We Will be Away for a Few Days

Hello Everyone! We wanted to let everyone know Frugal Family Tree will be away for a few days. We will back up and blogging with some cool giveaways on Monday the 25th. We have a family health issue that we are dealing with and will be out of town for a few days. We thank you our readers for all your support for our site. You make blogging so fun! Our family needs us and here at Frugal Family Tree family is everything.

Have a wonderful weekend. Hug your loved ones and let them know how much they mean to you.

California Sunsets

Living in CA I have always loved the summers. Yes I complain it can be too hot, but I do love that you can stay outside well past the sunset and its still warm out. This last week we have sat out by the garden and watched the sunset a few times. Its been wonderful to try to just be in the moment and watch as the day slowly slips away into night. Our view is not an ocean view like I wish, but sitting with my family near our garden smelling basil and tomato growing is priceless.

Tips for a Better Night's Sleep - Guest Post

Getting a good night's sleep can seem impossible when you do not feel comfortable or have distractions around you. However, there are a few simple ways you can get more comfortable and get rid of distractions to ensure you get a decent night's sleep.

Mattresses

 Your mattress has a lot to do with how well you sleep. Mattresses need to be supportive while still offering you comfort. If you have a mattress that is too soft or lumpy, you end up constantly moving to find a comfortable position. Constant movement while you are resting can make you feel as though you never get enough sleep. Quality mattresses such as Serta mattresses are designed to provide support and comfort by offering a variety of mattress styles to suit different needs. Whether you’re looking for a standard inner-spring or the newly popular memory foam, any quality brand will have several options. You can purchase great new mattresses at a variety of places; you may want to check them out in-store or do your research online first at retailers like ShopNBC to see what you’re most interested in.

Distractions

 Many people say that they do not have any trouble sleeping with a television or radio on. However, even if electronics do not bother you, they can prevent you from completely falling asleep. Televisions emit light and radios can play songs that prevent you from sleeping. Try getting rid of the distractions in your bedroom or turn them off before you go to bed. If you need noise to sleep, consider using a humidifier or fan.

If light bothers you and prevents you from sleeping, consider getting black-out curtains for your windows. Black-out curtains can help prevent light from coming through the windows in the early morning or if you live in an area where there is constant traffic. If that’s not an option, even getting a sleep mask, which can be purchased at your local pharmacy, can help block out light.

Getting a good night's sleep is vital to your health. Your body needs adequate sleep to function on a day-to-day basis. However, not having the right mattress or sleeping in a room with too many distractions can prevent you from getting the sleep you need. To change your sleeping habits, reassess your mattress and make an effort to get rid of televisions and other electronics in your bedroom.


*This is a guest post brought to you by Leslie Silver

Frugal Pizza

Sometimes when I have a bunch of  items left over in the fridge I like to turn it into something so nothing is wasted. I am frugal with food and feel terrible to waste it. Knowing other people dont have food in some places make me be grateful for mine. My husband even laughs at my fruit section in the freezer with odds and ends of fruits that were needing to be eaten right then or they would go bad. I freeze it for smoothies.

I had whole wheat bread, cheese and a few small containers in the fridge with extras I did not use in a recipe some spaghetti sauce,  red onion, green bell pepper and mushrooms. Perfect for making little bread pizza for lunch. I made my son's without the veggies and mine with the veggies. The trick is to slightly toast the bread before all the toppings are put on so the bread will be crisp and the cheese wont get burnt from having to cook to long. A perfect frugal lunch with left overs!

Shop The Gift Basket Store $20 Gift Certificate Giveaway - Birthday Bash

Gift Baskets can be a great way to cheer up someones day, be a great birthday present or a get well gift. Nana, Laura, Sam, Liam and our Dad all have summer birthdays. With all those summer birthdays coming we need some gift ideas. Many of us live in separate states so we do not see each other on our birthdays so its nice to find a place to shop at to get something nice to have mailed to them.

Shop The Gift Basket Store has a wide variety of gift baskets for Birthdays. Gift Baskets for book lovers like my Mom Patricia, kids birthdays, women's birthdays, men's birthdays, golf lovers, sports fans and so many more.

They even have cute items like Candy Bouquets and Cookie Bouquets. I know I would like one for a just because day or a thinking of you gift too.

Gift Baskets can be just as much fun to send then receive when you get to select from so many fun ones. To celebrate you, our readers, we are offering a $20 Gift Certificate to ShopTheGiftBasketStore.com for Nana's 55th Birthday Bash.


GIVEAWAY

Win a $20 Gift Certificate to ShopTheGiftBasketStore.com


 To Enter This Giveaway:

 Which item from the Shop The Gift Basket Store would you like to have?


*Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address if its not public in your Google account*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on.

-Like ShopTheGiftBasketStore on Facebook +1
-Follow ShopTheGiftBasketStore on Twitter +1
-Follow ShopTheGiftBasketStore on Pinterest +1

 -Follow/Add to your circle  Frugal Family Tree on Google+ ( right hand side) +1
-Like our new fan page on Facebook Frugal Family Tree +1
-Follow FrugalFamTree on Twitter +1 
-Follow Frugal Family Tree on Pinterest +1

-Share this giveaway on Facebook ONLY, using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +1 for each share you do. (can be done once a day)

-Copy and Paste This Tweet on Twitter and leave me the link (to find the link click on the time stamp under your tweet. Can be done once a day for the duration of the giveaway)

#Win a $20 Gift Certificate to @shopgiftbaskets from @FrugalFamTree #Giveaway ends 7/13

 *Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts June 18, 2012 and ends on July 13th, 2012 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post.  The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize.

T-fal Healthy Summer Challenge Tip #1

 
This summer I am delighted to be one of the bloggers taking part in the T-fal Healthy Summer Challenge. I will be sharing a few tips with you on how I make small but important changes to live a healthier lifestyle.


Tip #1

Summertime means eating lots of ice cream around my house. I am making changes to eat healthier, so I have decided to replace my ice cream with healthy and delicious frozen yogurt.

Besides being good for you, frozen yogurt comes in so many delicious flavors. I love adding fresh fruit or crushed granola to make a super yummy summer dessert that appeals to everyone in my family.

 What sweet treat can you replace with a healthier option for your summertime desserts?

*I wrote this blog post while participating in the T-FFal Healthy Summer Challenge blogging program for a chance to win a T-fal ActiFry or additional cookware.

Happy Father's Day to All the Dads

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads in our family and in yours. We hope you spend the day with the people you love to honor the Dads in your life. We love our Dad and pray he has a speedy recovery from his surgery and we love the men in our lives that are the Dads to our kids. TY to our husbands for being the heroes they are to our kids.


We went to the game store this morning to pick up a game for a game our son wanted. I thought it was sweet for my husband to let our son get a gift instead of him! :)

 

Amazon $100 Twitter Blast Gieaway

You can win a $100 Amazon code from a ton of great blogs! In order to make this as easy as possible for you all the Twitter accounts are on http://makobiscribe.com one page so you can just click them easily then enter once on the form. If you like all of the Twitter accounts, you will get 100 points; however, if you just want to do simple entry - you can just click the enter button and you will have 1 point into the giveaway. You can tweet about the giveaway up to 3 times a day at least one hour apart. This giveaway is open to US & Canada and will be paid via email. The giveaway ends June 23 at 11:59 EST. Please enter on the Giveaway Tools form below & Good Luck!

Javascript must be enabled to enter this giveaway. Learn how to activate Javascript by clicking here.

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Makobi Scribe & Surf and Sunshine bring you this Amazon Twitter blast.




 

Naiad Soap Arts Review and Giveaway - Birthday Bash

   
One of my true pleasures in life is taking a long, hot, steamy bath or shower. Taking a bath just before bedtime usually assures me of a wonderful nights sleep.

So I am always on the look-out for new kinds of soap and bath products. When I found Naiad Soap Arts online, I knew I wanted to try their products. Who wouldn't want to try Milk Chocolate Marshmallow Cream Soap, or Key Lime and Grapefruit Whipped Shea Butter Scrub?

As well as having such lovely names, all of the products look pretty on the website, too. Naiad Soap Arts make all of their soaps by hand, and in small batches so that it's customers can be assured of buying quality products.

For my review I selected a Sugar Whipped Soap called Connecticut Beach House. I just couldn't resist the name and the lovely cotton candy look of the soap. I just love it! It has a citrus and floral mix fragrance that is very nice. It also has a fluffy texture and an addition of fine sugar that gently exfoliates your skin. I used it with a bath sponge and it created a great lather. I look forward to trying more of this wonderful line of soaps.

The company makes sugar scrubs, glycerin soaps, cold process soaps, lip balms and more. To see the complete line of products available go to naiadsoaparts.com.

We are happy to be hosting a giveaway of a jar of Whipped Soap of your choice.

 GIVEAWAY

Win a jar of Sugar Whipped Soap from Naiad Soap Arts of your scent choice

 

To Enter This Giveaway: (mandatory entry before extra entries)


Which scent of Sugar Whipped Soap would you pick if you won?

 

*Leave a comment answering the question and be sure to leave your email address if its not public in your Google account*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry. If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on.

-Like on Naiad Soap Arts on Facebook +1

-Follow Naiad Soap Arts on Twitter +1

-Follow/Add to your circle  Frugal Family Tree on Google+ ( right hand side) +1
-Like our new fan page on Facebook Frugal Family Tree +1
-Follow FrugalFamTree on Twitter +1

-Share this giveaway on Facebook ONLY, using the Share Button at the bottom on this post. +1 for each share you do. (can be done once a day)

-Copy and Paste This Tweet on Twitter and leave me the link (to find the link click on the time stamp under your tweet. Can be done once a day for the duration of the giveaway)

#Win a Jar of Sugar Whipped Soap from @naiadsoaparts at @FrugalFamTree #Giveaway ends 7/13

 

 

 *Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts June 15 2012 and ends on July 13, 2012 at midnight PST. Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize.

Nana's 55th Birthday Bash Starts Today!

Happy Friday Everyone! Today is a special day for us since we are starting Nana Patricia aka our Mom's 55th Birthday Bash Celebration. Our Mom, Nana to the grandkids and Patricia to her friends will be turning 55. We wanted to throw her an online Birthday Bash. Turning 55 is an awesome milestone. Nana has been writing on the blog for over a year now and has become a big part of what Frugal Family Tree is, after all with out our wonderful Mom we would not be the Family Tree we are.

As her daughters Sam, Meg and I adore her and consider her one of our closest friends. She makes us all feel just as special as the other and she has 3 of us girls and 2 sons. We want to celebrate Nana's birthday with all of you as we share great gifts, fun party ideas and local Seattle must see places to visit. Our Mom loves yoga, clothing, shoes, watches, coffee, books, stationary, hand bags, baskets which are all awesome gifts that we plan to get her. Our Mom loves the city life. SF, NY, LA, and Seattle would be the place for her to live right in the heart of one of them and be absolutely happy. (its on the will do someday list!)

We also want to introduce her to fun experiences as well. Indulging in a spa day or a nice dinner can be a great way to create wonderful memories. Of course while looking fabulous at 55! We love our Mom so much and want to share with you ways to celebrate your loved ones too. Thank you for our sponsors for being a part of this wonderful celebration.

We hope you have fun with our giveaways to win some great gifts for the Summer Birthdays you are celebrating this year.