I love Halloween with the lawn decorations, fall décor, and cooler temperatures. But with grown kids, I feel like the girl that’s not invited to the party…kind of left out of the fun.

Geri and I recently wanted to send a fruit basket to a friend as a thank-you for her generosity. Since we’re both on a budget and love doing projects ourselves anyway, we did what any two respectable Strive-to-Simplify girls could do. We made our own!

My creative bug bit me one day as I was planning a co-worker’s baby shower. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making a watermelon baby carriage filled with delicious fruit, so I tackled it with gusto! It was relatively easy, and this was a big hit with both the women and men attending the shower.

I grew up eating pomegranates. I love the look of the fruit, the tart seeds, and I remember my brightly red-stained fingers and clothes as I tried my best to get those seeds. But just because I have fond memories doesn’t mean I want the same red fingers today. I have a reputation to keep up. Here’s the trick to seeding a pomegranate the easy way.

Don’t you just hate when you buy fruit and two days later you have those annoying little fruit fly gnats buzzing around your kitchen? At work, our plants have the little pests flying around.  I’m sure my co-workers must think I’m crazy, batting the air every few minutes. Here’s a cost-free, non-pesticide solution that eliminates them every single time.