My First Award!!!

I am so excited to have been nominated for my first award! Thank you to Daily Messes for this nomination. Please check out her blog. It's full of super-cool ideas and activities to do with kids. 

The Liebster Blog Award is given to bloggers by bloggers. It is a way to acknowledge each other and say "you're doing a great job". It is for blogs with 200 or less followers, so it's also a great way to spread the word about smaller blogs and get them more readers and followers! When you receive the award, you post 11 random facts about yourself and answer 11 questions from the person(s) who nominated you. You pass the Award onto 11 other blogs (make sure you tell them you nominated them!) and ask them 11 questions. You're not allowed to nominate the blog(s) who nominated you! (To get the button, right click the picture on my page and save the picture to your computer. You can then upload to your blog.)

All about me:

1. I stick my tongue out  - Michael Jordan style - whenever I put on makeup.
2. I am not a geek, but I have geekish tendencies. For example: I love Star Trek (Next Generation thank you), but you won't find me at some convention dressed up like Diana Troy.
3. I took singing lessons for 4 years, sung in theater productions (youth theater) and even some competitions  - though I never won anything. And now, I sing a mean twinkle, twinkle little star.
4. I hate personalized license plates, I hate personalized license plates, and let me repeat I freaking hate personalized license plates.  If you have a personalized license plate, I'm sorry, but you're lame. 
5. I love both cats and dogs, but hate pretty-much all other pets: rabbits, ferrets, birds, hamsters, snakes, you name it! If I can't let it outside to poop, I don't want it in my house. (Unless it's toilet trained, of course).
6. I think I'm funny. My husband disagrees. He's wrong.
7. I own probably 30 pairs of nice shoes, but all I ever wear are Birkenstocks. In the winter, I wear them with socks.
8. I am a Pepsi junkie. I know it's awful for my teeth. I know it's unhealthy, I know it will make me fat.. but it tastes so good!
9. I've been with my husband for 14 years and I still think he's hot. 
10. I write dark fantasy fiction. I'm pretty sure the reason my mom doesn't like to read my stories is because they make her worry that I might be mentally deranged.
11. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

These are the questions I was asked:

1.   What is your favorite holiday? Halloween. Not because of the candy, but for the costumes.

2.   What is your favorite dessert? Tiramisu - Italian for "Holy crap that's good!"

3.   What is your favorite animal? Elephants. Cause they're just cool.

4.   Summer, Spring, Fall or Winter? Spring! I love the flowers although my allergies do not.

5.   Tube tops or cardigans? Neither. I'm a t-shirt kind of girl.

6.   Twilight or Shades of Grey? I haven't read Shades of Grey yet, but will vote for it after reading Twilight

7.   What motivates you? My self-loathing

8.   What book are you reading? I am taking a very long hiatus from Dance of Dragons (George R.R. Martin) I've just been too busy to read.

9.   Can blogging save the world, stop global warming and ... ? teach me how to make cute little hair barrettes for my daughter

10. If 'can't' and 'have to' get into a fight who wins? "Have to."

11. Warm and fuzzy or sleek and shiny? Warm and Fuzzy. Definitely!

Here are my Nominees (Please check them out!):

Oh So Amelia - Here baby girl is adorable and she makes the cutest stuff

A Mrs. in the Making - I love her pinterest experiments

An Organic Wife - Great blog about living green and healthy

The Unlikely Homeschool - This blog has so many awesome educational activities

Wine and Glue - She is funny and comes up with great activities to do with kids

What's Cooking in the Burbs  - Wonderful recipe blog

Hello Paper Moon - Great crafts and recipes

The Anon Bloggers - Soooo funny

The Green House - Everything related to living green and frugal

Christina's Emporium - Great crafts and recipes for kids

Children's Book Review - Great blog where books are reviewed by both the parent and the child

Alright nominees... so here are my questions:

1. Beatles or Elvis?
2. What kind of blogs do you enjoy reading?
3. What is your favorite book?
4. Name a pet peeve of yours
5. Why did you start blogging?
6. Cats or dogs?
7. What motivates you?
8. Tea or coffee?
9. If you could meet any famous person (artist, writer, actor etc.) who would you choose?
10. Do you do any other writing outside of your blog (i.e articles, stories books)?
11. Does it annoy you that I'm asking yo to answer all of these questions? :)

Thanks!

Duh Moment: No More Chip Clips!

I love chip clips! I would have hundreds of them clipping everything in my house if I could, but they can be really expensive. Even at the dollar store you can only get about 6 for a dollar and then they fall apart almost immediately. Oh, and they have those wonderful little death-magnets on the back. You know, the ones that are perfectly shaped and sized for children to swallow when they inevitably fall off. As for the expensive ones... they're just expensive. So until recently I made do with the handful of chip clips I possessed, replacing them frequently as they fell apart. (I'm too cheap to get the good ones).

Then, one day my husband and I were at Walmart and we saw a pack of 100 clothespins for $1.88! Let me repeat... 100 clothespins for $1.88! This was my duh moment. I grabbed the pack of clothespins and haven’t looked back. It’s been six months and I haven’t had to buy any more. Now, I have pins keeping everything in my house fresh – cereal, chips, snacks, and even stuff in the freezer. They work perfectly. Sure, sometimes they come apart, but less so than the dollar store ones, and they're wooden so it’s actually better for the environment… if you’re into that.


I can’t believe I paid so much money for chip clips for so long. It’s just another marketing gimmick that has become a part of our culture, and I refuse to buy into it any longer.


You want something cuter? Something you can hang on the refrigerator? Easy peasy! Just hot glue magnets to the back of them, add ribbons or buttons. The possibilities are endless!
 

And if you make any cute clips, send them to me and I'll post them on the blog.

DIY - Montessori Dressing Boards

I am obsessed with Montessori. Not the woman, the toys! (i.e. learning materials). This stuff is so brilliant, but it is also super expensive. Fortunately, a lot of the materials aren't that hard to make with a little ingenuity and some elbow grease. One of my favorite diy Montessori Materials are the dressing boards. Dressing boards are a great way for little ones to work on their hand-eye coordination skills. They're usually for children around 2 and up who are learning to dress themselves, but my daughter was playing with the zipper frame at 13 months old .

These are pretty expensive new, and really easy to make, so it just makes sense to do it yourself. Dollar store wooden frames work great! I used one of my daughters old sweaters, but the other two I got for really cheap at a consignment store.

What you'll need:

• 5X7 wood frames
• Needle nose pliers
• Infant clothing - 3 or 6 months - with zippers, buttons and/or snaps
• Chip clips or clothespins
• Staple gun and staples (approx 1/4 inch)

Directions:

1. Remove the glass and backing from the frames.
2. Using the pliers, carefully remove the metal tabs from the frames.
3. Fit the clothing over the frames and lay them button side down.
4. Bunch up the excess clothing in the back, and secure it with chip clips or clothes pins. (Don't pull to tight or the buttons will be difficult to manipulate)
5. Staple the clothing onto the frame leaving at least and 1 to 1 1/2 inches between staples.
6. Remove the chip clips and fold the excess material so it lays flat. Staple it to the frame using the spaces between the first set of staples.

 

Here are the ones I made. There is a button frame, zipper frame, and snap frame. Next I need to figure out how to make a lacing frame. They just don't seem to make bustiers for infants. ;)

30 Days to Lose Weight - Week 1

Image Courtesy

Well a week has passed and not only have I not lost weight, I actually gained a pound. A week of working out, watching what I'm eating, and drinking nasty lemon water, and I gained a freaking pound. This is so unfair! I think that little gremlin bastard in my scale is getting a real kick out of this right now.


Don (my husband) says I am probably just gaining muscle since I've been working out and muscle "weights more than fat." While I certainly appreciate the sentiment, I just don't buy it. You see, my waist hasn't gotten any smaller either, and muscle certainly isn't more fat than fat.

I haven't been perfect, I'll admit. I had a coke and some chips the other day, but come on. I can't be perfect all the time!  And, I was doing really well with the Jillian Michaels' DVD too. At least until I hurt my foot. Yes, my foot. I actually pulled a muscle on the top of my foot. I din't even know I had a muscle there. It's all the damn jumping jack, jump rope, but kick cardio that did me in. So now I'm doing my jumping jacks  hopping on one foot and looking like a moron, but I'm still doing it!

I'm not giving up, just venting little. Hopefully, in another week I'll have good news. But as things are looking right now, I'll be wearing a tankini on the beach.

The Things My Husband Just Doesn't Understand

Image Courtesy

It all started with my bra. Now my bras are not particularly large. They are not made of satin, or silk, or lace. They do however contain underwire to restrict my post-baby breasts to the chest area, and up away from my tummy, as they should be. But as I went through the back breaking process of removing my bra’s from the washer and hanging them on the rack to dry the other day, it dawned on me. This is something that my husband just doesn’t get. Ask most women and they will tell you that you have to hang a bra to dry or you take the chance that it will get tangled, ripped or otherwise damaged if run through the dryer. If you asked my husband (or any man for that matter) why I’m hanging my bras he would probably say “Because women’s clothes are stupid.” In that respect, he would be right, but explaining the why of this would be pointless since as soon as the word “bra” comes out of my mouth his eyes glaze over and he starts running through the theme song from “Suits” in his head. 

This got me thinking about the other things my husband just doesn’t get so I thought I would make a list. 

      The top 10 things my husband just doesn’t understand: 

10.My need to suck in my stomach when he sees me naked.

9.    That going shopping with my friends is a social activity.

8.    Why I get angry when he asks for the one thing I forgot at the grocery store.

7.    That chocolate is one of the six food groups and therefore essential for my (and his)  survival. 

6.    Shirts don’t stink, people stink. Take a bath.

5.    Why I get so irritated when he leaves his dirty socks on the couch, floor, bed, nightstand, stairs, counter, or a foot away from the laundry basket.

4.   Starting the dishwasher is an essential part of the dish-washing process.

3.    Why I get pissed off when he complains about how he's too skinny.

2.    If I ask him if he likes an outfit, hair-do, wall color or any sort of decorative item for the house, the appropriate response is always “Yes.”

And the number one thing my husband simply doesn’t understand...

          1. How I always forget to eat lunch and still gain weight.

              (Oh, wait. That was me. Crap!)

So now that this is officially a bitch session, I want to hear from you. What are some of the things your man just doesn't understand? 

FYI: Man-ripping and dirty secrets are always welcome.  

**I'd like to give special thanks to my hubby for reading this and laughing instead of divorcing me. I love you, babe!**

Making Beeswax Candles with Kids

I have wonderful memories of making candles when I was a kid. It's something I've wanted to do with my own kids for a while, but I didn't want to deal with all of the chemical laden candle making products, and was a little daunted by the idea of going old school and not using some pre-made kit. Turns out, there was nothing to be scared of.  Candle making with beeswax is a ton of fun!

I had to do a lot of research to figure out how to go about making these darn things, so I'm going to do my best to lay it all out for you so you don't have to do the same. Please place any questions you have in the comments section, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.


Here goes....


Ingredients

To make real beeswax candles you will need:

• Beeswax (1-2 lbs)
• Wicks
• Double boiler or makeshift one
• A big, sharp knife
• Fork
• Wax paper
• News paper
• Paper plate (wax coated)
• Something to hang the candles from to cool

In the interest of saving you time and money, I will discuss the most important items separately. If you already have everything you need, skip to the following section: Making Your Candles.

Beeswax
 - If you can get it from a local bee keeper, great! That's the best way to go. But since most of us don't have bee keepers living next door (thank goodness!) I thought I should mention some other places you can find beeswax.  Mountain Rose Herbs is a good online source for beeswax. Their wax varies in price depending on what you're looking for, and can be bought in bulk. Your local craft store is also good place to look, especially since many of them give out such good coupons. 

Wicks
 - You can spend a ton of money on wicks. They are super expensive! Especially if you want to make sure that they are all natural and don't contain any metals. Lead in wicks has been outlawed in the U.S. but many companies still use zinc and tin. If you are going to buy your wicks make sure they are 100% natural fibers with no metal core. If you're cheap like me, you can actually make your own using cotton twine. There are two ways you can do this:

1. Take the twine and soak it for at least 12 hours in a solution of 1 1/2 cups of water, 4 tbsp. of borax and 2 tbsp. salt. This solution is basically boric acid. It is very dangerous.  Keep it up and away from children and pets. Leave the wicks to dry 2-3 days.
2. Or just use the cotton thread. 

 - Using the boric acid solution will work better. If you're like me and not super comfortable with that process, or the toxins that it might produce when burned, then the cotton wicks works too. Here is a great article showing how these different wicks burn.

Double Broiler
 - Unless you are planning to make a lot of candles, I would advise against spending the money to get a double broiler. It is unnecessary, and you will probably want a much larger pot to melt the wax in anyway.  Making your own makeshift double broiler is easy. Use any saucepan and fill it up a few inches with water. Place a cookie cutter or tuna can in the center of the pot like so.

 

Merry Christmas!

Then place the pot for melting the wax on top. A coffee can works well, but I am anal and constantly worried about releasing toxins into the air, so I used a glass Pyrex measuring cup.  You can also by a special candle making pot at most crafting stores for around $20.00.

The rest of the items you need are fairly self-explanatory so let's move on to the actual candle making, shall we?

Making Your Candles

First you will need to cut your block of beeswax so you can fit it in your melting container. That's where the really big knife comes in. This is a real pain in the a**. To make it easier, you can cut the wax about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch on all sides, then  smack it on the edge of a table to break off what you need.

Next, set your water to boil and reduce to medium heat. Place your melting pot into your saucepan (on top of the cookie cutter). Here is where I'm going to tell you to do something wrong. Most people say to set your pot above the water so the wax is heated by the steam. Yeah, I tried that. 3 hours later, the damn thing was still hardly melted. So I kept the melting pot on top of the cookie cutter, but added more water to the saucepan so it came up the sides of my pot a little. This worked much better. Just be careful to watch it so the wax doesn't start to boil and smoke.

While you're waiting for your wax to melt, you can make the wicks. It is important to note that beeswax burns much more slowly than regular, paraffin wax so you need much thicker wicks. Most people recommend square braided wicks. These are basically 4 strands braided together. I am not very girly, and therefore stink at braiding, so this was a bit above my pay grade - so to speak. I just did a normal 3 string braid instead. You can do whatever you feel comfortable with. I tied one end, braided the strings together tightly, then tied a knot on the other end so it wouldn't unravel.

Before you can actually make your candles, you have to prime the wicks. You do this by placing them in the wax (one at a time so they don't tangle) for about 2 minutes so they can soak up the wax.  You can tell it's working because you'll see the wax bubbling. Use your fork to remove the wicks, (hold a paper plate underneath the wicks to catch the drippings as you transfer them) and lay them flat and straight on a piece of wax paper.

Once you have your wicks primed, and the wax completely melted, you're ready to go.  This is the time to add a little essential oil to the wax if you so choose. Remember that wax has a sweet smell so choose a scent like lavender or rosemary that will compliment it, or don't add anything. Beeswax smells great as is. Just remember that with essential oils, a little goes a long way - keep it to 1 tablespoon or less per pound.

Now it is time to dip. Cut the knots off the ends of your wicks. Fold them over to form a U. This will allow you to make two candles at once. If you're working with young children, just turn off the stove, remove the cookie cutter from the sauce pan, and place the melting pot directly into the hot water (add more water if you need to). This will keep the wax warm, but is much safer than working on a hot stove.

Place a big pot, bucket or cup full of water on newspaper next to the pot.  I used two cups - one for each candle.

Depending on your child's age, he or she may need more or less help, but you'll probably want to hold their hand for at least the first few dippings. I advise that you count with them, "Dip 1  and up, dip 2 and up, dip 3 and up and into the water." Make sure they dip quickly (without banging the side of the pot) and pull the candle completely out of the wax each time. If you leave the candle in the wax too long, it will start to burn off the under-layer of wax. (The water helps cool it down more quickly and prepares the candle for the next dipping).

Keep doing this until you get the size you want, then hang the candles to dry. I used a broom stuck between two chairs.

Don't forget the newspaper!




Once dry, you can trim the wicks to about a half inch high, and cut the bottoms to flatten them. I  dipped the bottoms of the candles into the wax then pressed them onto the paper plate to make sure they would stand. I also trimmed back the wax at the tops of the wicks a little since the children hadn't dipped very consistently. They're a little funny looking, but the kids really loved them.


Clean up

Clean up is a huge pain. Here are a few tips to hopefully make it easier.

•  Utensils - Place them in very hot water and let them soak for about 5 or so minutes, then wipe clean with a paper towel.
• Countertops / stovetops - Scrape off with a plastic putty knife. Pour hot water on any remaining wax and scrub with rough side of sponge.
• Fabric - Place item in the freezer, and once frozen, pick off. Or place the item between paper towels and rub it with a hot iron until the wax comes off onto the towels. 

Burning Your Candles

• A beeswax candle needs at least 24 hours to cure before burning so no lighting for at least one day.
• Beeswax candles are a harder to burn than paraffin so you may need to hold the lighter to the wick longer to get it going.
• The wicks will smoke a bit if blown out. To avoid this happening, just push the wicks back into the melted wax (using a knife or something metal) to snuff them out. Remember to remove the wick right after so it doesn't get stuck. Or you can be super-cool by licking your fingers and pinching the wick to put it out.

Here are our beautiful candles. Made with natural beeswax and not treated with any chemicals. They burn great and smell wonderful!

Points of Caution 

• Always keep baking soda or a (chemical) fire extinguisher on hand in case the wax begins to burn. Water will not put out a wax fire, it will spread it. 
• Do not leave your candles unattended.
• Never pour beeswax down your drain. It will clog your pipes.

I hope you enjoy your candles! Write me and let me know how they work for you. 

Are American Kids Spoiled? - Uh, yeah!

There's been a lot of talk in the media lately about American kids being spoiled. I find it hilarious that people are treating this as news. Of course American kids are spoiled! Any parent knows that!  I wonder on a daily basis what I have done to make my children so spoiled and unappreciative of the things they have. Most moms I talk to feel the same way. It's a major contributor to our perceived failures as parents because we all feel we are to blame, and we probably are. And although I accept that my kids are spoiled rotten, and feel I do need to make changes as far as how I am raising them, it really pisses me off the way the media is constantly trying to tell me how much I suck as a parent. I know I suck, but at least I care that I suck, right? It's the guilt and self-loathing that makes us strive to be better. If I didn't care, I wouldn't try. Does this article in the  New Yorker make a valid point? Absolutely. But it really is nothing new. Actually, I don't even think it started with this generation of kids. It started with ours.

I was totally spoiled as a child. Not necessarily by the amount of toys I had, though that is a small part of it. I think it was the fact that I never had to do much of anything for myself. In our mother's generation, it was considered part of your job as a mom, particularly if you stayed home, to do all of the cleaning and cooking and whatever else needed to be done so your children could play and be kids. While that sounds nice in theory, and it was nice, it left my mother overworked and me under-prepared for when I left home.

Now that mentality has evolved and mutated with our generation.

Now we have to deal with the onslaught of advertizing infecting our children's (and our) minds with a need for useless things. And even if we try to avoid the pitfalls of over-buying for our children, we still have friends and family to contend with.

We are so much more fearful as well. How could we not be with the media flooding us with information on everything from stranger danger, to peanut allergies, to BPA, to cell phone usage causing brain damage. We are terrified  that any little misstep is going to irreparably harm our children - enter "helicopter parenting." This is absolutely my biggest issue, I admit. I try not to be a helicopter parent" but I probably am. I want so badly to keep my kids safe that I'm afraid to let them fart sideways for fear they might strain themselves.

On that same note, we are also much more permissive than our parents generation. I'm sure guilt over working so much has something to do with it, but I think the real culprit is our need to go against the corporal punishment that many of us grew up with.  We don't want to physically discipline our kids, but we don't really know how else to do it, and we are afraid that if we do punish them, they may be emotionally scarred or something.This is less my issue as I am not afraid to punish my children, however, I'm not always consistent and that's just as bad.

So now we are left with the perfect storm of  no responsibility, no discipline and too much stuff. Yeah. Our kids are spoiled. So what now?

I have given this a great deal of thought and feel the answer is actually quite simple - we need to be lazier parents. This sounds easy, but it is actually very difficult to accomplish since it goes against everything we've been told makes a good parent.

This means:

• Making them do their own laundry and dishes, and having them help out around the house. 
• Allowing them to go outside in the freezing cold without a jacket or socks or whatever else they forgot  so they learn to take care of themselves. 
• Keeping score at their little league games so they learn to accept failure.
• Expecting the older children to help watch out for the younger ones so they learn some responsibility.   
• Punishing them when they do something wrong - not hitting - but punishing so they learn that their behavior has consequences. 
• And most of all, we need to make them do things for themselves whether it be buttoning their shirt or pouring their own cereal.  Because a time will come, eventually, when we just aren't there anymore to do it for them. 

This is my goal, to be a lazy mom. Who's with me?