Sipping & Shopping ~ Page 3 of 3 ~ I sip, I shop, I review...

Our Basement Home Gym Basement; DIY

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WARNING: What you are about to see is a budget friendly home gym that will not look anything like you have pinned on Pinterest. You have been warned…

Last year we converted an unfinished area of our basement into our own mini-exercise room. We put up one wall, installed a couple of doors, a dropped ceiling with recessed lights, a TV and interlocking rubber floor mats. We painted the cement walls bright yellow and bingo – a home gym. The only thing left is mirrors. Here is a step-by-step (budget conscience) guide to how we did it.

Help! What Video Game Console Should I Buy My Kids this Black Friday (or Cyber Monday, or Taco Tuesday, or…)?

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Readers, this is the opposite of one of my usual blogs. This time I need YOUR advice. Call it the “Upside Down” blog (that is for all you ‘Stranger Things’ fans out there…).

As many of you know, I have twin boys aged 7 going on 17. This year they REALLY want a video game console for Christmas. It is practically the only thing they have talked about wanting for the past couple of years. While we are not big fans of video of games, we figured that if we can limit their time spent playing and focus on non-violent games that we would give it a go.

That is where you come in. I really want to take advantage of some great Black Friday deals but I am not sure which to buy?? I have done some research and narrowed it down to the PS4, Xbox One X and Nintendo Switch which more or less all seem the same. This is where I am at:

Stink in your sink; DIY ideas before calling the plumber

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It was driving us gonzo! A sewer-like odor coming from our shower. We poured soap, we poured Drano, we poured anything we could get our hands on down the drain but we couldn’t get rid of the smell. We finally learned that it was sewer gas coming from drainage system. Pee-ewe!

Wine Away; How to Remove a Red Wine Stain

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Hi! A real short one for my readers. Have you ever spilled some red wine on your couch or rug? Well, it has happened to me more than once and I have found the absolute best solution. It is called “Wine Away” and it makes the red wine disappear in minutes. Just the other day I accidentally kicked over a glass of red wine that I had placed on our rattan rug in our sun room (yes, I know, a very bad spot for a glass of wine…) and the stain disappeared with just a couple of squirts. I was skeptical but it is magical. It says that it also removes coffee, ink, blood, sauces, fruit punch, red medicine stains, and even pet accidents but I have only ever tried it on red wine. Next time I will try to remember to take some before and after pictures as long…

Gift Ideas for Boys Ages 4-8

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As some of you know I am the proud mother of two 7 year old twin boys. I wouldn’t say that they are “spoiled” but they’ve been given a lot of toys over the years, whether its from Santa, their generous aunts, uncles, and grandparents or Mum & Dad. Some get loads of use while others gather dust in the corner until they magically disappear…

Here is a review of about 20 toys. Some are classics that you will remember as a kid and others are one hit wonders.

Sonos: Receivers and Speakers

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Hi, welcome to my first blog. We moved into a new house last year that already had speakers wired for sound but there was really no good spot for a large stereo receiver. Instead we bought four Sonos CONNECT wireless receivers. A little pricey but it really helped with our seating options in our small living room by not having to position a bulky entertainment center. We set the Sonos receivers up in the basement, ran speaker wire to the speakers upstairs and presto! We now can play music in our living room, dining room, sun room and by the pool all from the Sonos app on our phone. We can access Pandora, Amazon Music, our music library on Apple iTunes, etc. We are very happy with our purchase! The app is very intuitive and easy to use.