My life is complete- TED ALLEN!
I Can Die Happy…
April 2nd, 2008Not Today, Please…
April 1st, 2008
UPDATE: Bunny was found!! Only fellow moms could recognize the tragedy we would have faced without him! Thanks for all of your well wishes and I will write more on location in NJ!
Have you seen this bunny anywhere? It appears my daughter has lost, not just one, but BOTH of her bunnies are missing. I have spent the past hour trying to find them- searching the car, checking behind chairs, looking in cupboards. I am supposed to be packing, but there is no way I am going away without a bunny in her arms.
When I find him, I am going to have to figure out how to install a tracking device inside. I wonder if one of those remote finders would fit nicely on the interior of his face? Wow! Never thought I would say that!
One thing you also do not want text messaged to your phone, right before a trip, is this:
“I am starting to think I have shingles.”
Nope, my husband is allergic to penicillin. He made a trip to the doctor’s covered in a fiery rash from head to toe. He is completely miserable, but got a prescription to calm down his reaction.
Oh, and since we are talking about fun events that happened today, here is another great one! I typed up a document called, “Daddy’s Cliff Notes” with all of the things that he asked me to write up for him, all neatly typed in my favorite Georgian font. As I hit, “Save” the screen fades and says, “Microsoft Windows is not responding.” Yup, that document… yeah, it’s gone. Didn’t even save itself to be recovered to make up for being so flaky.
We will see if I actually get to go on this trip after all!
Off to Camp!
April 1st, 2008
Today I am getting ready for my trip to Johnson & Johnson’s Camp Baby. I am so thrilled to be included in this! I tend to get overlooked for a lot of mommy blogger stuff and I still haven’t gotten to go to a BlogHer conference, so I am looking forward to meeting and making some new mommy friends. These “perks” are a dream come true for me. Seriously, sometimes I just shake my head and wonder how a small-town gal from Indiana gets included in these shindigs. I hope they won’t figure out the error of their ways anytime soon!
If you want to hear all the details on my trip, you can read what we will be doing! I don’t know what I am more excited about- meeting new moms to hang out with or meeting TED ALLEN and doing a wine tasting with him. Yeah, I am going to be the annoying girl with the camera so I will take lots of pictures to share when I get back!
PS- For those of you searching for spring cleaning stuff, I have been sick and am behind on making printables. When I get back, I promise to get some printables cranked out and we will get back on track!!
Cute Jewelry Holder & Jewelry Cleaner Recipes
April 1st, 2008
I like to keep a little dish by my sink to put my jewelry in while I am doing the dishes. I also love to thrift shop so I put my love for thrift and my little dish together and came up with this cute little idea.
I use a thrifted candle holder to put my jewels in. They look so pretty and, if the edge has a nice lip on it, it is a safe way to keep your jewels out of harms way. It also makes your jewelry a pretty display while you are scrubbing your little heart out and cursing your family for not helping you… or praying- whatever you happen to do while washing the dishes.
And, if you so choose, you could also be cleaning your jewelry while scrubbing your heart (as you curse your family or pray).
Here are two handy little recipes to keep tucked away for that special day!
Homemade Silver Jewelry Cleaner:
In a bowl, place strips of aluminum foil in and place your silver jewelry on top of them. Cover the silver with boiling water and then add three tablespoons of baking soda and soak for ten minutes. Mix remaining hot water and a drop of liquid soap into another glass bowl. Place your silver in the soapy water and wash. Rinse with clean water and polish dry your pieces with a soft cotton cloth. Please take care, some solutions that are great for some metals and stones may damage others.
(Side Note- I use this solution for cleaning all my silver jewelry and have never had any problems. This works like a dream!)
Homemade Gold Jewelry Cleaner:
Fill a small bowl with warm water and a drop of liquid dish soap. Allow this to soak for approximately ten minutes. Proceed to brush the pieces with an eyebrow brush (or a similar substation such as a toothbrush) while they are being soaked. Then you should transfer the gold jewelry to a strainer and then proceed to rinsing it off with warm water. Finish by drying with a soft cotton cloth.
Who Is the Old Lady Now?
April 1st, 2008
I have been having so much fun teaching Ethan some cool card games. Growing up, we had a deck of Old Maid cards that we played Old Maid with so I had no idea that you could play Old Maid with a regular old deck of cards.
This game is great for kids between 5-10, because it is easy to learn and to play. This game is more fun if you have 3-6 players, but you can play with two players (which is easier for smaller children and putting together matches).
Before you can begin, remove all of the Queens in the deck except for one. Shuffle and distribute the cards, one at a time and face down.
Each player looks at their hands and pulls out any two cards that match in rank. Each player lays his match face down in a pile beside him. If a player has three cards of the same number, one stays in his hand.
After matches are all sorted, fan out your cards for the other player to grab from. Keep taking turns and making matches. Since there is only one Queen, the Old Maid, no match can be made for her. At the end of the hand, the player left holding the Old Maid loses the game.
You could also pretend to cry, like Ethan demonstrates for our photo!
Want to switch the game up? How about making the Old Maid an Old Boy and using the Jack as your odd man out!
Redbox Code 03.31.07
March 31st, 2008
Today’s free code for a Redbox movie is JM17RS. This code is good for one free movie and you can use it until midnight tonight. Enjoy a free family movie together!
Side Notes:
– If you want to rent more than one movie for free, bring more than one credit/debit card. You can use the same promotional code, you just will need different cards to charge it to. The charge will be zero as long as you return your movie on time for the next day.
– When entering in your free movie code, you need to enter it FIRST before picking the movie. On the very first screen, click the, “Rent with Promo.” Enter in the above code and then make your selection- the amount should then total zero.
Family Night: Earth Hour
March 31st, 2008
I had been looking forward to Earth Hour all week and sharing this experience with my family. We talked to Ethan about why we were celebrating Earth Hour and how much fun we were going to have. Since Earth Hour was between 8-9 PM, it was a special treat for the kids to stay up late and spend the hour with us.
The kids took a bath by candlelight, which they thought was a super fun treat! We filled the tub with lots of bubbles and threw in a couple of whisks and spoons from the kitchen. They whisked up bubbles to their hearts delight and sang fun songs by candlelight.
Ethan thought he looked pretty cool in front of the candles so he took some time out of his busy schedule to pose!
After our baths, we enjoyed a yummy snack while Ryan & I made shadow puppets on the wall for the kids. They thought these were hilarious and super cool!
Ethan had so much fun, he asked if we could celebrate Earth Hour every day! This gave me an opportunity to share with him easy ways he could celebrate AND save the earth. We talked about doing our recycling, turning the lights off when we aren’t in a room, and not being wasteful. Since this family night was such a hit, I hope we can do it with the kids again. Not only did the kids have a blast, but it was super frugal, while being extremely memorable for all of us!
Sound Off: Did you celebrate Earth Hour? How did you celebrate it?
Those Bodacious Blueberry Muffins
March 31st, 2008
This weekend I made Emily’s, from the wonderful Loria Family Dialogues, Bodacious Blueberry Muffins for a snack. I happened to have some of my crumb topping in the freezer so I added a sprinkle of that on top of each of these.
Wow! These were delicious! I think I might mix up some of the dry ingredients, just like I do for my dinners in a bag, for a quick snack to take to playgroups or potlucks.
With the crumb topping, they tasted like a yummy Blueberry Buckle- delicious! I hope you can try these and a big thanks to Emily for such a wonderful recipe! Now I just need to convince my children and husband that blueberry muffins are delicious (weird people!)
Sunday Savings
March 30th, 2008Baby Cheapskate shares how to you can save an additional $1 off of each package of Huggies Jumbo Diapers.
Freebies 4 Mom shares some fun sweepstakes you can enter- check for this every Saturday on her blog!
Mimi’s Jewel Box has an entry on how you can get 5 Michael Angelo meals for free (after the purchase of 5 meals).
Money Saving Mom tells you the deals this week for CVS & Walgreens– check here before doing your shopping!
Centsible Shopper tells you how to double-dip your rebates. (Thanks Hooray for Free-bates for this tip!)
Earth Hour: A Family Night to Remember
March 28th, 2008
On March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m., join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.
Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
We invite everyone throughout North America and around the world to turn off the lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your own local time)–whether at home or at work, with friends and family or solo, in a big city or a small town. You can sign up today!
What will you do when the lights are off? Visit Crunchy Domestic Goddess for some great ideas for a family night or even a date night with your spouse!
We are planning to participate this year and I hope you will join me!