One way to recycle old t-shirts is to use them as dusting rags. Just cut up the shirt into pieces to use for dusting or other household cleaning.

You could also make rugs or other items from your old t-shirts. I have been wanting to make a rug but need to look up some instructions on just exactly what to do. You can crochet with t-shirt strips to make bags, bowls, and other household items. I have yet to try this but am definitely interested in doing it since baskets are such a versatile storage item.

Some of the language in the book is at least PG-13, so this book - as if you didn’t notice from the title- is best suited for adults or older, near adult-age teens. The topics covered in the book include sex, drinking, job/career, and many others.

WTF? can be found in the humor section of your local bookstore.

When I saw the cookbook Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to get your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld I thumbed through it to see what it was all about. I knew that I didn’t need any more recipes of foods that Rae didn’t eat even if they were kid friendly.

Lo and behold, these recipes are foods that she eats like spaghetti, brownies, and mashed potatoes just to name a few(and I’m running out of foods she actually eats). The recipes call for adding puree vegetables into these kid’s favorite recipes. For example, the mashed potato recipe has tucked away inside it a half cup of cauliflower puree. In the foreword, Seinfeld talks about pureeing some squash for her youngest when she was struck with the idea of adding a little bit of the puree to the macaroni and cheese she was making for her two other children - one who was a very picky eater. The kids didn’t notice the extra ingredient and for once Seinfeld didn’t have to nag her children to eat their vegetables.

I know that we have added Rae’s medicine into her juice to get her to take it. I had never thought about blending vegetables into her favorite dishes. I can’t wait to give these a try.

It’s the pitter patter of little feet that is not music to my ears. When it comes from inside the walls, I know the culprit is a mouse who will cause me unrest and grief until he is caught. So after hearing the mouse, I set a few mouse traps with peanut butter and peanuts. This has always worked before to catch mice so I’m confident in my choice of bait.

A few days past and still no mouse in any trap. I know he is still around since I can hear him in the walls. While thumbing through the latest Woman’s Day magazine, I noticed an article on getting rid of mice that suggests using dental floss on the mousetrap. The reasoning is that the mouse will try to use it for nesting material. It made sense, I guess but was still skeptical. But I decided to give it a try if for no other reason I could blog about how crazy it is to think you could catch a mouse with dental floss.

A day passes and I check the dental floss mouse trap that is located under the kitchen sink - a hot bed for mice. Lo and behold, there lies a sprung trap with a dead mouse. I couldn’t believe it. It worked. So we reset the trap and the next day we caught yet another mouse. Unbelievable. Now I’m a firm believer in the power of dental floss to catch mice.

My little girl goes through stages of loving and loathing bath time. So I’m always on the lookout for new bath toys/products to make bath time more appealing.

A few weeks ago I discovered Dino Eggs - fizzy bath balls with a small dinosaur toy inside that hatches when placed in the bath water. I thought one of these Dino Eggs might be enticing enough for my little girl to really want to take a bath. It worked like a charm.

The bath ball not only provided a small new toy for bath time, it provided entertainment as we both watch as the fizz continued until the dinosaur was hatched. There are several different colors of Dino Eggs - each with a different dinosaur that is displayed on the front of the packaging. The toys are 2D and maybe an inch in length. It was a little disappointing it wasn’t more to the toy but nevertheless, Rae enjoyed playing with it. Since then, we have bought three more Dino Eggs and bath time ones again is not so much of a chore but rather fun.

I may have to roll out biscuits more often. She really liked the bat and even turned it upside down and proclaimed it looked like a rainbow. Breakfast time just became a little more fun.

For her fourth birthday, the only thing my little girl wanted was a ’swimming puppy’ aka Rescue Pets Swim to Me Puppy. She had seen the cute swimming pooch on a television commercial and was instantly smitten with the idea of having one for herself.

I was hesitant to buy her one because of its size. Rae has an overwhelming number of stuffed animals. A hard plastic, slightly large puppy just didn’t seem to fit in with her other animals. But in the end we decided to get her what she wanted for her birthday. It was a good call. She squealed with delight as she gently ripped the wrapping paper away to reveal her newest toy. If she never touched the puppy again, it was worth every penny for her reaction to receiving it.

Daddy took the puppy out of the box while Mommy went to locate 3 AA batteries. Then there was more waiting since the puppy actually takes 3 AAA batteries. Once the batteries were installed, it was play time.

The Swim to me Puppy not only swims but walks. All the Moms in attendance were very impressed that the puppy also walked on carpet. As many Moms and kids know that just because a toy is advertised to do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will do it well. But this puppy was walking like a champ on the carpet and then onto the floor - not missing a step.

When it was time for bath time, we put the puppy in the water. I hadn’t realized that the puppy has sensors and automatically starts swimming when the water is at a certain level. Rae was not too pleased with this but I did tell her that this is what puppies automatically do in the water - swim. She still isn’t wild about this as she really enjoys giving her toys at bath. So for now the swimming puppy gets in his swim and then spends the rest of bath time on the bath mat outside of the tub.

The Swim to me puppy might be a little larger than her other animals but she is still able to carry it around like her other fur babies. The ears are soft and so are the feet. Even though it’s a hard plastic toy, the puppy is easy for her to put her arms around and carry - that is when she is not taking it for a walk.

So far, the swimming puppy is a huge success and works as advertised. Now hopefully there will be something equally as exciting to her that she wants for Christmas. Her reaction to the puppy was priceless.

We are slowly replacing all our of regular light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs or CFLs. The first CFL bulbs we bought about 4 years ago. Two of the three recently burned out. I replaced them but knew that CFL bulbs contained mercury and had to be properly disposed of. So I turned to the Internet to find out how to properly dispose of CFL bulbs.

The best option would be to take it to a recycling center that handles CFL bulbs. Apparently IKEA and Home Depot take CFL bulbs. Home Depot has orange containers set up in their stores so that patrons can dispose of CFL bulbs. Simply wrap your unbroken bulb into a plastic bag and drop it off.

Several states do not require recycling CFL bulbs. If you are going to throw your bulbs away, then wrap them in two plastic bags. But before tossing them in the trash, check with your local waste management agency to make sure it is allowed.

So far we’ve been pleased with CFL bulbs although my husband was disappointed two had already burned out. But it has been close to four years and those bulbs were on a ceiling fan, which can shorten the life expectancy of a CFL bulb. Anyway, I say four years is impressive especially considering I’m not sure I’ve ever had a regular light bulb last that long.

How often do you change your kitchen sponge? Recently I’ve started using sponges again. Before when I had used sponges, I would use them until they got completely disgusting and then would be so grossed out that I wouldn’t want to use sponges for a while. But I really think a kitchen sponge is very useful to do dishes and to clean up the kitchen.

I just tossed the old kitchen sponges today and replaced them with two more. The dishes just seem cleaner like how my husband swears we get better gas mileage right after an oil change. The old sponges were looking pretty bad and were beginning to smell - a sure sign that it was time to toss them or at least out of the kitchen.

Apparently that old kitchen sponge can still be useful for other household tasks like cleaning the bathroom. According to some(Internet at large), you can sanitize a sponge by soaking it in vinegar.

So for now it seems a kitchen sponge lasts about a month before it becomes completely disgusting. I will try to clean up my old kitchen sponges to use to clean around the house since they are still in good shape and it would be a shame just to toss them.

It’s not only the toy commercials that catch her eye either. She never ate an Oreo cooking until she hear it was Milk’s favorite cookie on a commercial. Milk is her favorite beverage so if Oreo is a friend of milk’s then that is good enough for her. Now if I could only convince her that broccoli is milk’s favorite vegetable and apples are milk’s favorite fruit. She also has told me how Clorox laundry detergent ‘helps your shirt clean off.’

I remember watching commercials as a kid and being disappointed especially with toys that looked so cool on the commercial but just didn’t live up to expectations. It’ll be interesting to see if these commercials that obviously leave an impression on her will translate into her using the products when she is older. She is like a sponge - soaking up information. It makes me even more aware of how important it is to watch TV with her and to monitor her TV time.