DIY Bedside Carafe Set

Hey GFFs!

Chilo usually brings a glass of water to put on his nightstand before bed just in case he wakes up thirsty in the middle of the night (obviously lol).  Though, many times it sits on the dresser until the morning and then he will drink it... I think that's gross.

Let me explain. This is not because of my Acey Deucey.  I know this is just the name of a game for many of you. However, growing up it was my family's name for a milder form of OCD. Three of the five of us kids seem to have been unofficially diagnosed with it. Our symptoms seem to show when it comes to germs, folding blankets correctly, spreading condiments to the edge of slices of bread and stuff like that. It is also not just the thought of dust settling in the glass or *cringe* a bug taking a sip in the wee hours of the night, it's because I have taken a sip of the water in the morning and I can taste the difference! I carry a metal water bottle with me pretty much all of the time and I can't taste a difference no matter how long it sits. Chilo is a chugger. Like he can finish a gallon of water in no time! Water bottles don't really work out for him, he'd rather carry a gallon with him.

Okay, back to the point... my husband was being gross by drinking dusty bug water and I had to do something about it. I was on Zulily one day and saw the solution! I was really contemplating spending over $30 (I'd have to pay for shipping too) to save my husband from this nightmare. Then, I got myself together and remembered I am WAY too frugal to spend that much on two glasses. So the search began! I ran into this beautiful Oscar De La Renta night set on Google for over $150 dollars! I know there are people out there that will gladly spend this but for everyone else, I decided I will find something for 10% of that cost. I saw a blue set from Crate&Barrel and really liked the lines of it, but again it was way more than I wanted to spend.


I was wondering around Ross for some black cloth napkins, didn't find any there but I did find the carafe solution! There was a glass milk bottle there for $3 dollars. Yes, $3! It reminded me of the blue set that I liked. I searched around the other shelves for individually sold glasses and found a rounded class for $1. The total for his set was $4!!! When I got home, I remembered we had a glass that was flat on the bottom with longer lines that we got from the Dollar Tree for a project that we never did. I asked him which he liked better and he chose the flat glass.

I'm happy with how it turned out, especially for under $5! I did find a set for under $15 from CB2 that I considered. However if purchasing it, you should read the reviews to make an informed purchase. I am pleased with the sturdiness and thickness of the glass, as well as the pour of the pitcher which were some of the concerns of the CB2 version. Anyway, I hope this inspires you to think outside of the box as well as to save a "coint" or 2! Please share with me in the comments what kind of projects you like to DIY, or your money saving ideas so that I can do some of them too!

Wild, Delicious & Cold Turkey!

My life has been bombarded by Turkey this week. We have had wild turkeys hanging out in our pasture, we've ate a few delicious turkey, cucumber and spinach sandwiches and oh yeah, I quit breastfeeding COLD TURKEY!

I have breastfed Lieli for 20 months now. I can't lie, I LOVE breastfeeding. I never thought I would be the mom with the kid over one still breastfeeding. I think I held on so long because she is our last kiddo, unless God preforms a miracle, and I am not ready to let go of having her be a baby yet. I'd stop nursing during the day and was only nursing at night for about two months. I was feeling ready physically to stop nursing since her first birthday but couldn't let go emotionally! My sissy and I were talking one day and she didn't realize I was still breastfeeding. She reminded me ever so gently, mmmhmm, that my plan was to stop months ago when Lieli was 18 months lol. The worst part was Lieli still waking up in the middle of the night to nurse. 

I realized this is my own doing and I had to get it together girl. Then one day, I had a talk with her and told her my milk was "all gone." She signed "all gone milk" with me and then went to play. She spent the day with her dad and great grandma, G.G. Kay and when she came home I didn't nurse her before bed. She slept through the night. I decided I wasn't going backwards.  I do not recommend stopping cold turkey!  Mm-mm, don't do it. I could not sleep, stretch out my arms, or hug my kids because of the pain of being engorged. I have never wanted to THROW my sweet baby off of my lap, I mean look at this face... 

BUT, one day she was sitting on my lap and got excited and threw her head back and headbutted me right in the sweet spot. I was in so much pain that my pain was having pain! I couldn't help the "hhaarrahhhghgghhh--hhuuhh" that left my body as I tried to fake smile as I put her down to play so I wouldn't freak her out lol! The intense pain of being engorged lasted only about 2 days and has slowly dissipated. I can at least hug my kids now. If I had more will power, I would have just taken out one feeding at a time as I did before. At least now I am done!

I am stoked... and a little offended actually. She could care less!!! She has only asked me to nurse maybe 5 times. Each time I sign to her that my milk is all gone and then she asks for something else to drink by either signing what she wants or saying, "Mon, Mon, and signing milk while walking to the refrigerator. It has been a journey. I have loved nursing my daughters. I know what a blessing it is that my body was able to carry my children and produce milk and I am so thankful God has chosen me to be their momma. Time to close the chapter of little babies in my home, on to the next challenge we go!

Missing Home

Hi GFFs! I've been unpacking like crazy and trying to get my life together this past week. I have a lot of projects going on and I hope to share some of them with you soon. Can I be real? I feel like it has been a nice distraction to the nostalgic feelings creeping up for the past couple of months.  I've been in Oregon for about 18 months now (last visited CO 11 months ago) and though I love it, I have been missing Colorado!

I miss knowing where I am driving. Though I would get lost all of the time, I would at least kinda know where I was! I have a terrible sense of direction and now I am trying not to rely on my GPS to get home. Though Portland has an amazing food scene, I miss certain places I used to frequent in Denver like Panzano’s happy hour… one of the BEST happy hour menus! I miss the fact that the sun was shining on my face most days, and the direct heat you feel from being a mile up from sea level. I miss City and Wash Park. I miss driving to the Mountains. I miss walking to Schlessman Library. I even miss the snow at times. Mostly, I just miss my friends and family. 

I miss being able to drive over to see them whenever I want. I miss going to get breakfast at Snooze with my girls. I miss lying on my mom’s couch while she plays tea party with my daughters. I miss watching movies at my dad’s… but not really watching them because we are all talking too much. I miss hanging out, watching the fights with my husband and his best friends sharing bar food and laughs. I miss my brothers and my cousins. I miss all of the littles in my life, cousins, nieces and nephews. I miss my sister. I miss inviting my girlfriends over for dinner. I especially miss my cousin popping up at my house randomly, to just talk and let our kids hang out.

I was talking to my best friend before we moved to Oregon this last time. We talked about our experiences moving away from Colorado and missing home. She said something that stuck with me, “Wherever Josh is, that’s where home is to me now.” I never put the thoughts to the feelings before she said that. Truthfully that is exactly how I feel, whenever I am with Chilo I feel more at home than I ever have anywhere else… no matter where we are.  Whenever I feel homesick he is my comfort. I'd go with him anywhere.  I'll of course be going back to Colorado soon to visit my friends and family. I miss them so much! But, I can honestly say I am home. 

Genesis 2:24

Welcome from Chico and the Black Gonzalez!

There are so many things I want to write about!


It was hard to pick, but I thought I would just share a bit about my husband and I since you are going to be our GFF, Gonzalez Family Friend. My name is Tiffany and my husband's name is Chilo. Some people have thought he is saying Chico, little boy in Spanish, or Shelo. Our little cousin has been known to call him "Uncle Cheeto"... maybe because he can sometimes be a cheese ball. :) It is, however, pronounced CH-e-low but he is flexible and has been known to answer to any name!  Next, I'm black lol. There has been many-a-time that my last name was called and I stood up only to have the person calling "Gonzalez" look around me, waiting for someone else to stand up. To which, I smile and say, "That's me!"

I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. My husband always says he moved to Colorado from Oregon to meet his wife and bring me back home. He is originally from a small town in Southern Oregon. We tried the small town and it wasn't a good fit for this city girl, so we ended up back in Denver for a couple of years. Then, I started to really miss Oregon. We decided to compromise and move to Portland. That worked for us for a while but Chilo always wanted a farm and I did too, just don't tell him that! We recently moved to a farm about an hour away from Portland which is the PERFECT compromise. Still close enough to enjoy a date night but living in the country, working with the land and animals, is how we want to raise our kids.

We have three little girls and 4 kiddos from Chilo's previous relationships... that is right, seven in all! On our farm there is currently two dogs, a cow, a few chickens, quail, and a few stray cats who visit us regularly. This number is sure to change at any given time because Chilo always surprises me with new residents. He actually came home with a rooster a couple of days ago! Now I wake up at 3:30am to Cock-a-doodle-do... I just want to reach over and slap him. Do ya'll think that's rude lol? We hope you follow us while we figure out how to navigate our life. That is a bit about us, please share something about yourself in the comments below, I would love to get to know who our new family friends are!