Category Archives: WFMW

WFMW ~ Double Toddler Trouble

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If you don’t know about Kandi @ Twin-spirations you need to! She is my mentor in life, not only in my business, but literally in my life. I have received by far the BEST parenting advice EVER from her. Luckily she’s not an online friend for me…. she’s a smack dab in real life sister to me. Not biologically, but she might as well be my big sister. Because I’ve never had one {big sister that is}, and she’s been in my life since I was weeeeee little.

SOOOO I wanted to share a bit of advice she gave me with having 2 toddlers {I currently have my niece who is the exact age of my daughter 2.5!}

TIMEOUTS are a very negative thing. However, if your toddler is doing something that needs to be addressed you simply grab their hand and let them know that they need to take a break. Mommy’s can even take a break when they get out of control…. that way they know that sometimes, we all just need to take a break.


So ~ for the break they get 1 minute/their age and they can bring a book, or a stuffed animal and they can take that time to reflect on what they did. It’s been working GREAT for me!

Now here’s the kicker…. if you have twins that are toddlers, or deal with 2 children, and one does something to the other you can put them both on a break. When the break is over having each come to you and tell you why they had to go on a break and the one who you “thought” didn’t do anything and was just the victim tells on themselves! It’s genius!  

So, this is what’s working for me right now… being a “mom” of two toddlers is quite new for me since I’m used to only 1. ~ 


So please if you have any other tips for me… feel free to leave them in the comments 😉

If you want to learn about other things that work for other’s head over to {Kristen’s Blog} ~ lots of good stuff!!
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WFMW ~ A Life Tip

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Kristen over at {We are THAT Family} has one of my favorite blogs…. I love Wednesday nights, because I can get all cozy and go through reading what works for other’s.

I’m fashionably late today, but it’s still Wednesday!!! Today I’m talking about something completely off topic… most people are sharing recipes, parenting tips, home decor tips… today I’m spicing it up and I’m going to share with you a life tip.

The most expensive thing you can own is a closed mind.

Simple sentence. Most people will read it and not think twice about it, but if you do stop, and you do really think about that ~ it’s so true. It might be some good words to live by, because I definitely am. Had I had a closed mind I never would have learned about the company that is putting us on the path to financial freedom…. while staying home with my kids. So, I’ve decided that it’s my mission for everyone to understand the importance of that quote.
And this Wednesday was simple, sweet and hopefully very impacting.

P.S…. if you are curious what it is that I was open minded about and is changing my life then email me at amandagaribay {at} yahoo {dot} com

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A Mineral Makeup GIVEAWAY!!!

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One day I read on someone’s blog about Mineral Makeup and decided to give it a try.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MINERAL MAKEUP!!  It has a way of covering things up that normal, cakey, liquid makeup can’t.  It has a way of giving a beautiful, natural looking glow to your face that has people stopping and giving you compliments…. and us girls can never have too much of that! 
Affordable Mineral Makeup

I was given some mineral makeup to review by {Jenni with Affordable Mineral Makeup}.  For having such great prices, the quality definitely earned an A+ from me!  I love the selection and love even more that there is shimmery stuff!!!  I am a firm believer that wearing shimmer sends uplifting vibes into the world…. and we all know we can’t have enough of that!!!!

My favorite thing EVER that she sent to me was the Satin Lip Gloss…. HEAVENLY!  I love the feel of satin and on my lips is even better!! 


For having such great prices, the quality definitely earned an A+ from me!  I love the selection and love even more that there is shimmery stuff!!!  I am a firm believer that wearing shimmer sends uplifting vibes into the world…. and we all know we can’t have enough of that!!!!


I LOVE Mineral Makeup, but one thing I don’t like about the stuff is the price. The price can be a killer, but luckily there is some pretty dang good stuff out there…. and AFFORDABLE!!! I’m hinting towards my husband here for my stocking! Maybe you should hint to yours!! 

OR you can just head over to {HERE} let me know exactly what you would like to win in a comment here and you can be entered in to win a grab bag of samples from Affordable Mineral Makeup!!


Extra Entries:

  • Follow my blog or subscribe via RSS
  • Follow me on Twitter
  • Tweet about this giveaway



Make sure you leave an extra comment for each extra entry you do.


This is what works for me… Mineral Makeup rocks… as does giveaways right?  Good luck!!


I will be closing this giveaway Friday, December 18, 2009 @ 11:59pm.  That way the winner can get it just in time for Christmas!


For other things that work for others head over to {We are THAT Family}

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I need advice on Time Management – What Works for YOU?

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I am a girl that gets extremely passionate about things. For instance…. I love photography, I love accounting, I love selling Wildtree, I love my newest adventure of owning my very own international telecommunications company, I love blogging, I love Tweeting, I love digital scrapbooking, I love photo editing and my list could go on and on and on.

So what I need to figure out is how can I enjoy everything and still have time for me, my family, my husband…. there has to be a way!

I need advice today instead of giving advice. 

Do you have a million + things you love to do? How do you manage your time wisely? I think my biggest problem in the world is managing my time, and I want to know what works for others. Sorry that I’m not sharing a tip this week, but I could really use some advice.

There actually are people this week giving advice, and some great advice at that!  Just head over to {We are THAT Family} and grab a hot drink, and get ready to do some reading!!

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Parenting Tips that Should Stick

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Oh my…. it’s seriously already Wednesday?!? Where is the time flying to? This week for my Works for Me Wednesday I’m sharing a few parenting tips.  I know, I know, it’s a themed week and I’m totally going against it.  I felt in my heart that this is what I was supposed to be sharing this week, so here you have it!  They’re very simple tips, but things that sometimes we might forget. They are tips that take extreme patience, which I know can be very difficult, but don’t we owe it to them?

This past weekend I probably received some of the best parenting advice I’d ever gotten. I can say that Gino and I pretty much wing this parenting thing about 110%. We’re just basically going off of trial and error and hoping that our kids don’t end up needing therapy in the end.

With that said I wanted to share some of the advice that I had received from my dear friend:

#1: Under no circumstances should you ever, ever, ever tell a child they are bad.

#2: You should always make sure that your children know that you are NEVER mad at them… no matter what they do. Instead, when they get in trouble start out with “I’m not mad at you, I’m just mad at what you did. I could never be mad at you.” This is probably my favorite advice… kids should never feel like their parents are mad at them.

#3: Instead of using the word “No” over and over and over again {like what goes on in this house} try to redirect them with positivity. For instance, if they’re determined to pick something up that you don’t want them to pick up just tell them they can pat it. GUYS this is working with my 2 year old! She goes around patting things that she knows she is not supposed to be picking up.

#4: If you don’t want your child to have attitude and yell at you… then plain and simply don’t do it to them. They act as a mirror to you, and I’m already seeing this happen with my 2 year old little girl. Think before you act, speak, blink… they’re watching and they’re ready to copy and throw it right back in your face!

I received an abundant amount of advice from the awesome mama of identical twin girls. But these were definitely a few of my favs! Hope that you can take this in and let it work for you and your family like I am going to do.

For other things that work for you visit Kristen over at {We Are THAT Family}.

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Creating My Own Success Story

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I have completely neglected Garibay Soup these past few days…. almost a week actually. I took some time away from my blog, twitter (not full on, but tried to keep it on the back burner) and just did things that needed to be done.


My friend Kandi contacted me regarding a business opportunity that she’s been trying to pitch to me for a while. I never have joined, or listened, because LIFE IS BUSY. I don’t have time for another thing, I don’t have time to even think… but she just happened to call me one more time on a day I really needed that call. So, I listened. I listened and had chills as she talked, excitement in my heart, because this is something I could easily do! This is something that my husband and I could do TOGETHER! I took a few days, thought, researched, read success stories, prayed and came to a conclusion… this is the answer I’ve been waiting for! Today I signed up. Today is the first day in this new journey. I will blog about, I will share the things I like, dislike and the success I KNOW I will have.


You are what you think you are, and I think I am filled with success. I think that I can do ANYTHING that my mind gets set to, and if somebody before me pulled it off, guess what… I CAN PULL IT OFF! I’m not even going to get into the amount of $$ my friend has made, because it sounds unrealistic, but the fact is it is realistic. That’s her success story though, and I can create my own where I can tell you… hey I just made $14,000.00 this month and I’m taking a trip to Italy with my family. Yes, it can happen.


I know that many people are very skeptical of any kind of Multi Level Marketing business, but my question to your right now is WHY? Why not take advantage of an amazing thing created for people where they can work right from home and make what executives that spend HOURS UPON HOURS at the office make? I’m going to step out on a limb and try this for you, for me, for my family, for my friends. I will blog about my journey, my successes and how much I think you should join in on this.


To view my new website regarding my new adventure {CLICK HERE}


Remember.. it doesn’t matter what you do. You can be successful at ANYTHING. Don’t listen to people’s negative words about the things that you feel passionate about, just listen to the positive and make YOUR own success story. The success story where you change your family’s life for generations to come.


If you’re interested in keeping tabs on what it is that I’m doing please follow me via {RSS} and {Twitter}. My success story can be your success story contact me if you’re interested in more info on my new journey.


P.S. I’m still sticking with my Wildtree, because WILDTREE ROCKS! If you haven’t tasted it yet, you’re totally missing out… check it out {HERE}


What works for me is taking rein of my life, creating my success story and being positive about EVERYTHING.  I’m accepting that there are opportunities that seem too good to be true, but they are true, because IT HAS HAPPENED FOR SOMEONE ELSE, WHY NOT LET IT HAPPEN FOR YOU?  My friend, Kandi, is a VERY close family friend who has left her executive job to find success in something so simple, so easy and I’m going to be JUST LIKE HER!  Will you?

Head over to {We are THAT Family} for more things that work for hundreds of others.

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When the Dog’s Got the Runs….. {lovely post, I know!}

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I’m just gonna come out and say that NOTHING….. NOOOOOOOTHING is worse than a dog w/the runs. Talk about DISGUSTINGNESS in your home. Sorry for the TMI, but I’ve been dealing with it and it’s been HORRIBLE.

So in my search for a remedy I turned my plea to Twitter… and {@ToBeThode} or for her blog {CLICK HERE} recommended Canned, pure pumpkin…. holy cow bells, people (or tweeple if you’re peekin in from Twitter)IT WORKS! It really, really works!!!!!

So, next time your dog has the runs…. MIX PUMPKIN IN WITH THE FOOD. And that is all 🙂

For other things as awesome or even awesomer {it is a word… if it’s on my blog it’s a word!} {CLICK HERE}

And come join me on Monday for {Just a Motivating Monday}… an inspirational blog carnival.

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Organizing the Pics of your computer

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Boy am I ever so late on this week’s Works for Me Wednesday.  It’s an organizing themed week and I’m chuckling inside, because lately I’ve been anything BUT organized.  So, today’s tip is going to be simple, sweet and to the point.

I’m sure that when I go back later to read through everyone’s organizing tips there will be a 1/3 of them on this topic, but that’s okay… I’m here to share what works for me and this does.

I LOVE to take pictures, and take a ton of them.  When you get home and get them uploaded on the computer and edited and then edited for online and all of that jazz it can get a bit messy… unless, you have an organizing plan set out from the beginning.

I have 2 folders on my computer for each year.  Example: 

1st Folder: 2009 {in this folder I will be breaking down later for you, but it’s where my pictures go}
2nd Folder: 2009 Photoshoots {where any photoshoots I do for other people will go}
Now to break it down for you.  Let’s start w/my 2009 File I have {this is the 1 w/my pictures}:
Inside of the 2009 File there will be a folder for each month.  Inside of the month’s folder there will also be a folder named To Be Edited and a folder named Online. 
Here is what I do:

The first thing I do is when I put my SD card in the computer is I transfer all of the images (mine are usually in RAW format instead of JPEG) to the folder inside the correct month called To Be Edited.  Then once I edit a picture and it’s ready to be printed I will save it inside of the month’s folder.  THEN I will resize the image, watermark it and place it in the online folder.  
Let’s say there was a significant event that took place in the month of September… like my son’s b/day.  I would make a folder inside of the September folder called Jayden’s Birthday and inside of create an online folder and a To Be Edited folder.  That way that significant event’s pictures won’t all be mixed in with my regular month’s pictures.

Now for photoshoots:  

It’s basically the same as above, however I have:

Folder for each month, inside each month will be a folder w/the last name of the people’s whose photos I did.  Inside their folder will be RAW Images folder, Online folder, and Digital Release folder, and then final product folder.  

After my shoot I transfer all files from my memory card into the RAW Images folder, then edit and save in the final product folder, resize and watermark for them to use online and save it in the online folder, and then I take my final product folder and pick which ones will be given for the digital release and save them in that folder.

Perfectly organized, and you no longer feel cluttered with pictures!

Hope this helped you out…. if you’re trying to organized like I am, then you should DEFINITELY be checking out {We Are THAT Family} this week for the themed week of organizing Works for me Wednesday!!





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Tips to Surprise Your Kids

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To be a good parent we are not always meant to stand as fun. We are not supposed to be the “friend” especially to our teens. We are here to ensure that our children receive structure, rules, morals among many other life tips that we hope they carry on with them.

In between all of these events of training our children up we need to mix in surprises! Surprises that remind them that while we may not always be all about fun, we still have fun in us. Here’s a few tips to excite your kids!

  • Go in 20 minutes after your kids have gone to bed and get them up to take them to ice cream in their pajamas {Read this on twitter! Can’t wait to try it}
  • Surprise them after school with a picnic in the park for the after school snack
  • Show up at your kid’s school and have lunch with them
  • Have breakfast as a picnic on mommy & daddy’s bed… and a fun breakfast at that!
  • Have a hookie day at least 2 times/year where you go and have a full day of fun – their choice of activities
  • Let your kid choose and help cook whatever meal they can make up in their mind… and sit down as a family to lavish over it
  • Mix up meal day where they can choose what they want to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner…. as long as it’s mixed up (ex: lunch for breakfast, dinner & lunch, breakfast for dinner)… that’s always fun… hey maybe even let them have dessert for lunch! One day won’t kill them
  • Make an art gallery of their art work, framed an all for them to come home to… talk about feeling uber special!
  • Surprise them with a half year {birthday} celebration party ~ no presents, just a celebration w/maybe cupcakes and some friends and games….. maybe a fun slumber party
  • For your little girl, let her play dress up with your makeup and take her out for a special treat…. she’ll feel beautiful!
  • For your little boy take him to a sports game (even if it’s a local high school, or any local school one) and choose a team to cheer for and get all excited with them. It’s fun!


I know that there a million things out there that you could do, but I just wanted to throw a couple of things out there for you so that you can realize that it really is simple to have some fun with your young ones.

Throughout our crazy, busy lives we can sometimes forget about the small little things can make our kids have fun memories of their childhood.

These are my little things that work for me and my kids. There are HUNDREDS of tips from others for a huge variety of different topics. {Kristen} is hosting this fabulous carnival! Go join in the fun!

And come back on Monday for {Just a Motivating Monday} hosted by me! It’s my day where I write an inspiring blog post and have a link up for others to link up their inspiring posts. Even if you have nothing to share I hope you’ll stop by to read what I have to write.

School Already?!?!?

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This summer just FLEW right before my eyes. I feel like Jayden just got out of school and in 1 month he’ll be right back in it…. and in 2nd grade! Where oh where did my baby go?

Mornings suck for us. I have a hard time getting up early enough and without structure things for us do not go well. {Kristen}, who hosts Works for Me Wednesday suggested morning cards. My thoughts exactly! I’m big on morning cards and next week’s WFMW post will go into a little more detail about these cards, and not just for your kids ;). So first off I’m seconding what Kristen wrote regarding these nifty things.

My other advice for back to school is the following:

NEVER leave things til morning to prepare, no matter how tired you are, make sure things are set and ready for an easy morning.

2 weeks before school you should put your kids on their school schedule. Make sure that they are going to bed at school time bedtime hours

I suggest getting a workbook for the school year that they’re going into to prepare them for things they’ll be learning… that way they aren’t too lost ~ and even seem a little bit of a smarty pants

Most of all, spend lots and lots of fun times with them before sending them back to school. Plan special little surprises for them like picnics or trips to the zoo…. maybe a camp out in the yard… treasure your last few weeks with them, because this next year they’re going to grow so much. Treasure the time with them.

So, I’m sorry that my back to school tips aren’t the best, but I’m tired, traveling, but wouldn’t miss Works for Me Wednesday for the world. Join me next week to learn about how I have found the solution to organizing my housekeeping, my kids housekeeping and everything else in my home ~ it’s working and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! So make sure you are either following me on {Twitter} or my {RSS Feed} so you don’t miss out on the secret I found. And check back in with me on Monday for my inspirational carnival {Just a Motivating Monday}!