5/30 - 5 Things That Make Me Happy

        Happiness.  Feeling pleasure, satisfaction, or joy.  A state of well-being and contentment.  How many people today can say that they are truly happy?  I don't mean the kind of happy that you feel on those days when you wake up and manage to not stub your toe while heading to Wawa to find out that they have your favorite pumpkin spice coffee when you arrive, your work day goes smooth and quick, & before you know if you're home and the kids already have their homework finished and your husband decides to take you out to dinner and give you the night off.  No, not that kind.  That's superficial happiness.  Temporary bliss.  Tomorrow your dog might pee on your new Coach purse, or you might break a nail before you even leave the house, and then it's all downhill from there.  I'm talking about unshakable happiness.  Joy, actually.  The kind of happiness that doesn't come and go, it stays with you, it is you.  Joy that fills your heart, and although the storms may come, you will not be shaken, you will not be stirred.  Yes, you're allowed to pout, you can even cry, but at the end of the day you know where your joy comes from and you don't let life get you down.

        So, for this challenge, I'm asked to list 5 things that make me happy "right now".  I'm assuming that it's referring to superficial things and not asking me to get super deep here, but whatever, I'm as deep as an ocean baby, so deal.

1. My husband - He makes me happy most of the time, except for those times when he doesn't. HA!  That's where love comes in!  Love is caring for each other even when you're angry.  We are genuinely happy with one another, so even when we have disagreements like every married couple does, we work through them and become stronger!
2. My kids - They make me happy most of the time too!  Right now my daughter is too young to make me mad, and she's just too darn squishy cute too!  My son is at that age where he's testing boundaries, and learning to talk back, although he's mostly respectful and usually corrects himself quickly!  I love spending time with them and watching them learn, play, and grow!
3. Being a stay at home mommy - I love being able to devote myself fully to my husband, children, and home. 
4. Cooking/Baking - One of my favorite past times... I get such a thrill making stuff in the kitchen, and the best part is the faces of family & friends when they taste and love my creations!
5. Blogging/Browsing Facebook/Pinterest/Internet in general - This is a given.  It's so relaxing and fun!

Convert your baby swing from battery power to AC!

If you're like us, you've probably purchased batteries for a gadget/toy before, and probably more than once.... In this modern day and age, I'd bet that every single person has atleast one item in their home that requires battery power to operate... Remotes, radios, table fans, reading lamps, toys, the list goes on...  It literally blows my mind when I think about how much we've probably spent over the course of our lives on disposable batteries!  Luckily, I've lately been very frugal minded, and I've been getting my husband in on the action also!  Among my many projects (which I frantically and absentmindedly jump between like I have a bad case of ADHD) I have tried incorporating some cost/energy-efficient methods into our home life!  We slowly have been stocking up on rechargeable batteries of different voltages when we find a good sale, (I refuse to pay retail for anything!)  but in the meantime we find other ways to pinch and save!  We were looking to replace the batteries in our daughter's swing the other night, so we took a trip down to Target to see what we could find.  The cost of 4 rechargeable D batteries, AND a charger for said batteries was definitely not in our budget right now so we had to get creative!  Now I'll admit that using electricity isn't the most energy-efficient (obviously) path to take, but in comparison with upfront cost of batteries (rechargeable or not) and the charger, it seemed like our best bet financially.  Also take into consideration that rechargeable batteries need electricity to charge (although it doesn't use as much energy as a 5-6V transformer powering a swing would.... let's not grasp at straws here!!).  So we already had everything we needed on hand which worked out great!  I've included a video of the rundown, it's a very simple process, which I will also outline below.  Let me also mention that not having to change out batteries all of the time is a wonderful thing when your baby just wants to swing, and gets fussy when the party stops!

What you'll need:

• A baby swing that currently runs on batteries!
• A simple phone/bluetooth charger (anything 5 or 6 volts will work)
• A wire cutter/stripper
• Heat Shrink Tubing or Electrical Tape
• A screwdriver

What to do, what to do:

1. Remove the outer top shell from your swing, typically this will consist of removing anywhere from 8-12 phillips-head screws, then popping the casing off.
2. Find the red (+) & black (-) wires that run from the motor to the battery casing.
3. Cut both wires somewhere along their path (preferably an inch or two from the battery casing.)
4. Cut the phone-jack end off of your phone charger also.
5. Strip both the red&black swing wires & the red&black charger wires about an inch or two.
6. Slide a 3-4inch section of heat shrink tubing onto one of the red wires, and one of the black. (optional)
7. Match up the colors and do the twist. (red goes with red.... and - yea you got it.)
8. You can now cover the exposed wires with electrical tape if you didn't go with the heat shrink tubing.
9. If you used the heat shrink tubing method, go ahead and heat it up and watch it shrink! So magical..
10. Now make sure that the combined wires are aligned so that they aren't squashed when you replace the top shell (there's usually a small hole that the battery cover snaps into, you can just feed the wire out of there.
11. Replace the top shell, replace the screws.  Voila!