Home Repair Updates {Plus a Home Depot Gift card Giveaway!}

This post is sponsored by The Home Depot. However all thoughts and pictures are my own.

Its been 3 months now that we have been doing some Home Repairs here and there around the house and I wanted to show you some of the updates that have been going on over here thanks to the Home Depot. Not only have they added more of a Hispanic feel to our home but they have also made it more welcome and user friendly. 

We knocked down the wall in the bathroom to expand it and add new pieces to it. Our floor had gotten ruined due to things out of our hands so it needed repair badly! We built a ramp outside to allow easier access inside and we got rid of all the carpet from the living room since it had become badly stained and instead put tile and a rug which we got from The Home Depot. Its much easier to maintain now. 

Here are some photos of all the construction and happenings: 

It doesn't sound like a lot or maybe it does, but it all took some time to get done in between major life changes at home. Some of it isn't even done yet and yes we didnt have a bathroom for a couple of days and it made life even harder. To our family these Home repairs have not only helped our home but have helped our lives by making our home more accessible to my dad. You never realize how much a piece of wood can affect you or even how grateful you can be for it. 

And now for a giveaway to get you started on your own Home Repair journey and bring a little sunshine to your world! 

You have a chance to win one of three $50 Home Depot Gift cards! Enter through the rafflecopter below and please give it a moment to load. US residents only!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Winner will have 48 hrs to respond back or another winner will be chosen. Good Luck and thanks for stopping by and entering! 

Getting our Home Ready for Fall with some more Home Improvements {Home Depot Gift card Giveaway}

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Remember how I told you we were fixing up our home? Well this summer has been a very rough one for me and my family. We haven't been able to do as much as we wanted in the area of Home Improvements so now we are playing catch up! 

With the summer temperatures being over 100 constantly it was hard to keep our plants thriving but we are working on it. A couple of good outside days pulling up weeds and trimming around plants and sprucing around so far have given us a much neater looking yard over all. 

But I still do miss my flowers and we still have a long ways to go!

Fall is right around the corner and there are still plenty of things on my to do list that are important. One major one is our bathroom! 

Sadly our bathroom has gone through a lot of wear and tear. I wont go into big details but my dad fell in the bathroom and broke the bathroom and sink as he held on to it. It was already pretty old and needed to be replaced but now its just a MAJOR hazard! For every ones safety it has to be changed now! 

We got this combo Vanity for our bathroom and will be installing it soon {picture from the Home Depot website}. It should be pretty easy to install and I cant wait to see it up! 

Along with the wear and tear we need to repaint the wall and even add new tile to the bathroom floor! A lot of the tiles are loose and/or broken so when we rip out the bathroom toilet we are doing the floor along with it. 

Luckily our bathtub/shower is still in good shape but we are still adding in a new shower head to make our showers more powerful clean! 

I will be updating you on our shopping trip for more of the necessitates for this big redo! You can follow along with me with help from the Home Depot with your own gift card! You can enter to win one of three $50 Home Depot gift cards to help you on your own Home Improvement journey!

Please give a minute for the Rafflecopter to load. Thank you and Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Winner will have 48 hrs after being emailed to respond back or another winner will be chosen. U.S only!

Happiness is... (Week 11) Plus a Giveaway!

Its been a long time since I shared what is making me happy and sadly its not because I keep forgetting but actually because life has been rough this year. With my dad being so sick and going through surgery after surgery and wound care appointments, antibiotics in his PICC line that I administer, infectious disease visits, ER visits and so much more how can I even breathe?

Adding to that I am a mom whose kiddo started school for the first time on Monday! And I had never even been away from him for that long (EVER!). I couldn't find uniforms that fit him right until like 3 days before school started and I didn't have that beautiful first time meeting the teacher and exploring the classroom as I gush and take pictures of every inch of the room my kiddo will be in this year. Instead I'm unhappy with school and sad.

But this isn't about what makes me sad.. today I'm sharing what makes me happy right now:

Happiness is... Realizing that although it hurts and breaks my heart to let go of my child as he heads to school my heart is filled with crazy pride for him. I love my son and I am so proud of my big boy as he heads in to class and doesn't cry and tells me "I'm going to miss you mommy, I love you!" I know I've done a good job at making him ready for the world and I realize my son isn't a baby anymore (tears) but I sure do love the big boy he is becoming.

Happiness is ... the nice walks my munchkin and I have as we walk to school and then walk home everyday. We live so close to the school that the school bell rings at 2:40 and by 2:47 we are already changing at home! Plus I love our talks along the way! 

Happiness is ... that my munchkin goes to the same school my dad went to over 50 yrs ago, the same school I went to and even my brother and sister. Its now a family tradition! 

Happiness is ... PUPPIES! Yep, we are over run with puppies at my house. 

If you know us then you know we have been cat people since I was little. And yes we still have a couple cats from our family line but as you might also know for the past couple of years we have also had one dog named TOri. Well Tori had 5 gorgeously TOO good looking puppies and we adore them! 

Our cat/dog family was already happily blended and now with one kitten and our 3 adult cats plus one adult dog and 5 puppies our blended family is complete! Those little yaps mixed in with meows make our hearts melt and they all love each other.

Happiness is... This giveaway from the lovely Christina Coker for a $60 credit to Origami Owl for some fun jewelry. So go on and enter here now! (Good Luck!) ---->
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Since we are talking about Giveaways have you entered mine to win a $50 Gift card to Home Depot? There will be 3 lucky winners and one just might be you so head on over and enter here:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lisa at Crazy Adventures in parenting has been doing a weekly series called "Happiness Is_____" where every Wednesday she will be having a link up for others to share what Happiness is to them. So go check that out and link up! You can also follow others along with the hash tag #HappinessIs on twitter and Instagram. Hope to see you there spreading the happiness!

Home Improvements Here we go! (plus a Giveaway)

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.  All thoughts, opinions and photos are my own. 

This summer has been a big summer for us! We have been very busy and not in the fun summer way most would think. We have been going through a lot as a family dealing with my dads diabetes and getting ready for the youngest in my family (my son) to head off to school for the first time. With all this stuff and more our home has been neglected sadly. But when you spend so much time at the hospital and your days after are doctor appointments non stop you kinda have to set priorities and for us family comes first. 

Now that things seem to be winding down I started looking around here at home and we are in need of major changes and improvements!

For the next couple of months I want you to follow along and see how we get our home in tip top shape. We are adding more of our Hispanic culture into the mix. We are starting this month with the outside. With Texas temperatures being over 100 every day this month my lawn has been neglected and overgrown and full of ants. And don't get me started on my plants! They are mostly dead and for a very sad example let me show you a picture of our rose bush last year. 

Yep! Beautiful fresh roses outside my window! But not anymore. All the branches were brown now and even crispy. Not one single flower on them and in desperate need of new life so off they were chopped and now we are trying to salvage the roots and start new. Look at the sadness in front of my window now. 

Here are the branches from it that are being cleaned up

We are cleaning up and making our lawn fresh little by little by trimming and cleaning around the plants that are still living and giving room for them to flourish again. We are making our lawn/garden brand new with help from The Home Depot. The Home Depot has many Hispanic themed products out there to add a little culture and make your house feel more like Home. We are adding some fun lawn decor to brighten up the area too. Like this fun and cooky monkey 

and this amazingly beautiful hand crafted pot that I adore!

I am thinking of which plant to grow in this pot and am very open to suggestions. Something that will be ok during a drought and with extreme heat but be very pretty. 

To find some fun Hispanic Themed products like the Tin crazy Monkey and Talavera Round Pot be sure to check out a local store near you here.

So you can join along in the Home Improvement fun be sure to enter this awesome Giveaway for one of three $50 Home Improvement Gift Cards. Good luck! 

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Hope you guys join me along this Home Improvement Adventure time and give me tips and suggestions just like I will give you plenty too! 

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Home Depot.  All thoughts, opinions and photos are my own.