MASON JAR BACKSPLASH

My sister and her husband recently moved to Pennsylvania and bought an adorable house that needed some updating to call it their own. We often get photos of what she is doing around the house and I am blown away by her talent and creativity. This is the sink they put in. I love the sink but am in even more love with the backsplash which Becky did herself. She came up with the idea of using broken Mason jars pieces. I just love love love this idea!

DO YOUR CHORES

Every kid's got 'em. If not they should. They live under your roof make them man up and help out once in a while. I will never understand parents who do not give their kids chores. Yes, I'm judging. Then there are parents who give their kids chores but don't give them any incentive except that they won't kick them out on the streets. Then there's the parents who give money incentives because they want their kids to learn the payoff of hard work means you can buy fake vomit or a new video game. My husband and I fall into that camp. 

Everyone goes about chores differently. In order for our kids to stick with it we felt it was necessary for them to feel ownership of their chores. A couple ways to do that was to make them their own chart that THEY are in control of. We helped create some chores for the board in the beginning but we gave them the ability to add their own as well. They also get a full week on their own timing to complete their chores. It's worked out quite well and is still going strong almost a year later. Along the way we have been able to teach our kids the value of a buck, how to save, how to pay and how to giveaway. And that has been worth every penny and mound of fake vomit.

Our chart consists simply of a rope for each boy. A clothespin is worth 1 chore. They move 5 pins (chores) above the line within one week they get their allowance. Payout happens every Saturday morning and the pins are all moved back under the line. The boys can also make the decision to donate a portion of their allowance to our favorite charity, Living Water International.

HOBO WATER SLIDE

Hobo water slide. Yes we are in the middle of winter which makes it the perfect thing to start concocting for the summer coming up. All you need is a honkin' roll of plastic (found at Home Depot), environmentally safe dish soap, a water hose, and some kick butt fun kids.

Find the tallest hill in the neighborhood and unroll your monster sheet of plastic as far as she will go. Drop a hose at the top and turn her onto "trickle". Every 30 minutes or so add a squeeze of dish soap at the top to add that extra slippery goodness. In our family we call it "jet fuel". Get as many kids as you can to line up at the top of hobo mountain. Then, the craze begins. Yes it is fun. Yes it is muddy. And yes you'll find grass in your kid's suit for about a week. But in the end it is cheap, fun, and something they soon won't forget.

Extra tip: Add tent stakes at the top to hold the plastic in place.

DIM BATHROOM VANITY

All of the bathrooms in our sweet little foreclosure are in desperate need of updating. So, with that in mind we started by remodeling our guest bathroom. We didn't want to put too much money into this space since it is the smallest bathroom in the house. Especially because the master bath is huge and is awaiting a total gut this summer. So with our pockets and priorities set, we went after this project on a shoestring budget. 

We decided to keep the shower and toilet but to remove the very dated sink. By painting the room white and putting down gray tile it was already feeling like a breath of fresh air. After that phase my next beast to tackle was the sink. I wanted to spend little if no money on building the base and luckily got away without spending much. Using some leftover bamboo wood and barn beams I was able to put this little number together. Another random piece sitting in the garage just waiting to be used was the stainless steel sink bowl. What we did have to purchase was the faucet and backsplash. In the end the total sink cost us only about $115. Suck on that Restoration Hardware who wanted us to spend $1200. In the end we topped off the bathroom by installing cedar wood planks. The room is so warm and inviting not only do you want to take a bubble bath, but rolling out a sleeping bag wouldn't be so bad either.

INSTAGRAM WALL

Over the years my husband Tony has been annoying us by snapping pictures to upload to his Instagram account. Over time his photos grew to literally hundreds of random snapshots of our life. Not being an Instagramee at the time he tried to win me over by taking advantage of one of Instagram's perks. For only $0.25 an image you can print out your filtered snaps of random beauty at www.kanvess.com. When I received the box in the mail containing the once annoying clicks of frozen time I was hooked. Not only did I immediately start an Instagram account but I also had to build the Biaggne Instagram Wall. The photos continue to rise in numbers and space is being made for another wall to go up.