Musings of an im-Perfect Mom

Going Vegan?

2013-03-26T16:42:00.001-04:00

So why did I quit writing on this blog? It's a valid question. I could say it was for lack of time or energy, and that has something to do with it, but in truth, I just didn't see the point. There are so many blogs out there, right now, doing what I was doing, and doing it better, that I simply didn't see the point. I felt like I was more regurgitaing the same crap instead of contributing to the discussion.

So why am I back?
Because I had something to talk about, and I thought maybe this would be a good forum for me.

So here goes...

As some of you who have read my blog may know, my father has been struggling with cancer for the past two years. He's had three surgeries, the last one resulting in the loss of a third of his lung and two ribs. It's been awful. Watching my father suffer like that has had a huge impact on me, but there is more to the story. You see, he's not the only one. I have a friend in my writing group with the same cancer as my dad - or I should say, had, I haven't seen him in six months. The parents of two of my childhood friends are struggling with cancer - one kidney, one breast, another family friend with throat cancer, and yet another friend who lost his mother to cancer. My step mother-in-law was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and is waiting to have the tumor removed. My brother's father-in-law died from melanoma and my neighbor's husband just died a few weeks ago from thyroid cancer.

But wait, there's more...
Between my family and friends I know countless people with diabetes, and asthma and my mother-in-law, who has never smoked a day in her life, even has COPD. I feel like half the kids I know have allergies (many of them severe): milk, pork, sesame, peanut, tree nuts, eggs, chocolate (poor things) and wheat. And that's just what I could come up with off the top of my head.

And what about me? I'm ten pounds overweight, get daily headaches, have back problems and generally feel like garbage all the time!

I've felt the weight of all of this pressing down on me for months and I'm done. It's time to make a drastic change. Cue in Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

Perhaps this just came at the perfect time, or maybe it was because I was searching for answers, but this book really spoke to me. The basic idea is to cut out all of the processed crap, as well as meat, eggs and dairy. Basically, go vegan. Of course, being vegan doesn't make you healthy - vegans can eat crap too - you have to eat a nutrient rich diet of fruits and vegetables.

I've honestly always had misgivings about eating animals, so giving up meat was kind of liberating for me. It's giving up everything else that's so hard.

I admit, I feel a little crazy. Like everyone's going to think I'm some wac-a-do. I told my mom about it and she asked me if I was going to be one of those "vaguns" now. I said, "No." But I'm not sure if that's true or not. I'm still working it all out in my head.

I just know I need to do something.

So what about you? Anyone else going to extremes to get healthy? Does anyone have any feedback for me? Am I just nuts? :)

The Power of Their Ideas

2012-12-21T12:32:00.001-05:00

When I was growing up, if you wanted to make some money you were pretty-much limited to a fast food chain or lemonade stand, but that was before the internet when we were all still living in caves and using pay phones. But with the advent of the internet, a whole world of opportunities has opened up to our children. From Blogger, to Ebay, to Etsy, our kids have so many opportunities to showcase their creativity and even make a little money.

Earlier this year, my 7-year-old wanted to create his own blog (I wonder where he got that idea from?) and Sebastian's Game Blog was born. He hasn't done a ton with it, but the fact that he can is so incredibly cool to me.

Recently, I discovered that my niece, Sarah, was starting her own online business This isn't just a little fun blog or kiddy art site - oh, no - this is an Etsy store, Sunshine Vinyl, where you can purchase personalized monogram stickers for cars, laptops and pretty-much anything else you could possibly think of. She came up with the idea, bought the machinery, opened the store site, made examples, took pictures, wrote descriptions and priced the items herself.

Oh... did I mention that she's seventeen.

When I was seventeen, I worked at Taco Bell.

Over my many, many years, I've spent considerable time worrying about what I could do to bring in money for my family, and have felt, like so many of you, like an incompetent moron as I watch these young whipper-snappers dance figurative rings around me.

But now I realize that my problem is not a lack inspiration, or drive, or even computer know-how, it's me. It's the mentality of a thirty-something year old that a business is made up of four walls and a cash register. It's the fear of investing in something only to have it fail. And it's the worry that my ideas aren't good enough. What these kids understand is that life about taking chances? If you don't take chances, you'll never achieve anything. You have to have faith in the power of your ideas and go for it!

This lesson I have learned from a seventeen-year-old entrepreneur who is not only bright and creative, but brave enough to take those chances. I applaud her and wish her the best.

And, in the future, when this old lady needs business advice, it's nice to know I have a teenager waiting in the wings to guide me.

Damn, I'm old! :)

Check out Sarah's Etsy store: Sunshine Vinyl

LInk to: Thinking the Unthinkable

2012-12-16T10:52:00.001-05:00

In light of the recent events at Sandy Ridge Elementary, I wanted to share with you an article that has touched me deeply. It is written by a mother who is struggling to raise a child with mental illness. It has opened my eyes to the limits of our mental heath system. I hope you will find it as touching and poignant as I have.

Thinking the Unthinkable
By The Anarchist Soccer Mom

Moment of Change

2012-10-14T11:21:00.002-04:00

In everyone’s life there are moments of change. Where, in a blink, your life takes a drastic turn. I’m not talking about your fist kiss or high school diploma. These are moments that resonate so deeply within your psyche that the entire trajectory of your life is forever altered. For many of us, having our first child is one such event - when the world suddenly doesn’t revolve around us anymore, and we understand what real love is. Six years as a mother and wife, and my trajectory seemed locked firmly into place, until one moment forced it off its mark… the day my father told me he had cancer.

I knew he was going in to have a biopsy of a mass in his leg, but we all thought it was nothing – just a complication from a recent knee surgery. It wasn’t. My father had a massive Soft Tissue Sarcoma, or cancerous tumor, in his calf. I was terrified. The doctors checked his lungs, supposedly the next stop for this type of cancer, and they were clean. He went through radiation therapy and they successfully removed the tumor. We thought we’d dodged a bullet. But six months later, on a routine scan, our carefully constructed fantasy fell apart. The cancer had metastasized to his lungs.

The reality that my father might die hit me like a sledgehammer. The fear was suffocating. What’s worse, I was completely helpless. All I could do was watch as this man who was, and always will be, my hero tremble in fear as he was taken away for surgery, then stand-by impotently when he woke up in so much pain he could barely speak, and have little beyond encouragement to offer as he suffered over weeks of recovery. Praying served no comfort. I’m agnostic so I wouldn’t know who to pray to anyway. So I just watched as my father slowly recovered and I continue to watch even now as they scan his lungs every three months for more tumors, and worry if this time will be the last. Life goes on day by day, but this worry I carry with me, though at times it only exists as a kernel of doubt in the back of my mind, it is always there haunting me.

Recently, I discovered that an acquaintance of mine had lung surgery. My mind went immediately to my father. I knew with complete certainty what he was going through, and though I was concerned, it wasn’t until my friend was recovered and we were face to face, that I mustered the courage to ask how he was doing. I didn’t know he had cancer. I wondered, but I didn’t know, and wouldn’t have asked if he hadn’t told me. Here was a young man, about my age, who had the exact same metastasized sarcoma as my father, except for one difference… he was sicker. I could feel a slew of emotions all striking me at once, but all I could summon to say was, “I’m sorry.” Then he surprised me. Without a trace of sadness or fear he told me that he wouldn’t “give up the experience.” Of course, he wished he didn’t have to be sick, but he wouldn’t want to give up the experience because he’d learned so much. “You see things differently,” he said and I understood what he meant. You do see things differently. When something so significant touches your life, you cannot pass through it unchanged. For each of us the effect will be different: some look for answers in religion, others achieve a renewed focus on family, and still others become angry and bitter. I can’t say exactly what my friend or even my father took from this experience, but even so I understood, because fundamental to it is a re-evaluation of your life.

That is why, at 36, I threw away my career as a teacher to pursue writing. It’s why I’m pouring my heart out onto this paper with little regard for the risk involved in sharing something so personal with total strangers. My whole life has been an exercise in playing it safe - doing things the “right” way - but life’s to damn short to waste away on being safe. I refuse to continue focusing on a future that may never come. I don’t know about heaven or hell or the nothingness that may be waiting for me on the other side. All I truly know is the here and now: my home, my friends and my family. And for all the pain and uncertainty that surrounds me, I refuse to wallow in the things I cannot change, but focus on the here and now. I may not be able to live forever, but what I can do is live and live well.

Deceptive Marketing - No Sugar Added

2012-09-12T11:47:00.002-04:00

It really gets me upset the way corporations purposely mislead the public to sell their products. I discussed one example a while back in my post about Disney Princesses and Marvel Superhero children's multivitamins. The was a specific example, but with this article I wanted to discuss a form of misleading marketing that is more wide-spread: The use of "No Sugar Added." or "Sugar Free" on product labels. With so much of the public trying to maintain healthy lifestyles, companies have tried to alter or re-market their products as healthy while giving people the flavor (i.e. sweetness) they secretly crave. It's all about sales, baby. And while supply meeting demand is a good thing in theory, when you add unscrupulousness corporations into the mix, you end up with deceptively marketed products. That is why so many products you find labeled as "no sugar added" contains one of the following sugar substitutes:

Aspartame - Equal or NutraSweet
Acesulfame K, also known as acesulfame potassium - Sunett and Sweet One.
Sugar alcohols - sorbitol, xylitol or maltitol
Saccharin - Sweet'N Low
Sucralose - Splenda
Neotame

(You don't see Stevia in many products right now, but as it gains popularity I'm sure you will).

I am not about to start debating with you about whether these items are good, bad or the devil incarnate. Conspiracy theories abound, and no one really trusts what the FDA says so getting to the truth of the matter is nearly impossible. What I will say is that, as a parent, I try to avoid giving my children unnatural (i.e. chemically produced) products, and it irritates the hell out of me when companies deceptively market products such as these to kids. I cannot tell you how many people I know who have gotten fooled by this marketing, and even though so many of us do know what's happening, no one seems to want to call the corporations out for it. Why? Because of the ingredients list on the back of the package, but most of us don't have the time to check the packaging of everything we eat, and the corporations know it. That's where I come in. :)

For the sake of journalism, I took a walk around my local grocery store and photographed some examples to illustrate my point. Yes, I looked like a fool and people stared. That's how committed I am, or should be committed... whatever.

So here goes...

Sugar Free Jello Pudding - Contains xylitol, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

Del Monte - Mandarin Oranges (No sugar added) - Contains sorbitol, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

Del Monte - No Sugar Added Sliced Pears - Contains acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

Nesquick - Chocolate (No sugar added) - Contains acesulfame potassium, and sucralose

Sugar Free Syrups - Mrs. Butterworths - Contains neotame, acesulfame potassium, and aspartame

So kids, the moral of our story is... CHECK THE LABELS!

Always, always, always check the labels of the products you buy. It's a pain in the neck, but totally worth it in the long run. I hope some of you have found this helpful. If you know anyone who might benefit from this information, please pass it along. Thanks!

Tell me what you think or add to the discussion in the comments section below.

Easy and Delicious - BBQ Ribs

2012-09-05T13:21:00.001-04:00

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to cook. Back in my pre-children days, I would spend hours concocting wonderfully elaborate and delicious meals (and somehow stayed skinny, but that's another post). As a mother, I have had to whittle my recipes down to their simplest forms so I could manage cooking and childcare at the same time. So I thought I would share a few of my favorites with other busy moms. This first recipe is for barbeque ribs. It is simple to make and delicious!

Just an fyi...
For me, simple doesn't mean fast (though I have a few of those), it means quick and easy preparation without five hundred, freshly purchased, chopped, diced, and petrified- blah, blah - ingredients. I also don't do much in the way of measuring since this is the real world, and in the real world we don't really measure crap. So I will give you a basic idea of how much seasoning to use, but if you want exact measurements, I'm not your girl.

So on to my recipe for Barbeque Ribs.

BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:

One full rack St. Louis style pork ribs (you can use baby back, but St. Louis style are cheaper)
Apple cider vinegar
Brown sugar
Oregano
Garlic salt (I use Lawry's coarse garlic sat)
Paprika
Black pepper
Cayenne Pepper (optional)
BBQ sauce (whatever you like)
Large, sturdy pan
Aluminum foil

1. So here's the trick to making really good - fall off the bone ribs - without smoking them for 2 days. Boil them. That's right! Take your (completely thawed) ribs, cut them in half if necessary, place them in a large pot and fill it with enough water to completely cover the ribs. Bring the water to a boil and lower temperature slightly to keep it at a rolling boil, for 30 minutes to 1 hour. 30 Minutes is the minimum, but the longer the better. You can add a little salt to the water if you like.

This is what it will look like:

YUMMY!!

Okay, so this looks gross, but it's normal. What you're seeing is all of the fat and icky stuff (yes- that is a professional term) coming out of the meat and floating to the top of the pot.

2. While you're waiting for the ribs to boil, line a large sturdy pan with aluminum foil. Trust me, you don't want to cook this in an unlined pan. Cleaning an unlined pan after the fact is a nightmare. I line it with several sheets because the ribs tend to tear through the foil.

3. Once the ribs are done boiling, remove them from the pot using tongs. Be careful because they have a tendency to fall apart. Position them on the pan however they fit with the underside facing up. Coat it with garlic salt, then flip the ribs over so the meaty side is facing up.

4. Placing your thumb (or two fingers if you have small thumbs like me) over the lip of the bottle, lightly sprinkle apple cider vinegar all over the ribs - rub it in with a large spoon.

5. Next take a small handful of brown sugar (about a half cup), sprinkle it all over the ribs, and rub it in with your fingers.

6. Now the seasoning. Generously coat the ribs with the garlic salt and paprika. Lightly sprinkle it with a bit of oregano ( about a half tablespoon dried and crushed), and add just a pinch of black pepper and cayenne pepper. A a pinch will only add to the flavor. My kids don't like too much spice so that's all I use. If you want it spicier, add more pepper, but be careful, a little goes a long way.

This picture is kind of ugly, but it's the best I could do with the crappy lighting in my kitchen.

7. You will want to cover the entire pan with foil. Tent it slightly so the foil isn't rubbing against the ribs like so:

8. Cook ribs at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

9. After 30 minutes, remove the foil and spread barbeque sauce all over the ribs with a spoon. (I use a spoon because a brush tends to just pull up the seasoning and doesn't coat as thickly).

10. Place ribs back in the oven - uncovered- and let it cook another 5 to 10 minutes or until the sauce firms up into a glaze.

Remove from the oven, cut, serve and enjoy! :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent - Is it worth it?

2012-08-28T09:33:00.002-04:00

It seems lately that a lot of moms are switching to making their own homemade laundry soap. I've been getting tired of spending a ton of money on safe, ECO-friendly laundry detergents, so I thought I would give it a try. I started out using the basic recipe I found on most sites.

1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap

So I began by grating the Fels-Naptha. About halfway through I started to wonder about the decision to use this product since the smell was so overpowering. It occurred to me that I hadn't checked the label on the back of the soap. Why? I don't know. I always check labels. I guess my initial feeling was that this was supposed to be natural and safer so I didn't need to worry about it. After checking the label, I realized how misguided this thought was.

This is how it reads:

Ingredients: Cleaners, soil and stain removers, chelating agents, colorants, perfume

I hate it when companies do this. I think I have a right to know what is in a cleaning product. It doesn't help me feel better when I read the caution right below the ingredients which read:

Caution: Eye and Skin Irritant. Avoid contact with eyes and prolonged contact with skin.

So It was at this point I decided to do some investigating. I found the actual list of ingredients on the Fels-Naptha web site. Here they are:

Soap (sodium tallowate*, sodium cocoate* (or) sodium palmate kernelate*, and sodium palmate*), water, talc, cocnut acid*, palm acid*, tallow acid*, PEG-6 methyl ether, glycerin, sorbitol, sodium chloride, pentasodium pentetate and/or tetrasodium etidronate, titatium dioxide, fragrance, Acid Orange (CI 20170), Acid yellow 73 (ci43350)

Since I can't tell you what any of those ingredients are, I had to do some more searching. What I found was that a number of these ingredients are questionable, and they most definitely are not natural. (Although arsenic is natural so maybe that shouldn't be a litmus test for health) For example: Titatium dioxide is a known contaminate and is harmful to wildlife, Acid yellow 73 is banned for use in cosmetics and show to be potentially unsafe in a number of studies, and PEG-6 methyl ether is a skin irritant and there is a small amount of evidence that it may be linked to organ toxicity.

Overall, it's not so bad, but my feeling is if I'm going to go to all this trouble to make my own laundry soap, then I should feel like it's safe for my family. So I decided to toss the Fels-Naptha and purchased some castile bar soap. I got Dr. Bronner's All in One Hemp Rose Castile Soap. It smells so good! So I grated it up and combined it with the other two ingredients. I used it in my wash a few times but it only worked okay to be honest. A lot of my clothes were coming out stained and I didn't feel like they were getting as clean as I would like. One plus.. my clothes came out much softer.

Not to mention, I was a bit put off by using borax. I have avoided it for a long time because I am concerned about it being slightly toxic. It was one of the main reasons I took so long to make my own laundry soap. I use hydrogen peroxide in my all purpose cleaner instead of borax. I have tried many times over to research borax, but have found much of the information out there to be contradictory so to be on the safe side, I decided to look into ways of making laundry soap without it.

Most of what I found was simply the same recipe as above without the borax. So I thought I would give it a try, but as I was mixing my ingredients, on a whim, I decided to check the directions for using the washer soda. To my surprise, it said to add 1/2 a cup to loads to increase the effectiveness of your detergent. 1/2 a cup! I was using about a tablespoon a load. No wonder it didn't work well. So I adjusted my recipe as follows:

1 bar Castile soap
7 cups washing soda

At about a half cup a load, that equaled 16 loads. It worked much better, except my clothes weren't as soft so I gave in and added a cup of borax to the mix to make it:

1 bar Castile soap
7 cups washing soda or a whole 55oz box
1 cup borax

That helped, though my clothes still weren't as soft as before. They were definitely coming out much cleaner though.

So here is my issue.... was it worth it? Did I save any money on this venture or am I better off going back to the ECO detergents?

So I did the math.

My laundry soap cost $3.59 for the soap, $3.29 for the box of washer soda and 4.79 for box of the borax which I used approximately $.50 worth. If I use the full 1/2 cup per load this comes out to... (drum roll)

Grand total: $7.38 or $.41 a load

Per load, this is how it compared to the Eco friendly detergents:

7th Generation liquid $16.00 for 66 loads or $.24 a load
7th Generation powder $15.00 for 70 loads or $.21 a load
Method $15.50 for 50 loads or $.31 a load
and Meyers $16.00 for 64 loads or $.25 a load

Wow! That's a big difference! Of course, most of us realize the number of loads represented on a box is usually inflated, listing the amounts or a "regular" or medium size load when I'm referring to a large load, but even so it's a big difference. From what I can tell both financially and time-wise, it just doesn't make any sense to make your own soap. Now, if you are dealing with allergies or just want to be absolutely sure of what's in your soap, then this could be a good alternative.

But for me, it just makes better sense to buy.

Next investigation... which laundry detergent works best! :)

Getting Organized - Children's Toys

2012-08-20T10:23:00.002-04:00

I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!

So as I might have mentioned once or twice before, I'm a slob. And not a happy one either. I hate my house being such a disorganized mess. It drives me crazy! I said I was going to take this summer to get my act together now that I wasn't working and had more time. Didn't happen. I got sidetracked will a million other things and quit before I even got started. But on my trip a few weeks ago to visit family in Miami, I had an inspiration... my sister in law. She has two kids, two jobs, and the nicest most organized home I've ever seen. No, she did not clean it up for our visit. She actually keeps it that way ALL OF THE TIME!

She admitted to me that she was a bit OCD, but unfortunately for me, that is one disease that isn't contagious so almost immediately after our arrival back in town, my house returned to its usual trashed-like state. I wanted to pull my hair out! Luckily, I had the image of my sweet sister in my mind reminding me that it is possible. My house can be clean. So now, I am a woman on a mission, and unlike my mission to lose weight this is a real mission that I will complete or die trying. (Okay. Maybe that was a bit overdramatic). I will organize my house! Who's with me?

First off, the one part of the house, I started, but never got around to finishing... the playroom.

This playroom actually started out as a home preschool that I ran for a couple years. I closed it this spring, and turned it into my kids playroom. I have a few things in here that I think were pretty cool ideas that I'd like to share.

First off, is the reading area. As you might have noticed, this "couch" is actually a toddler bed, purchased at a garage sale. I got the mattress on craigslist. I'm not typically a fan of used mattresses, but they aren't sleeping on it so I'm not so worried. It's really nice because I can cover it with a mattress pad and sheet, and wash them easily when they get dirty. Underneath the couch are book bins - labeled with pictures so my daughter knows where the books go. I'd prefer a bookcase, but simply didn't have the space for it.

Next you'll see my block area. It's actually a really old entertainment center, but works great for the blocks. Old entertainment centers are wonderful for storing kids toys. They are sturdy and have deep shelves which are usually a good fit for plastic bins. They are also low to the ground and don't pose a tipping hazard. Best of all, since no one uses big heavy TV's anymore, you can often find these for really cheap at garage sales or goodwill.

Beside the blocks is our easel. I purchased it for $35.00 at A.C. Moore with a half off coupon. Moving on...

On the opposite end of the room I have a ridiculous amount of dress up clothes (remember, I ran a preschool). To avoid having to drill hooks into the wall, I just used Command wall hangers to hang the clothes on and a crate to hold the larger items in. I also have a three drawer bin, to hold all of the little things like tiaras and dress-up shoes.

Our art table was, if I do say so myself, as stroke or genius or maybe just common sense. Either way, it's awesome! All I did was take a wooden kitchen table I purchased on Craigslist and have the legs cut down at Home Depot (for free :) ).

Above the table, I placed thin rectangles of cork board along the wall to hang the children's art from.

Last but not least, is my wall of cubbies. I already had the wooden cases from my school, as well as a few of the boxes. Then I spent the next couple of weeks hoarding A.C. Moore coupons (see a trend here) and purchasing them one at a time to save money. I even went so far as to have my 6 year old buy a few with coupons so I wouldn't have to make multiple trips. (Hey, it says one coupon per customer. There were no stipulations about the customer's age). The challenge with these cubbies is that they are, obviously, not transparent so the kids can't see what's in them, and labels don't stick well to the canvas coverings. My solution was to make labels and hang them from the box handles with tiny climbing hooks. I got them two for a dollar at Walmart.

How do I make labels? Well, I'm so glad you asked. This is what I do:

I make them in word.

First I choose a simple font, like Veranda or Times, and make a list of all the descriptions I want to use to label my bins. These are going to be different for everyone depending on your child's interests, but just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here are the ones I made: Art, Coloring books, Play dough, Horses, Action Figures, Barbies, Cars, Stamps, Dress-up, Instruments, Books, Legos, Animals and Dolls. Next, I googled images to match my descriptions, and saved the pictures I liked into their own file. (You can just use clip art, but I've found much nicer images through Google). Then, I divided my document into two columns (to save paper) and inserted the pictures beneath the descriptions. I then printed, cut and laminated all of my labels. I have have a lamination machine, but you can get yours laminated at any copy store.

Depending on the size of your bins and the kinds of bins you use, these labels will need to be printed differently. If you're using typical plastic bins, you can just size your labels to fit, print, cut and laminate them before taping them to your bins. If you have canvas bins like mine, you will want to leave extra space at the top of each label. Once you print them, you will need to cut the labels out leaving that extra room at the top for you to punch a hole into. After you laminate and cut out the final labels, you can punch that same hole again, thread the clamps through them, and hang them on their corresponding bins. Here's how one of my final ones looked.

It was a little time consuming, but I think it will totally be worth it in the long run. At least the kids can't claim they don't know where things go anymore, which I hope will reduce the amount of junk they leave strewn all over the house. Best of all, their playroom looks super cute!

If you have any questions or ideas to share, please leave me a message in the comments below. I will do my best to address them as quickly as possible.

Lovin' the Weekend Blog Hop

2012-08-17T18:35:00.001-04:00

I am a featured host for the blog hop today. Thanks so much to Karen from "Tots and Me" for including me. Now lets hop!

Welcome to the forty-sixth weekend of Lovin' the Weekend Blog Hops.

Giveaway Linky is the bottom linky!

First things first:

Don't forget to check out my co-host's blog:

In case you didn't know, I have also started randomly choosing a Featured host each week from the Lovin' The Readers linky. This week I would like to introduce you to Courtney from Musings of an im-Perfect Mom. Her blog is quite new, and I'm sure she would love some followers. She has quite a few great informational posts for parents, including DIY, Crafts/Education and other resources. Please take the time to check out her blog.

Please make sure to stop by and say hi, let them know you are visiting from the Lovin' The Weekend Blog Hops.Don't forget to link up to the Lovin' the Readers Hop if you would like a chance to be a Featured host next week. Please comment with a way to contact you, especially if there is not an obvious way mentioned on your blog. I would love to include a little write up about you and your blog in the next week's Lovin' The Weekend Blog Hop post, including a link to your blog. And you will get to include the linky codes on your blog. Sound fun? I'm looking forward to getting to know my readers better.

Here's how this blog hop works. I would appreciate it if you would follow myself, my co-host and my Featured Host via GFC. If you no longer have GFC please follow in some other way. After that there are three different linkys you can link to. Whichever one you choose to link to, please grab that button and share it on your blog (the codes are on my sidebar). I'd love it if you could tweet or in some other way share about this blog hop, the more people who know about it, the more potential visitors and new followers of your blog. I'd love to meet some new friends this weekend.

I have noticed that some people are more interested in just increasing their numbers, while others really want people who appreciate their blog and want to keep up with their posts. So, I decided to create two separate linkys. The third linky is for you to link up your giveaways.

If you are interested in increasing the number of followers to your blog via GFC, Linky Followers, email, Twitter, Facebook or Google+ link up here. I will follow you back if you follow me (just note which one you are linking to):

If you are interested in gaining followers to your blog who will read and comment and truly find an interest in your blog, link up here:

If you have family friendly giveaways to link up, here's your spot. Please make sure to include an end date for your giveaway.

I am so glad you stopped by. Please leave a comment if you link up and I will be sure to stop by and follow back.

Don't forget to check out my "Blog Hops" page for other great weekend blog hops!! The Back to Preschool Giveaway Blast is up and running strong. Stop by to enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 prizes geared for young children. Grand prize is valued at $418 and has an awesome collection of items. And there is a 2nd Place Prize Pack and 3 runner up prizes. Good luck!

Deceptive Marketing - Children's Multivitamins

2012-08-16T18:48:00.001-04:00

Most of us want to believe the people who produce children's products actually care about our children. They don't. Like everyone else, all they care about is their bottom line.

That is why baby bottle companies continued to make bottles using BPA even though evidence indicated it might not be safe.
That is why millions of toys produced in China were recalled for containing lead paint.
That is why foods containing artificial flavors and dyes, high fructose corn syrup and trans fat are marketed to children

And that is why NBTY, Inc. (and subsidiary's NatureSmart LLC and Rexall Sundown, Inc.) deceptively labeled their Disney Princesses and Marvel Superhero children's multivitamins, to make us believe they contained the DHA our children need for healthy brain and eye development when they didn't.

In actuality, they contained only a fraction of the DHA necessary to substantiate these claims.

Read the full article here.

It is just another example of corporate America trying to dupe the public into buying their sub-standard crap. And I fell for it. I bought both of these multivitamins for my two children, specifically opting for these over the more natural options because they contained DHA. And now I'm pissed off. Not because my kids didn't get the DHA I thought they were getting, and not because I spent so much money on these crappy vitamins, but because I was duped.

I have always taken pride in my ability to see through corporate propaganda, thoroughly evaluating every product that came into my home and not taking things at face value, but I totally dropped the ball on this one. I didn't check to see if the amount of DHA these vitamins contained was enough to support the effects they were touting. It honestly didn't even occur to me.

And though I know the vitamins weren't made by Disney, it saddens me to see how they would apply their brand to a product without first evaluating it. Not that I would really expect this from any corporation, especially one as big as Disney. Like I said, I'm aware that they don't really care about my children. It's a fact of the world we live in and I realize that, but it still makes me a little sad.

Mostly, it just pisses me off.

Tie-dye Snowflakes

2012-08-14T15:58:00.001-04:00

With this activity, I've taken the typical paper snowflake and jazzed it up a bit. It is very simple to do, and since the paper is thin, it takes less strength to cut making it a good activity for preschool children. This does take a bit of skill using scissors so it would probably be best for children 3 and up - possibly younger with a lot of help. My almost 4-year-old was able to do it all by herself.

This is what you'll need

One 4 cup round coffee filter (white)
Markers
Newspaper or wax paper
Spray bottle
Scissors

Directions:

Lay out the newspaper or wax paper and flatten the coffee filters out on top of it.
Have your child(ren) color the coffee filter with markers - making sure they use a lot of colors.
Once they have finished coloring their filter, have them spray it with water until the colors start to blend.(Make sure they don't spray too close - you want them to mist, not soak, it)
Leave it on newspaper or wax paper to dry.
Once the filters have dried, remove them from the newspaper.
Have your child fold the filter in half, then in half again

Next, show them how to cut the filter on all three sides, making sure to leave portions of the folded area connected.
Unfold, and voila! Tie-dye snowflakes! :)

Variation: If you want to make these look more traditionally tie-dyed:

Grab the center of the filter and pull the ends together like a cone.
Tie rubber bands or twisty ties around the filter.
Color and spray.
Let dry.
From this point you just follow the same directions as above.

Homemade Play-dough Recipe

2012-08-07T22:46:00.000-04:00

This is the only homemade art recipe that has ever worked for me. (I have to say it may just be me). I won't even elaborate at the disaster that was my attempt at making finger paints my first week teaching - think rotten eggs and an entire Kindergarten and Pre-k evacuated. Oh yes. I did that. :) This recipe, however, is awesome. I love this play-doh. It gets softer as you work it, molds perfectly, and is completely safe (though not too tasty) to eat. Thank you to my friend Heather for sharing it with me.

Here's what you'll need:

2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons oil (I used canola. I wouldn't advise using olive oil)
2 cups of water
1+ tablespoons of food coloring

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan adding the food coloring last. (I found that this worked best if I stirred everything up a bit before turning on the stove.) DO NOT PREHEAT!
Heat over medium to medium low heat stirring constantly. This will get tough. Keep a partner on hand to switch off with.
The play-doh will start coming off the side of the pan a little. Stir just a minute or so longer.
Remove the play-doh from the pan and lay it on the wax paper to cool down enough to touch.
Knead until smooth
Once cooled seal in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.

Enjoy!

Making Clay Pots With Kids

2012-08-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

Working with clay is so much fun, and children especially can't get enough of it. It's a great way to build up their fine motor skills and is a wonderful sensory experience. I have made pinch pots with children as young as three. Beyond the obvious difficulty of the task, clay isn't something you want your child ingesting so I think three is a pretty good cutoff.

To start, you will need to buy your clay. You'll want to get air dry clay, unless you have access to a kiln. You can by it from a number of sites online (links below) or you can just get it from any A.C. Moore or Michaels (don't forget those coupons). If you're only using this for your family, get a small amount- 5 to10lbs. Clay is dense. A little goes a long way.

Next, you will need fishing line, or you can buy clay cutting wire. I just use fishing line and it works perfectly.

Select a workspace with a flat surface that's fairly easy to clean. Clay is so moist, it will tear up anything you try to cover the table with so it's easiest to just clean up afterwards. Clay is water soluble so water and a sponge work fine.

Wrap the fishing line around your fingers like this, and slice off a chunk of clay. Give each child a piece about the size of a tennis ball.

Show them how to roll the clay in their hands or on the table to make a ball.

Once they've made their ball (or something close to a ball) have them give a thumbs up sign. Then use their thumb to press a hole deep into the ball, but not all the way through.The next thing you will need to show them is how to pinch their thumb and index fingers together.

Once they've shown you that they know how to pinch, you are ready to show them how to pinch around the ball to create the pot. But I guess I should show you first. :)

Placing your thumb all the way down into the hole squeeze your thumb and index fingers together to flatten the clay, repeat this all around the base of the pot. After you've finished the bottom, you just keep pinching your way around the pot until you've reached the top.

Once their pots are completed, They can use a little water to smooth out the clay if they'd like. You can give them a small bowl or cup of water to use, but instruct them to only dip two fingers at a time in the water. Too much water will destroy the clay.

Now they are ready to decorate their pots. Any pencil or play-dough tools will work. They can poke holes (not all the way through) draw pictures or shapes, whatever they want to make it their own. Do not push objects like buttons or play jewels into the clay. Clay shrinks as it dries so any solid object inserted in it, will cause it to crack.

Lay your pots on wax paper to dry. (If you have trouble removing them from the table, run the wire along the bottom to cut them off). It will take a day or two for them to dry completely. Once they are dry, you can paint them with acrylic (not tempera or washable) paints. After the paint has dried, spray them with a clear coat sealant.

These pots have not been fired so you cannot put water in them and they are very fragile, but they work very nicely as little trinket holders and the children are very proud of them.

If you have a local potter who is willing to fire your pots for you in a kiln, you will need to fire them first, then paint them with a glaze and fire them again.

Any questions? Post them in the comments section and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

The Pressure to be Perfect

2012-08-01T22:39:00.000-04:00

What is a perfect mom? And why do I find myself trying so hard to attain something that is by its very essence unattainable? I place these expectations on myself to do everything and do it perfectly, and feel utterly depressed and dejected when I don’t live up to those expectations. It’s not just me that feels this way. Every mother I know feels intense pressure to be “perfect” but what is perfect, really? It’s a totally subjective term. Every single one of us has our own take on what that means, and at the same time, none of us can possibly live up to it.

I can’t tell you exactly where it began, maybe with June Cleaver. Who knows? What I do know is that a major contributor to the problem is that these days we simply have too much information, and 90% of it is completely contradictory.

It all begins even before conception with doctors and the media telling us that we have to take folic acid and can’t drink even a drop of alcohol when trying to conceive. I can’t tell you how many women I’ve known who beat themselves up their entire pregnancy because they went out and got drunk one night before they knew they were pregnant. Seems silly since, for many of us, that was what got us pregnant in the first place. (Not me, I’m wonderful ) .

Now once you’re pregnant, you have to take prenatal vitamins, except that most of us can’t take the stupid vitamins because they make us sick, so we end up taking children’s vitamins. You can’t take Flintstones, though, because they contain aspartame (which is on the bad list) so you have to pay through the nose for all natural, super vitamins with DHA and choline and folic acid and whatever else they tell you is so important, or your baby might grow a tail and two heads.

Next, we have to remember to eat healthy – eat more, but not too much. Exercise, but don’t overdo it, and don’t forget to do Kegels or you may be peeing your pants with every cough for the rest of your life (Yeah, right. Thanks for nothing). Oh and don’t eat lunch meat, sprouts, feta cheese, or 15 different kinds of fish, and definitely no alcohol, coke, caffeine, or diet anything. What you’re eating cheese puffs? That’s it. Your baby is going to be permanently scarred. And watch out for toxins in absolutely everything because it will all permanently maim your unborn child

This slew of information doesn’t end at birth - oh no! Once we finally have our beautiful blessings we are confronted with a whole new world of crap to stress over. Not the least of which is breastfeeding. We put so much pressure on ourselves (and each other – Yes I’m talking about you La Leche League) to breastfeed. It’s really insane. It is drilled into our heads that if we don’t breastfeed our kids won’t be as smart or as healthy, and that we are being selfish and lazy moms if we make the excruciating decision not to breastfeed.

Ahh, but if you do choose to breastfeed, keep yourself covered, huh? I mean, god forbid people see a boob. Or better yet… don’t come out in public for a year. It's not like you're a person, you're a mom. If you do breastfeed, you should breastfeed for only one year - exactly. If you go over a year, you are a nutcase and your child will develop all sorts of neuroses around your boobs. (I barely passed the one year mark before I started getting, “So are you gonna be breastfeeding her in college?” comments. )

Then there is the sleep training controversy. Some say if you don’t sleep train your child you aren’t teaching them to self sooth, so they will never learn to sleep on their own and will be sleep deprived for eternity. Others will tell you, that by letting your child cry, you are destroying your parent-child bond, and you child will never learn to trust another human being. So really, your screwed either way. And if you do choose to sleep train just so you can get sleep, well then you must be a horribly selfish mother. Because that is our society’s litmus test for being a good mother – selflessness.

What about the food you feed your baby? What is the best approach? Should you start them at 4 months or 6? Should you give them organic because the news said that baby food had higher concentrations of pesticides than typical fruits and veggies? Or should you make your own, or use a baby-led weaning type of approach? Or better yet, you could just pre-chew their food and spit into their mouths like little baby birds. (Yes. Alicia Silverstone, you are a freak). What about those ladies who just give their kids plain old Gerber, or even worse, Beach Nut? They mustn’t love their kids nearly as much as the ones who buy Earth's Best, right?

And as for discipline…. well that’s simple. You just need to strike a balance between giving a child rules and limitations, and allowing them the freedom to make mistakes and be kids. You should never, yell, curse or lose your temper in front of your child, and you definitely shouldn’t break down in tears in front of them when you’ve had a really bad day and just can’t take it anymore. That’s right, suck it up ladies.

Oh and you mustn’t forget to play with them constantly – and enjoy it, dammit – while keeping up with the: cooking, cleaning, laundry, bills, groceries, one billion appointments, baths, after school activities, homework, library books, and take a shower for goodness sakes. You stink!

Then there’s early childhood education. It used to be that you just kept your kid alive and healthy and they learned at school, but now we are expected to have taught our children all their letters, numbers, letter sounds, and how to write their name BEFORE they even enter kindergarten. Seriously, could you pile any more crap on top of us.

Yes, they can. Because one of the biggest and most difficult decisions you will ever have to make as a parent is imminent. Where to send them to school. I mean what if you make the wrong choice and they turn out like one of those morons on Letterman who think there are ten inches in a foot. That’s just unacceptable!

So here I am only six years into the guilt ridden, self-doubting, stressful and utterly terrifying journey of motherhood. I can’t even imagine what the next decade will bring, but what I do know is… It scares the living shit out of me.

Teaching Sight Words to Young Children - Part 1

2012-07-29T22:52:00.001-04:00

Before any of you think, who is this lady, and is she just talking out of her butt? I will let you know that I do have a Masters in Education, and spent a number of years teaching children of various age levels so... I am only moderately talking out of my butt.

Anyway, as you will probably figure out over time as you read this blog, I have very strong opinions concerning education, particularly early childhood education. Using a whole word approach when teaching a child to read is something I think is very important. Not that phonics are unimportant, I just feel phonics are too heavily relied on as the method for teaching children to read. Phonics are a great tool for decoding new words, but that isn't how we read. We read by memorization. If we had to sound out every word, none of us would ever want to read because it would be a huge pain.

The biggest problem I've found with teaching sight words, is that most of us, parents, don't really know how best to do it, so we either use boring tools like flash cards or just rely on phonics, which seems to be more straight forward. So I thought I would share some techniques for teaching sight words to kids in ways that are fun and meaningful to them.

So for this first entry, I want to focus on my favorite method: Using children's books.

It's something so simple, but it just doesn't occur to most of us. I actually got this idea from my mother in law and had to, begrudgingly, admit that it was a really good one. (Don't you hate that!)
Basically, you look through you child's favorite books for simple words that are repeated. Then you choose one word to focus on with each reading. Begin by showing that word to your child and say it with them. Then point to the word every time it appears and allow your child to read it.

For example, in the book Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! by Dr. Seuss, the word "go" is used a lot. So before beginning the book, I showed my daughter the word, and told her that "g" and "o" spells "go". Then I told her that I wanted her to help me read the word "go' whenever she sees it in the book. Every time I came to the word "go" I would cue her by pausing and pointing to the word, and she would say "go" - with great enthusiasm I might add. It is a lot of fun, and after one or two readings doing this, she pretty well knows the word.

You can do this with all sorts of books. It doesn't matter which ones, as long as you can pick out some highly repeated words. You can use words like "I" and "you," and other high frequency words if you want, but it's more fun if you choose more interesting words that fall at fun spots in a story. Also, learning one word per reading is best. Trying to teach too many words at once may lead to confusion. Once you've mastered certain words like, "go" and "dog" from Go, Dog, Go for example, you can ask your child to read both words to see how well they can differentiate between the two.

Here are a few books that I like to use for sight words:

"Go" from Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now! by Dr. Seuss
"Sam" and "ham" from Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
"Tree" and Boom" from Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
"Bear," "duck," "cat" or "hen" from the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik
"Bear," "big" "one" and "day" from Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
"Moo" from Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
"See" and "me" from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
"Go" and "dog" from Go, Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman

Have any of you ever used this method to teach you children or students to read?

Do you have any books to add to the list?

I want to hear what you think.

Saving Money on Kids Clothes - Consignment Sales

2012-07-26T21:24:00.003-04:00

It's my favorite time of the year!

No, It's not Christmas. It's consignment sales time. I'm not talking about the consignment stores that are open year round, I'm talking about consignment sales. These are mega sales held twice a year (fall and spring) at convention centers, fairgrounds and other large venues. And they are awesome for cheap (or broke) parents like me.

I discovered consignment sales a few years ago when we were having serious money problems. I didn't consign that first time, but I still got a bunch of great clothes for my son that lasted the entire season. Since then, I've gotten more and more into these sales: consigning, volunteering, advertizing. - anything that will get me in the doors sooner. (Most sales are on a system that you get to shop earlier depending on your level of involvement, but more on that later).

Now my cheap butt can dress my children in Gymboree and Gap instead of Faded Glory and George. My kids look good, I save money. It's a win-win.... mostly. But as with anything, there are benefits and drawbacks. You have to decide if it's worth it to you.

Here are some of the benefits of consignment sales vs. traditional consignment stores:

The selection is better - There are more clothes to choose from, and the quality is often better.
The prices are better. I can usually get t-shirts from one to four dollars at a sale as opposed to five to ten dollars at a consignment store.
You can earn more money as a consignor - often as much as 65% of your sales.

Some of the drawbacks of consignment sales are:

Consigning is hard work - You have to hang, tag and price every single piece of clothing. It is very labor intensive. Whereas a consignment store will do the work for you.
If you don't get there for the early days of a sale, the selection gets pretty poor, especially for boys.
The effort of searching through dozens upon dozens of racks to clothe your child for an entire season can be pretty exhausting.
You have to guess what your child's size will be for the next 6 months This can be tricky especially for babies and toddlers. (I usually just buy large - better too big than too small)

Despite the downsides, consignment sales are a great option for families looking to save money on children's clothing. Not only will you be getting outrageous prices on quality children's clothes, but you'll be making money to help pay for them. For instance, last spring I made about $200.00 consigning and spent $225.00 shopping. This included all of my kids summer clothes plus a few toys and a pair of orange crocks for my daughter. Is this typical? I don't know. It depends on how much you have to sell and how crazy you go shopping. I go pretty crazy, but my kids also get a lot of nice stuff from their grandparents that I can later consign, so that helps.

So now that you know the pros and cons to consignment sales, the question is, are you crazy enough to do it? If you're reading this blog, I suspect that you probably are. If so, Consignment Mommies is a good place to start. It is a web site with a database you can search by state and zip code to find sales in your area.

Once you've chosen a sale, you will need to find out their particular rules about consigning and volunteering. Like I said, in my experience the more involved you are with the sale, the earlier you get to shop. (For example: if you volunteer 4 hours you might get in on the first Saturday of the sale. If you volunteer 8 hours, you might get in on that Friday.) But this is not a hard and fast rule. Every sale is different.

Shopping consignment sales is an art. It takes a certain kind of know-how and stamina to make it through one. I've been doing this twice a year for the past four years, and have made every mistake in the book so here are some tips to help you through that first sale.

Tips for new consignment sale shoppers:

Unless it is stated that carts of some kind will be provided, take something to carry your stuff in. Remember that you're shopping for an entire season and will be carrying a lot. A child's wagon or a laundry basket with a bungee cord attached (so you can drag it) work well.
Don't bring the kids. Let me repeat... don't bring the kids! You will lose your mind. I took my 18 month old daughter one year so my husband could watch the Miami game. Never again! She was miserable and crying half the time, and the only thing I could do to entertain her was count to 20 over and over for THREE HOURS! (She was into counting) It was awful, and I came home with a lot of stuff I didn't need because I was running behind, and didn't have time to sort through the clothes. Which brings me to my next tip.
Grab now, sort later. There are too many clothes to choose from, and you will find yourself grabbing every cute thing on the shelf. That's fine. What you need to do is, once you are finished searching, find a spot to sit down and sort through the clothes. I usually decide ahead of time how many of a particular item I will be getting (i.e. 7 pairs of shorts, 10 shirts, etc) and use that as a jumping off point. Go through your clothes, choosing the cutest and best priced ones until you meet your desired number and PUT THE REST BACK.
Know your brands. It matters. Faded glory makes some cute clothes, but they are also Walmart's brand and poorly made. Not to say you can't purchase them, but the price needs to reflect the quality of the merchandise.
Allow yourself a splurge or two on items you really like, but beware of over pricing. The prices at these sales are set by the consignors and can vary greatly.When looking through your items, try to gauge what the average prices are and go from there. For example, I can expect a pair of girls jeans to go for between $3.00 and $5.00 depending on the brand and condition. If a pair of jeans is $5.00, they better be really nice. If they're more, I simple don't get them.
Shop the boys clothes first. I don't know if it's because mom's buy more for their daughters, or because boys just damage their clothes more, but the pickings are always slimmer in the boys section.
Thoroughly check clothes for stains or rips. Unfortunately, not all consignors are honest. Why someone would want to cheat me for a $2.00 shirt is beyond me, but they do.
Look at the knees of jeans. Those are always the first thing to go. If they look a little light and worn, do not buy them.
If you're buying toys or baby items, you have to be especially cautious. Check the item thoroughly for any issues. Try things out and make sure they have all of the pieces. Sometimes consignors lie and sometimes they just miss things, but there is no return policy so if you pay $20.00 for a high chair that's missing the straps, you're stuck. (Of course you can often order replacement parts from the company, but don't count on it).
Be wary of certain items like cribs and car seats. I believe that these sorts of things need to be purchased new because of the safety hazards that might arise, but that just isn't feasible for everyone. Cribs are recalled a lot and you want to make sure you're getting something safe. You will also want to make sure it is put together correctly. Some searching on the net should turn up an owners manual. Car seats are even sketchier. It could have been recalled, in a accident, or past the expiration date (Oh yes they do expire). One way to minimize risk is to look at the manufacturers date. If the seat is over six years old, it's expired. Don't buy it. Also, pull back the cover and inspect the safety foam - most car seats come with safety foam these days. Look to see if it looks at all damaged or compressed. Also inspect the straps for wear, and check the base for cracks or other signs of damage. This isn't a fool proof system or anything, but it should help minimize your chances of getting a car seat that's been in an accident.

I hope you've found this information helpful. If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section and I will answer them as soon as possible. If you have any tips or consignment information you'd like to share, please post them as well.

Happy Shopping!

Homemade Dryer Balls

2012-07-24T17:25:00.001-04:00

I love the idea of dryer balls. I have terrible allergies and sensitive skin so I prefer not having to use dryer sheets. Not to mention they can get expensive over time. My problem is that I've been trying to minimize the amount of chemicals and toxins in my home, and running my children's clothing around with a bunch of PVC plastic seemed counterproductive. So I just said "screw it," and stopped using anything. Sure my clothes were a little staticy, but it was better than wrapping my kids in a chemical suit every morning.

Then one day I was walking through whole foods and I noticed a package of all natural wool dryer balls! I was very excited about these dryer balls right up to the point when I got up to the register and found out they were $20.00. Did I mention I'm cheap? Well I am, and paying $20.00 for some balls of wool seemed pretty stupid to me. I thought to myself, "I bet I can make these." So I came home, and ignoring me children, immediately started perusing the internet to see if I could find some information on how to make my own dryer balls, and low and behold... it was everywhere!

So for your entertainment and (hopefully) enlightenment, I have outlined the process I went through to make these dryer balls. Enjoy!

What you'll need:

100% wool
A pencil
A moment of peace
Old panty hose, tights, or socks
Essential oils (optional)

First off you will need to get some 100% wool yarn. Check the label. Some wool can be machine washed - don't use those. You want it to say "hand wash only, lay flat to dry" or something to that effect. I got mine at A.C. Moore with a 40% off coupon bringing the cost down to about $3.50 for one ball of yarn. One standard size ball of yarn will make about three dryer balls. (I had to go back and get a second one so I could finish the fourth dryer ball).

To continue, you will need your moment of peace. I say this because you can't stop rolling yarn to go wipe butts and get water for little people because it will unravel. Pick a time when you won't be pulled away too much and it will make things easier.

To start, wrap the yarn around your fingers like so.

Once you've gone around a number of times (4 or 5), remove the circle of yarn and wrap the yarn around the middle a few times so it looks like a bow.

Then, fold it over and start wrapping the yarn around the center to start the ball.

Continue wrapping it around and around so you make a ball-like shape about two inches wide. Warning: your hands will get tired and crampy.
I found it helpful to use the multicolored yarn because it made it easier to tell where I had just wrapped the yarn.

Using a pencil, push the remaining thread down into the ball as far as possible. Push the threads back over the hole to seal it. (Others will tell you to use a crochet needle. This sounds great in theory, if you knit. I don't knit, or sew very well for that matter, and so I didn't want to spend money on something I would never use again. A pencil worked fine.)

I made 4 balls, but you can make anywhere from 3 to 6.

Now cut off the leg of your pantyhose (Don't try to save them. Resistance is futile). Stuff one ball into the leg pushing it all the way to the toe. Tie a knot above the ball. Then repeat the process until your pantyhose looks like this.

Here's the important part, you need to machine wash the balls in HOT water and dry them on HIGH heat to make them felt. Basically, this means they will shrink a little and the threads will fuse a bit. I put them in with a load of sheets because I worried about towel lint getting all over the pantyhose and causing problems.

Once you take the balls out, they should feel a little tighter and the threads should stick together.

You're not done yet....

Now you have to repeat the whole process again. This time you will need to wrap your finished ball in more wool until they are about three inches across, push the thread through with a pencil, place them in the panty hose and wash on HOT, dry on HIGH.

Remove the balls from your pantyhose and enjoy. At this point you can add a drop of essential oil to each ball before throwing them in a load to give your clothes a nice cent. Don't add a lot of essential oil. Remember a few drops go a long way.

Here are my final balls. They look more like footballs, but whatever, it really doesn't matter.

They felted nicely and stayed together in the dryer fine. I anticipate they will firm up even more with continued use. I also think they are a little small. I may add another layer of wool in the future, but I'll see how these work first.

Now here's the million dollar question... Do they work? I'm honestly not sure. My clothes came out soft and without static, but it's been a wet summer, and I haven't had much in the way of static problems. The real test will be in the winter. That's when the static is the worst around here.

The essential oils (I used lavender) did make my load smell very nice though. :)

Linked to: Shabby Creek Cottage

Mommy Confessional - I'm a Slob

2012-07-23T00:24:00.000-04:00

Okay, here goes. I admit it. I'm a slob. Well, not exactly a slob. More like a recovering slob. You see, I want to clean, I try to clean, I spend what seems like the majority of my life cleaning, but my house is never actually clean. It's like I'm always taking one step forward, two steps back. I clean the counters, someone tracks dirt across the floor. I clean the floor, someone pees all around, but somehow not in, the toilet. I clean around the toilet, someone spits a mouthful of toothpaste all over the mirror and faucet. It's like a never ending battle of the slobs and I am seriously losing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to put the blame on everybody else. I may clean a lot, but I also make much of the mess. My problem, pretty much the essence of the entire problem, is that I and my family don't put things away. The counters, floor, island, bookshelf - it's all fair game. One thing gets left out, then another, then before you know it the entire house is covered with clutter.

Which leads to my next problem... Crap.

My house is practically splitting at the seams with crap - not literal crap, (though sometimes I wonder) metaphorical crap - i.e. crap. It's gotten so bad, the crap has migrated into the garage and now I can't even park there anymore. More crap is filling up half of our "computer room" (I put that in quotes because "crap room" would be a better description) and don't even get me started on the room above the garage that was supposed to be Don's music room. The poor guy is confined to a 3X3 foot space to play guitar because the rest of the room is full of... you guessed it, CRAP! Now there is a purpose behind all of this crap. I am not a hoarder or anything. I had grand plans for all of the wonderful things I might do with all of my spare time this summer, and one of those things was to have a garage sale. Unfortunately, I've stalled at the making piles of crap stage and have a very long way to progress before hitting the getting rid of crap stage.

My laundry situation is even worse. If I actually get the clothes into the washer, more likely than not, I will forget about them. Which means I have to wash them over again. Consider that this scenario can, and has, taken place multiple times with a single load, and you can understand my need to make my own laundry detergent. Now if I do, somehow, manage to get the laundry - sans mildew - into the dryer, I will inevitably forget about it. Then, I have to run it through the dryer again to get the wrinkles out. Do you see a pattern developing here? Now, if I pass this stage and pull the clothes out of the dryer, I don't often get around to folding them immediately - hey I'm busy - so they spend a couple days decorating my couch or sitting in a basket. Now of course, they're wrinkled, so they needs to be run through the dryer again. If I, by the grace of god, do fold the laundry, I almost never get around to putting it in the kids drawers. So what happens is that we all route around in the laundry basket making such a mess of things that they end up just needing to be washed again, so hell! That is why, on any given day, the laundry pile is well above, over, around, and every which-way about the hamper. I'm lucky if I can see the damn thing, truthfully.

Now, I know what you're thinking... "Courtney just do the laundry and put things it away." It sounds simple now, but, you see, I haven't finished.. Oh yes, there is more.

Don't forget that I have two kids who seem to have inherited my slob gene. I have toys coming out my wazoo, (yes, it's a word) and I have developed a wonderful system of bins to contain that wealth of playthings, however, nothing actually gets put into the bins. Instead, the toys are often lining the floors directly adjacent to the wonderful bins. And then, I can't put the toys away because they are blocking the damn bins! I have, on more than one occasion, resorted to the "I will throw away every toy on the floor." threat with much success, but it is unfortunately short lived. Five minutes later all of the toys are strewn about the house again, and I'm trying my best not to kill myself tripping on a Barbie doll.

That leaves me with the here and now, and what is my wreck of a house. It's filled with toys, laundry and crap, covered in a thick layer of nastiness and sprinkled with filth. I am completely unable to even begin to contemplate where to start to fix this. I am overwhelmed and understaffed. I have quite frankly given up. And now that the children have gone to bed, and I actually have time to do something about the state of my house, I choose to sit and air my dirty laundry (literally) on this blog.

Why? Because I am a slob.

My First Award!!!

2012-07-21T01:17:00.000-04:00

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:

I stick my tongue out - Michael Jordan style - whenever I put on makeup.
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.
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.
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.
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).
I think I'm funny. My husband disagrees. He's wrong.
I own probably 30 pairs of nice shoes, but all I ever wear are Birkenstocks. In the winter, I wear them with socks.
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!
I've been with my husband for 14 years and I still think he's hot.
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.
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:

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

Thanks!

Duh Moment: No More Chip Clips!

2012-07-18T22:28:00.001-04:00

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

2012-07-16T01:46:00.000-04:00

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:

Remove the glass and backing from the frames.
Using the pliers, carefully remove the metal tabs from the frames.
Fit the clothing over the frames and lay them button side down.
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)
Staple the clothing onto the frame leaving at least and 1 to 1 1/2 inches between staples.
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

2012-07-15T13:14:00.002-04:00

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

2012-07-12T23:12:00.002-04:00

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

2012-07-11T01:00:00.001-04:00

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:

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.
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!

2012-07-09T11:39:00.002-04:00

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?