engaging science experiments, and taking the lesson outdoors to explore nature. Getting crafty is also a super immersive tool as well as just being a blast!

Create a kind of reward board for school homework and extracurricular activities that can fill up with gold stars as your children progress, as this is a great fun way to keep them interested and motivated. Rather than simply sitting around the table to complete homework on a sheet of paper, incorporate other materials into the mix which can help them to visualize – this is especially good for mathematics, as things like playtime building blocks can be a great representation for counting and other simple maths.

Explore Alternative Methods:

Many education facilities simply don’t provide their students with enough teachers and resources to inspire them to truly thrive, so it’s a good idea to explore a few alternative or additional methods that might be of benefit. There are many extracurricular activities that your child can explore, from exciting STEM clubs that take part in cool experiments to platforms which offer online resources that can be utilized by you at home! Alternative home schooling is constantly growing in popularity, and this added interest is allowing for continued investment into fun opportunities that your children can make the most of.

If you are exploring homeschooling as an option for your child’s education, then it’s important to make sure that you are utilizing the right tools. For instance, you might want to consider using platforms available from companies like Age of Learning that give you everything you need to help your children grow their knowledge and skills in various subjects. 

Help Them To Understand:

What a lot of people don’t realize is that if you sit down with the kids and talk to them about why certain things are important, they are more likely so be responsive. For example, if you give them a list of reasons why you should study math, they will be able to understand the importance surrounding it a little more. Kids tend to shy away from the things that they don’t understand, especially if they think that it’s not something important for them to know. Work with them to help them understand, and they are going to get more out of their education than ever before.

Help your children continue to blossom in their education with the tips above. You can maintain ultimate peace of mind that they are receiving all of the help they need and you will bond as you play a bigger role in their school experience.

Featured Image By: Pexels

Oct26

Ballooning Around

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Ballooning Around

Hello! As of right now, there has been a sharp increase of COVID cases in Ohio. Myself and Johnny, both of our families, and all of my clients are hunkered down more than ever and the feeling of having “nothing to do” is particularly strong. As an independent provider for people with special needs, I am constantly trying to figure out ways to keep my clients entertained from the comfort of their home. This past month, I learned that something has simple as a balloon can be a whole lot of fun.

My most senior (and high risk) client’s brother celebrated a birthday in October, so we spent a lot of time making decorations and discussing birthdays of years’ past. The piece de resistance, however, was definitely when I blew up a ton of balloons the day before and the morning of the big day. My client loved selecting which color balloons he wanted and he wrote his brother’s name on every single one.

Once we had plenty of balloons ready, I asked my client if he wanted to hit it back and forth together and he was all for it. In fact, so much so that we have played “Balloon Bounce” pretty much every day that I’ve seen him since. This has been my “sneaky” way of incorporating a more, for lack of a better words, “active” activity into my client’s routine and he has so much fun that it doesn’t even feel like a little work out.

We have dubbed ourselves the Balloon Bounce International League and we have nicknames too! While we’re hitting the balloon, we always play our favorites tunes and it brings my client back to playing volleyball in the Special Olympics. My only rule? Placing items that could get hit throughout his room elsewhere so nothing breaks!

Balloon Bounce is one of the most simple past times I think I have ever come up with and it really is a blast. All it takes it a little creativity and imagination and even the smallest activities can become a new daily favorite. Hey, I’ll take it!

How do you get creative with activities at home? How did you celebrate any recent birthdays? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Featured Image By: Deeana Creates From Pexels

Oct25

Spooky (And Safe!) Family Fun

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Spooky (And Safe!) Family Fun

Hello! Halloween is right around the corner and, unfortunately, it’s going to be very different than in 2019. No trick or treat for my niece, no big parties, no Halloween concerts with Johnny – just lots of scary movies and fond memories of when COVID didn’t exist. If you’re a huge fan of Halloween like me and Johnny, this might have you feeling down and out about the lack of activity going on. So, why not give these spooky and safe ideas a try?

Trunk Or Treat:

In my neck of the woods, they are doing a trunk or treat program for the little ones getting in the Halloween spirit. This involves picking up a treat bag at ten different, driveable locations and, afterwards, your name will be put in a drawing for more goodies. My family plans on piling up in Johnny’s mini van so we can all enjoy seeing our little niece dressed up in her Halloween’s best… And all from the comfort of our car! Nice. 😀

Shudder Screening:

Johnny and I have been watching nothing but scary movies this entire month and we have the streaming service, Shudder, to thank for that. In fact, we’ve had so much success that we plan on keeping the service beyond our free month long trial. From exclusive content just for Shudder, scary shows, movies, and the fact that they are constantly adding more programming I can’t believe we haven’t gotten this service sooner! The first show I recommend? Creepshow! It. Was. AWESOME.

Costume Contests:

If you’re used to having a yearly Halloween party with your friend group, how about hopping on Zoom to have a little reunion? Create costumes from what you already have at home and award a prize to the best look. Maybe that will be Cash app-ing some moolah or ordering a pizza for the top winner? Don’t forget “raspberry” prizes for the worst costume!

Spooky Scavenger Hunt:

A super fun way to celebrate Halloween night is with a spooky scavenger hunt. Limit yourselves just in your home and backyard and, once it gets dark, let the games begin. Fun for people of all ages, use clues and hints to help direct the participants to the items being collected. Mini pumpkins or ingredients to a “potion” perhaps? Once the hunt is complete, celebrate with candy, caramel apples, hot cider, and a movie.

Jack-O-Lantern Contest:

Jack-O-Lantern contests are a great way to get the whole neighborhood involved in some Halloween fun. Have everyone vote for the best pumpkins on your block and see who comes out on top. You can also have contests for best decorated house, cutest pet costumes – you name it! Then, everyone in your area can get in on the Halloween spirit, too. 🙂

How are you safely celebrating Halloween this year? What did you dress up as last year? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct23

When You’re Having Trouble Finding Your Dream Home

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When You’re Having Trouble Finding Your Dream Home

The real estate market can be one wild ride to go through. Looking for homes is far from easy and even homes that you should be able to easily say “no” or “yes” to can become a trickier subject when you’re thinking about trying to move quickly or ensuring you have your finances in the right place. However, it’s even harder when you just can’t find a home to say “yes” to. If you’re having trouble finding your new home, here are a few tips to get you back in the game:

Know your priorities:

First of all, you might need to manage your expectations a little. When you’re talking about the right home for you, does it have to tick every single box or are there some boxes that are more important than the others? For the vast majority of house hunters, the latter is more likely to be the case. If that is so, then you should take the time to actually know which boxes need to be ticked and which would be nice to have. Sit down with a pen, paper, and anyone else who is involved in buying the home and brainstorm things you want from the home. Then take the time to separate them into actual wants and needs, so you know what you might be willing to drop if all the most important boxes are ticked.

Get some help looking:

If you’re having trouble finding a good home, then the simple issue might be that you don’t know where to look. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, it’s not like it’s your profession to go house hunting. That is the profession of real estate agents, however. Working with local real estate agents means getting access to someone who has done plenty of research in the area, so they know about what amenities you can expect, how properties compare to one another in the general area, as well as pricing history throughout the area. What’s more, there are plenty of properties that don’t get advertised to the general public that a good estate agent can help you find.

If you’re looking for a major change, expand your horizons! Perhaps you want to try living in a brand new state and are interested in land home packages delaware, or elsewhere, which combine the convenience of securing both land and a custom-built home. This change of scenery might be just the inspiration you need to find your dream property, especially if you are coming up empty with local options. Working with a home builder team is interactive, exciting and could be an excellent way to go if you are not willing to sacrifice the must haves and nice to haves in your new home.

Can you make it your dream home?

Your home might not exactly fit all of your needs and wants right now, but how many of those could you take the time to implement yourself? When it comes to home styling, the world is your oyster so long as you have the budget for it. However, even when it comes to how much space you have and how many rooms you have, you might want to look at home remodeling services. This is going to boost the overall price of the home, of course, so you need to seriously consider how much you want those changes. If you still can’t imagine the house to be the home of your dreams even with remodeling, it is best to explore other options like touring different properties or considering new house and land packages. Sometimes the home you are viewing is just not a good fit and that is okay!

Can you make your dream home?

Buying a home to only renovate and remodel it can be a lot more expensive than you might think. In fact, it might actually be more cost-effective to build your dream home, yourself. Going for a new build with the help of custom home builders is actually a more reasonable choice than you might think. Besides, if you have the budget, you can make sure that your custom home ticks every single one of your wants and needs. Custom home communities like Olde Bulltown Village are becoming more and more popular and could be a great place to start looking for inspiration. For those who don’t want to compromise, there simply isn’t a better option than to build the home yourself instead of buying one.

Know when you have found the right house:

Perhaps you’ve already found the home for you, but you simply haven’t taken the time to acknowledge it. In a lot of cases, if you find the best home on the market early, then you might not make a move on it since you want to see what else is out there. However, the more homes you look at, the more the details of that older property can slip out of your mind. Be sure to talk about homes you have looked over with your real estate agent so you can compare them in detail and remind yourself of the house that might already be right for you. Then you need to be willing to act on it.

You might not always be able to get the home that ticks every single one of your boxes. If you do, it’s probably going to be more expensive than you might think. However, hopefully, the tips above will help you get a little closer than you currently are!

Featured Image By: Pixabay

Oct23

Stuck On Early Holiday Shopping? Have Some Ideas!

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Stuck On Early Holiday Shopping? Have Some Ideas!

Hello!! Yes, yes, roll your eyes all you want to my last minute holiday shoppers but Lil Red is over halfway done with her Christmas shopping! In case you haven’t noticed, I absolutely love gift giving and because I have so many people to shop for – the earlier I can get done the better for me. A stress free December where all I have to do is wrap up prezzies is the goal.

However, my drive to complete my holiday shopping doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten stuck on gifts to purchase. In fact, it’s been difficult this year because I feel like I’ve used up all of my best ideas before. Lol, so I had to get creative and if you got gifter’s block like me, you might appreciate these ideas:

Insect Condos:

I have quite a few giftees with a positively green thumb and gifts for the garden always go over well for them. This year, I was very interested in insect condos to help promote healthy garden growth as well as our bee population. These little “houses” feature all of the materials that handy insects like lady bugs, bees, butterflies (the list goes on) love like sawdust, bamboo, and cedar wood.

I thought these insect condos would be a perfect addition to the gardens that my giftees tend so lovingly and you can find tons of amazing homemade ones on Etsy or there are plenty on Amazon. I also had to snag a butterfly feeder for my dad (He doesn’t read my blog so I can post this, I swear!) because him and his granddaughter love watching the butterflies in his garden together. I know they will both be happy with it!

Baking Boxes:

This year, I wanted to get something different for the families I work with as opposed to the normal holiday decor, chocolates, or ornaments. So, I found some baking boxes through King Arthur Flour to gift them with. These boxes come with all of the ingredients to make a delicious dessert and I thought it would be a fun activity that all of them could bake and enjoy together.

There is nothing better for baking than products from King Arthur Flour and I was happy to be able to get such nice gifts for a price I was comfortable with. In fact, I plan on purchasing more as it gets closer to Christmas to have shipped to other loved ones on my list.

Willow Tree Figures:

I have always been fond of gifting the beautiful Willow Tree figurines to people because they are sentimental and simple decor and it’s easy to find one that applies to wherever your giftee is in life. For example, last year when my mom and dad became grandparents, I gifted my mom a statue to represent that, as it was a grandma holding her sweet grandbaby.

From celebrating your pets and relationships to saying thank you by purchasing a Willow figure holding a bouquet of flowers, you are surely to find the right one for your giftee!

Stocking Stuffers:

Stocking stuffers are great if you need a little something extra for a gift or you want to do an entire goodie basket. Winter accessories like hats, gloves, and scarves are a great place to start if you’re doing a gift exchange in your friend group. Cozy blankets, a decadent box of chocolates, and bottles of wine always go over well too! Still stuck? Candles, bath and body care, gift cards, your favorite book, and even socks (I like getting them!) are all crowd pleasers.

Take some of the stress out of your holiday preparations with the gift ideas above. Happy shopping!

When do you normally start holiday shopping? Who is the most difficult person on your list to shop for? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct18

La Marie Brow Club Update

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La Marie Brow Club Update

Hello!!! Just about two years ago, I had my first microblading appointment at my cousin, Laura’s, studio in Pittsburgh called La Marie Brow Club. At the time, she was renting out the back of a tattoo studio to do her amazing work. Now, for the past year, she owns her own shop with multiple artists working there who specialize in permanent makeup.

Over the weekend, my sister and I went on a road trip so Laura could work her microblading magic on Kristen. Not only does my sister look fabulous but Laura’s new shop is so awesome I just had to share it with all of you! Kristen and I are both already itching to go back for our touch up appointments in December. 🙂

Check it out:

Laura’s last studio was the size of just one of her new microblading rooms in the new shop so this is a major upgrade for her and I am so proud. La Marie Brow Club is closed on Sundays and Laura opened up special for us so we could hang out and Kristen could get her brows done. We had the best time having hours on end of girl talk and pampering and it was so fun to catch up because the last time we saw Laura was on March 19th AKA when all of the bars and restaurants in Ohio closed.

After Kristen’s appointment, we all headed to Laura’s parents for a social distanced take out dinner and then we made our way home to flat Ohio from hilly Pittsburgh. As always, I can’t recommend Laura’s services enough and if you are in the area it is a must to get microbladed by the best!

My touch up appointment in December will be my third time getting microbladed and I seriously cannot wait for round three and road trip round two with Kristen. It was a great day! ❤

Do you have any permanent makeup done? Would you ever get microbladed? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct13

An Apple A Day

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An Apple A Day

Hello!! For those of you who don’t know, my big girl job is as an Independent Provider for people with special needs. I love my job always but in the summer and fall, I feel particularly thankful because I am constantly being spoiled with produce from gardens and apple orchards. Each family I work with does a garden every summer and, I swear, I never went a week without delicious, homegrown veggies in my apartment these past few months.

This past week, a client and his family visited an apple orchard and I had such fun hearing about his outing. Fast forward to when I was about to pull out of their yard to go home and his mom comes running out to stop me with a huge bag of apples. SO sweet!

All of the families I work with consider me an “honorary” member of their household and it is an honor for me. So, to come home with a bag of apples or veggies is special to me because it’s a reminder of how much we all care for each other. I would be so lonely without all of the wonderful families I get to help out and, god forbid one of us gets sick or goes on vacation, because we all end up missing each other like crazy!

Like I said, my client’s mom ran to my car with this beautiful bounty and it was like getting the most fantastic hug. Small and simple acts of kindness are often the best so be sure to offer an apple (pumpkin or gourd!) a day to someone you love if you visit an apple orchard or pumpkin patch this fall. You have the Lil Red Guarantee that it will be oh so appreciated. ❤

What was the last random act of kindness you made? What do you like to grow in your garden? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah