Homemade Raspberry Popsicles Recipe

Now that we are about 1/2 way through summer things are really starting to heat up! If you and your kids are looking to cool down...how about trying this great recipe from the folks over at Sparkling ICE? Don't those popsicles look delicious? I think so!

In addition, here in Pennsylvania the raspberries and blackberries are now in season!

Homemade Raspberry Popsicles Recipe

Ice Cube Tray (or your favorite ice pop making molds)
Toothpicks or popsicle sticks
1 Bottle Black Raspberry Sparkling ICE
1 Container of fresh raspberries, chopped

Preparation: Fill you trays or molds with Sparkling ICE, topping each with a scoop of chopped raspberries. If using ice cube trays cover tray tightly with tin foil. Poke a popsicle stick through the foil into each cube. If using an ice pop maker place the handle sticks into the molds. Place in the freezer for about 2 hours or until frozen. Enjoy!

Best Product for Cleaning Aluminum Siding

Every week I will be updating my blog readers on some of the home remodeling projects that we have been doing. If you recall, hubby and I purchased a 60 year old home about 2 1/2 years ago that we are gutting & remodeling. We are hoping to move into our home come September of this year.

The home has it's original ugly white aluminum siding on it that is 60 years old. It's in fabulous shape but pretty dirty and stained up from over the years. Instead of replacing the siding, we have decided to paint it a pretty khaki color (the color of beach sand but a tad darker). Once that is done, our trim and shutters will be painted a medium shade of olive green.

We needed to get the siding cleaned up as the painters will be coming in a few weeks to pain the house. We tried a few products on the siding which didn't do a good job at all. Our siding has mold & mildew spots, algae spots, brown & black spots from something, etc. These spots and areas go around most of the house...not to mention, it was filthy dirty.

The great folks over at Krud Kutter supplied us with a starter kit of their product which included a ready-to-use spray bottle of Krud Kutter and a large concentrated bottle of Krud Kutter that we can mix with water to make more of the product.
Hubby first lightly misted the siding with the water hose and then sprayed the Krud Kutter on the siding. Within seconds the stains and dirt started running down the sides of the siding! yeah! This is a non-toxic product that doesn't smell and it works super quickly. A few areas he did need to use a soft sponge with some elbow grease to get them clean...but overall, the Krud Kutter did the majority of the work.
Hubby did this around 3 sides of our house (he still needs to the back side) and sprayed and rinsed in sections as he went along. As you can see from our photos, you can definitely see nice white & clean aluminum siding again! yeah!!! This product rocks!!!

If you need to clean your siding for whatever reason, we highly suggest that you give Krud Kutter a try. We love it and will be using it for all kinds of things around our house! Thanks Krud Kutter for making a fantastic non-toxic cleaning product!

Disclosure: Krud Kutter sent me a cleaning kit starter pack for this review. I did not receive any monetary compensation and receiving this product did not influence my opinion about it. My thoughts, suggestions for us and opinions about the product are unbiased, honest and true. Your thoughts & opinions may differ from my own.

Paying Your Kid's Money to Complete Their Chores

When our daughter was around 5 years old we instituted a household chores system and did pay her accordingly for completing her chores. Back in 1990 when we started this we used to pay her $2.00 a week. Her chores at age 5 weren't much but did include picking up her toys, cleaning up her bedroom and helping me set the table.

As our daughter aged, her chore list increased and so did the amount that we used to pay her for her chores. By the time she graduated High School, we were paying her $25.00 a week to help us out around the house and do her chores, we felt this was reasonable and that was back in 2007.

We did deduct her a certain amount of money if she didn't complete a chore or didn't complete it on-time. We found that the deductions were actually an incentive for her to complete her chores fully and to do so on time, so we really didn't have any arguing issues like other families have.

My brother recently put both of his kids onto a chores schedule (one is 11 and one is 13) and it's not going too well for them. I think he waited way too late to get his kids onto a chores and reward system. In addition to that, I don't think $2.00 a week at their age level is a big motivating factor to complete them, not in today's world!

Anyway, I thought I would share my thoughts on kid's, chores and paying them for their chores today here on my blog. I know the system we used wasn't exactly perfect but it did work for us.