Thankful Jar

For the last few years over the Thanksgiving holiday we have had this tradition of taking a jar and some beads. As we eat we pass the jar and beads and everyone has to think of something they are thankful for... it is neat to watch the jar get filled up! One year I was "secretary" and wrote down all the things we were thankful for. It is easy sometimes for us to forget all that we have been blessed with throughout the year. I like to re-read the list a few times as a reminder of all the things my family is thankful for! It also impresses me what the kids come up with on their own. After the jar has been passed several times it is full of the colorful beads! We sometimes keep the jar out on the table through Christmas time as a reminder of all we have to be thankful for! It is just too easy sometimes to get lost in the hub bub of the holidays or start to feel sorry for ourselves when things go wrong and forget all the blessings we do have (such as our refridgerator and vacuum breaking about the same time - neither one a cheap replacement and both happened in October/November! Nice. But when I thought about all that we DO have it made purchasing those things a little easier to accept.)

This year, I want to continue to do the jar, but also start a journal of sorts so that year after year we can look and see what we were thankful for each year. I am thinking of decorating a journal together with the kids, maybe just using a spiral notebook and covering it with scrapbook paper. I am just tossing around ideas in my head about how to make this a better tradition than what we already have... ya'll got any ideas?

I am happy for our tradition but looking for ways to make it even better!

Take a tour of my house - the Sunroom

This is one of the rooms in the house that I fell in love with when we were looking at the house! It has also become one of the favorite spots in our house for entertaining or just hanging out together! It is a great place to sit and visit, or sit alone and read while watching the birds and squirrels in the backyard.

This room is an addition to the original house and it is just off the kitchen. There are french doors just off the eating nook in the kitchen area that lead to this sunroom. I am not sure what the original owners of the house used this room for, but with our family of 5 we use it as our main dining area.

Here is a picture of the french doors looking into the sunroom. This is taken from the kitchen breakfast nook area. The vinyl wall letters were not there when we bought the house. I added those later (p.s. - I LOVE vinyl wall words. So easy to put up and if I ever get sick of it I can just peel them off!)

This is a picture of the our dining table and the "room of windows". I love all the windows that look out to our backyard.


Now this is looking from the dining table towards the sliding glass doors and to the left you will see another table. This table sits just under the window that is in my kitchen above my sink. This table we use for the kids to do crafts on. OR when entertaining it is a great place to set out all the dishes and food!
This picture is taken from the sliding glass doors looking towards the french doors. The room is very large. I also love the built in bookshelf to the left of the french doors! (the table in the picture is the "craft" table)

Take a tour of my house - The kitchen

Next up in our little tour of my home is the kitchen. The first house Mr. Man and I lived in after we got married had a small kitchen and we remodeled to make use of the small space better. Then all of the other houses we have lived in had tiny kitchens, one was almost impossible to move in if there was more than one person in there! So as far as kitchens go, this isn't what I would design for us but it is certainly a nice part of our house. The layout of it is very workable and open!

My kitchen

This is taken from just past the living room area and is looking at the eating nook. The below photo was taken from when we were looking at the house and so this is not our table. The eating area is quite small for a family of five, so as you will later see we actually dine in our sunroom and use this little area as a breakfast/homework nook.

BEFORE:

AFTER:


The below photo is taken standing by the eating nook looking towards the remainder of the kitchen. You can see the garage door open there that leads to the oversized one car garage and also to the backyard. (this photo was taken the day the inspector was there)

BEFORE:

I love the U-shape layout of the kitchen for entertaining. I can visit with guests while cooking, or help the kids with homework while I am cooking. I also like that I can see the kids in the backyard too if I am doing dishes or cooking. I have an over-the-stove microwave I need my husband to hang. But in order for him to do that he needs to take out the cupboards so finding the time for that may be awhile!

AFTER:

The next room I will showcase is the sunroom, my favorite room in the house!

Take a tour of my house - The living room

My husband and I have lived in 6 homes in our marriage. Most of them rentals with limited decorating options. We own the house we are in now and love it! When we were house hunting in early 2008, we stumbled upon this house when we were out driving one day, it wasn't on our list of ones to look at with the realtor, but we had our realtor try to get us in that day. He was able to get us in right then. After we looked at all the houses that day (about 15 or more!!), we had narrowed it down to 2 we really liked(this one and then one about 6-8 blocks away from here). So we went home and did pros and cons of both houses. After lots of talking and being torn we finally decided to put an offer on this house. It was owned by one owner, but they had been renting it out for the last several years. We ended up being able to visit with the seller a little bit, they had one son and one daughter; both kids had moved out and were in college. They were so excited to see a family buying their home. You could tell this home meant a lot to them. In fact, we still keep in touch with the sellers.

I thought it might be fun to do a little tour of my home. I have some before and after pictures too. It is still a work in process, but we are enjoying making it our own.

Over the next few weeks I will be posting the house room by room. Might end up being pretty boring, but maybe not, we'll see.

First up:

The Living Room

When you walk into our home, you will enter the living room first. This isn't a room we spend a lot of time in, but it can end up being my messiest room since everyone walks in and dumps their belongings here. This room is also the one I have spent the least amount of time decorating in. I'm not sure why, just haven't been inspired in this room.

These pictures below show the living room before we really unpacked any boxes so they are serious "before" photos.

This first picture is a picture of what you will see as you walk into the home. This is taken from the front door. This picture was taken a day or two after moving in. We still hadn't put furniture in this room, except my husband's prize roll-top desk.

Now, here is what this room looks like now. We have picked out a paint color to paint behind the couch, but just haven't had the time to do it yet. I will update photos after we get it painted (don't hold your breath, it may be a few months!)

This next picture is also taken from the front door area and is looking straight ahead into the kitchen area. This was also taken before we had unpacked much.

Here is what this looks like now. From the front door looking straight ahead into the kitchen area. Again, need some pictures hung or paint or something. But haven't gotten that far.

WFMW - Book Bag

When we go to the public library each kid gets their own set of books and then ask me to help carry them home. In addition to that little problem, Spirit lost a library book two weeks ago (I think he accidentally returned to the school library instead of the public library, but I've asked the school and they say they don't have it and so I guess I have to believe them). And then last week we spent 30 minutes scouring the house looking for 2 of Lefty's public library books (fortunately I found those!).

I decided we needed a system, I started to say a new system, but we didn't really have any kind of system before so we needed something in place.

I went to the craft store and bought tote bags, the ones I bought happened to be a 3-pack which was perfect! One for each kid! I also bought some iron-ons and some fabric paint and fabric markers!

One Saturday we sat down and went to town. We ironed on cute little things, they decorated them and I wrote their name in fabric paint. They turned out cute! Sorry I don't have any pictures -- I am such a loser today!

To keep track of the book bags I told the kids that the book bags need to always be hung up on the coat racks in their room when they are done reading. Every time they take a book out they need to be sure to put it back in the book bag when they are done. This way when it is time to return books to the library we know where they are. We can grab the bags and head out. Then we can get our new books and put them right into the book bags!

For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas, click here!

Mr. Procrastination

Mr. Man has always been a procrastinator, a very last minute kind of a guy. Our trips (and our recent move) isn't a priority until last minute which drives me insane!

I must have finally rubbed off on him a little bit.

I got home from work last night and he said "We have a lot to do to get ready for this trip." I asked him what he was talking about (because usually I do a lot while he procrastinates) and he said that he needed to start deciding what he wanted to pack so we could make sure it was laundered (notice the "we" in there?)

He also saw my list of items I need to pack and added a few things to it, like his cell phone charger (I was just going to bring mine since we have the same kind of phone, but I will pack his too, since he so nicely added it to the list). This is critical too because he has never been much of a list-maker.

Finally making him less of a procrastinator and more of list-maker!! YAY!!! ;o)

Details of our trip:
We leave Thursday early in the morning. We will get to about Boise, ID and stay for the night with some very important people and then head on into Portland, OR Friday morning, getting on the road no later than 8:00 AM so we can get to Portland mid-afternoon. My niece's wedding is Friday night in downtown Portland. Saturday we have a free-day of sorts in which Mr. Man would like to try to visit some of his friends or maybe go ride a train outside of Tillamook, OR. (where they make really yummy cheese and also serve some very tasty ice cream!) Then on Sunday my whole family will be heading to Newport Bay to go camping. We have several camp sites reserved at a campground near the ocean. Unfortunately we can't stay too long because Mr. Man needs to get back to work so we will head back out Tuesday (August 5th) morning.

I will keep posting but am not sure how many blogs I will be able to keep up with while I am gone! See you after the 6th!

Road trip with kids

As I prepare for our road trip for my niece's wedding in a couple of weeks, I thought I would share some of the tips that have worked for us on past road trips.

I give each child a back pack and inside I pack:

• A homemade activity book. Here are the instructions for the ones I made.


• A favorite soft toy (my daughter has a soft doll that she loves to sleep with)


• Go to a dollar store and find some small novelty toys and do not give them to your child until the trip. Since they are new they bring about a new kind of excitement!


• I do not recommend bringing crayons, unless you have a toddler. Then only offer one or two at a time. Crayons melt in the sun and can make a big mess if they get left in the car in the heat. I prefer to bring colored pencils or washable markers.


• Stickers and paper. Be sure to monitor that the stickers get stuck to paper only!


• Audio books (libraries are a great place to get these)


• Children CD's for singing.


• We also have a portable DVD player so the kids get to pack movies in their back pack too.


• Books (picture books for younger kids or chapter books for the children who can read) Maybe get some new books as a surprise for this trip.


• Lacing cards. I just took some cardboard and cut out shapes and punched holes about 1" around the outside. I put these shapes in a large Ziplock bag with shoe laces to be used for the lacing.


• Magnetic play board. Lady Bug had a princess one, for the boys I made this one that I adapted from Family Fun. I found small cookie sheets at a thrift store and then made ours following the instructions on Family Fun. I made game pieces from buttons for tic-tac-toe. I plan to cut out shapes out of felt and attach a magnetic piece to the back. I am thinking like a face with parts or maybe a farm scene or something.


• Travel sized games (we have a travel bingo game and a travel Connect Four that the boys love)


• Deck of cards for playing games.


• These activity bags would be fun to have too, especially for the 3-5 year old crowd!


• My 6 & 7 year old enjoyed having a map. I made a color copy of the US map and they helped Mr. Man highlight our route. Then along the trip they would say "where are we now" and they would look for it on their map! It was fun!


• Lady Bug enjoys making necklaces, so I packed a Ziplock bag with yarn that I had tied a knot in one end and then wrapped the other end with tape and fruit loops for her to make a necklace. This doubled as a snack bag too!!


• Give each kid a bag of quarters. The rule is that if they hit someone or fight over something they must give mom/dad a quarter. When you reach your destination they can use whatever money is left over at a vending machine or souvenir shop.


• My friend Aubrey at The Fam Five says post it notes are good entertainment.

Miscellaneous items to pack in the car

• One large or two small coolers for water bottles, juice and snacks. (Buy ice packs to freeze ahead and also a bag of ice) -NOTE: My husband drinks a lot of soda so he gets his own small cooler, just for pop. It is a zippered kind with a flip top thing on the top so he can easily reach in and grab a soda as he drives.


• Sippy cups for younger kids.


• Wet wipes for cleaning hands, faces and the occasional spill.


• 10-12 plastic grocery sacks to use for trash. I throw ours out at the gas fill-up or sometimes rest stop if necessary.


• Pillows for each child.


• Small plastic containers with lids. Put cheerios or grapes or other bite-sized snacks in the individual cups for divvying out along the road.


• Bring water or lemonade in a large thermos to drink along the road. I love iced tea and so I bring a big jug of iced tea for myself. I brew it extra strong and load it up with ice. The ice "waters" down the strength of the tea.


• Everyone should wear comfy clothes and slip on shoes. The first thing I do is take off my shoes, so I let the kids take theirs off as long as they are slip ons. We don't want to wait for someone to tie their tennis shoes each stop.


• Make sure everyone goes potty before leaving the house and also every time you stop for one person to go, everyone has to "try" to go (most times they end up going!)


• Roll of toilet paper/box of kleenex/stack of napkins -- this will be used for any emergency bathroom stops or in case the rest area is out of toilet paper.


• Small bottle hand sanitizer. This is for the same emergency bathroom stop or can be used just before eating a snack in the car too if you don't want to use a wet wipe for that.


• My husband is a stickler for brushing his teeth and we spent one too many times sifting through his bag looking for his toothbrush. Now, I pack all of our toothbrushes in a toothbrush travel holder, along with toothpaste and a travel mouthwash. I place it all in a ziplock baggie and store it in the glove box. Then when he feels the need we can brush either at a rest area or even the side of the road or a parking lot with bottled water.


• Pack a few balls and a Frisbee which can be easily accessed at a rest area. When you stop for a potty break allow the kids to play ball and encourage them to run, run, run for about 10-15 minutes. This gets rid of the built up energy and can reduce the crankiness in a long car ride.


• Put a towel or folded up old sheet under the car seats to help with spills and drips. Then when you get home from your trip, just take it out and wash it!

Food to pack

Pack items that don't need to be kept cold in a small, sturdy box.

Some of my favorite food items to pack are:

• PB&J sandwiches (which can be made the night before)


• Grapes, apples, oranges (can slice these before hand, eat whole or bring a knife for slicing later..do not try to slice while the car is moving!)


• Carrot sticks


• Sliced cucumbers


• Bagels with cream cheese (spread cream cheese on and put the halves back together and seal in a ziplock baggie)


• Sandwich deli meat. Some of these come in re-sealable containers. My kids will eat this with cheese and crackers and don't need bread, but you could also pack some bread too if you wanted.


• Granola bars


• Cheese sticks


• Red Liquorice (this is my favorite)


• Fruit snacks


• Trail Mix


• Cookies or graham crackers


• Goldfish crackers

TIPS FOR PACKING A COOLER:
1. Ice packs
2. Beverages
3. Bag of ice on top of beverages
4. Sealed containers and baggies of food

This is what works for me. For other great tips check out Rocks In My Dryer

Frugal living

With the increasing gas prices, our daycare costs increasing for the summer and rising grocery prices, Mr. Man and I decided we needed to try to live more frugally. Here are some things we are doing to decrease spending. Living frugal does not mean giving everything up, it just means cutting back a little here and there to ease the burdens a little bit.

CUTTING BACK ON GROCERY BILL BY:

1. Using Non-Fat Dry Milk for cooking and baking. I tried it for the kids cereal too, and no one complained about it. For drinking (to make our regular drinking milk go further) I mixed half the regular milk with half the non-fat and it tasted fine! My mom fessed up to me that she did that when we were young. I have 5 siblings and at one point my mom also did foster care in our home, so to stretch our milk she said she did that when no one was looking (including my dad!) I mixed up the non-fat milk in a pitcher and let it sit over night. I stirred it again. Then let it chill a little longer. Then I poured it into the gallon milk jug and gave a little shake! No one even noticed that the once half-empty milk jug was now full again! I have a very observant family, don't I?
2. Making my own hand soap. I actually came across a recipe for this when I was searching for ways to get rid of some Dove soap. I bought the Dove for my body and found out I was allergic to it. I scratched and scratched for days. So I found a recipe here for liquid hand soap using grated Dove soap bar! I made it to use up the Dove soap and I use it in the kids' bathroom for washing their hands. It works great.
3. Making my own dryer sheets-- which also happen to be reusable. I saw several ideas online and I combined a couple of them and here is what I came up with. Take some washcloths, or flannel pajamas and cut into strips. I made mine about 6-8" long and maybe 4-5" wide. Combine 4 Tbls liquid fabric softener and 10 Tbls water in a plastic container with a lid. Store fabric strips in the liquid. Keep container sealed at all times. When ready to use one of the strips, wring out excess liquid so that the strip is just damp. Throw strip into dryer. Re-use strips over and over.
4. Buying generic when I can. I am a self proclaimed "food snob" and there are certain things I just do not like when it is generic. I know people say that generic items are made from the same companies, but I'm sorry some of the things just don't taste the same, don't last as long and to me taste/look like "bottom of the barrel" items. So, there are things I can not and will not budge on. For instance, block cheese tastes way better and actually slices better (generic brands crumble too easily) if you spend more on it. Having said that, I do buy generic for almost every occasion, if we are having a party and I am going to slice cheese I might spend a little extra and buy a name brand. There are also certain brands of frozen veggies that taste like they were in the back of someones freezer for a long time before they bagged them up to sell to me... I have done some experimenting and now I know which ones are good and which ones aren't.
5. Making my own cleaning wipes. I used to do this years ago because right after my first son was born a friend of mine gave me some as a gift. Somewhere down the road I got lazy and just started buying them. They are easy to make. When we decided to try to cut costs, here is one thing I decided I could make again. This site has a great instructional page for making these. You can also reuse a baby diaper wipe container by cutting the paper towels in half and laying them in the wipe container and pouring the liquid on top -- this is what I did.
6. Making my own household cleaners. I use the "recipes" here and place them in a spray bottle. They work great and are much cheaper than purchasing cleaning supplies in the store.
7. Buying meat in bulk and then breaking it into "do-able" portions and freezing can save money. We are lucky enough to have a large freezer in our garage. I read a tip to put your hamburger meat in a ziplock bag and flatten it out with a rolling pin for easier storage. For pork chops and chicken I line a cookie sheet with waxed paper, then put the chops or chicken breasts on top. Place in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes. Just until they start to freeze and aren't "sticky", then place them in zip lock bags (4-6 in each bag). Since they are slightly frozen already they won't stick together and can be stacked in the bag easier.
8. Making my own "instant" mixes. I have actually done this for years. For pancake mix, I use this recipe from my MIL and I double or triple the recipe. I store it in an airtight container. When we want pancakes I can add the remaining "wet" ingredients and viola-- instant pancake mix. For instant oatmeal (which I love for breakfast, especially on colder days) I use this recipe. It is also stored in an airtight container.
9. I signed up at ShopLocal.com and I receive weekly emails of grocery deals and even other stores (Target, Kmart, etc) that may be having some great specials.
10. My husband does not like margarine, only butter. Real butter and nothing less. Butter is costly. Here is an article on how to turn one stick of butter into two. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds easy enough. You can also make your own butter, we used to do this when I worked in daycare. The kids got a real kick out of it. Here is a link for this recipe.
11. I love my coffee and I love my coffee even more when it has some creamer! I found this link to some great recipes for making your own coffee creamers. The toffee one is delicious! I made mine using non-fat powdered dry milk instead of the non-dairy instant creamer and it tasted pretty good.
12. When I was still living at home, my mom would wash and then re-use the Ziplock bags. Back then, I thought she was ridiculous and she should just throw them away. Now that I am the one buying those bags, I see the usefulness of re-using when I can, especially the larger ones. So, I wash them in my sink and usually drape them over a wooden spoon to drip dry. I can usually get several uses out of one bag.

CUTTING BACK ON ENTERTAINMENT SPENDING BY:

1. Not eating out for lunch, instead eat left over dinners as lunch.
2. Using RedBox to rent movies, especially when we have a promo code from here for a free rental.
3. Taking our own snacks to sporting events instead of purchasing their overpriced drinks and food.
4. I signed up for this online kids/parents magazine where I get a weekly email of activities and events and even sales happening in my area.
5. I also check our city website for free events they have planned.

CUTTING BACK ON ENERGY COSTS:

1. I wash as many loads as I can in cold water (it takes energy to heat that water) and my laundry soap works just as good in cold.
2. Then I also try to dry my loads back to back (once the dryer is heated up, it doesn't take as long to heat up the next load!)
3. Also, doing laundry early in the morning or later in the evening so it doesn't heat up the house causing the a/c to have to work harder (we don't even have a/c so that is reason enough for me to be careful with heating the house.)

My Moving Tips - Part One

Since we just moved I thought I would post the tips that were helpful to me for packing and organizing the move:

Create a "Moving Notebook": This was probably my number one favorite tool used for organizing the move. I had to refer to this book often and I just carried it in my purse so I always had it. Using a spiral notebook for information such as movers names and phone numbers, realtor name and number, new house address. Create running to-do lists in this notebook. Record your moving expenses in this book. I made my own little check list in here of things I needed to take care of such as, change of address with post office, get water turned on at new place, off at old place, transfer the electricity to the new house, etc. I wrote down our account numbers too so that if there was an issue at the new house and something wasn't turned on, I could easily access any information I might need. Keep this notebook somewhere easily accessible at all times your purse, the car, whatever works for you. Come moving day, if you need something just turn to the handy-dandy little book for help. **I also gave each room a page in my notebook and as I came across online/bloggy ideas for organizing or painting, etc. I wrote it in this book along with the blog or website name. As we are getting settled in the new house I figured I might need to refer back to some of these ideas!!

Get used boxes: Check with your local Freecycle or Craigslist for people getting rid of moving boxes. We found on Freecycle a guy who lived right up the street who had too many boxes and needed to get rid of them. It wasn't enough to do our whole house with but it was a start. Mr. Man also went behind some shops to get boxes. ULTA has great small ones for bathroom and book shelf packing!

Have a "GO BOX": I saw this over at Frazz Mom when we were preparing to move. I thought it was an excellent idea! Basically, when you are packing for your move have a medium to large size box and label it GO BOX. This is going to be the last box taken to the new place and the first box that you will open in your new place. My husband has re-named this our "Survival Box" because he says these are all the items you need when you move and you can't find the items because they are in 10 different places!

Frazz Mom suggested these items:

Toilet paper

Clorox wipes

Paper towels

Cell phone charger

Local phone book

Regular phone (land line)

Paper plates and cups

Towels

Light bulbs (Our new house didn't come with light bulbs in the light fixtures!)

Flashlight (Just in case!)

Snacks (Especially important for the kids!)

Tape

Scissors or box knife

Any tools you might need to assemble furniture- screwdriver, hammer, etc.

Here are some items I also added to my box:

Advil (moving hurts!)

Can opener

wash cloths

garbage bags

This box was extremely helpful. We pretty knew if we needed something that we could check this box first!! This was the second most favorite tool used during the move!

Give everyone a "survival bag": Each kid got a backpack and my husband and I each got a tote bag/brief case. In our bags we put things like the house closing papers, bills that needed to be paid, books we are reading, etc. This way we had our bags handy and could most likely locate things if we needed them. The kids got to pack books, crayons, paper, coloring books, a few toys. The bags kept them entertained at the old house during move time and at the new house while we were trying to get things unpacked.

Use color coding: Get yourself a permanent marker set - an assorted set that has blue, green, red, purple, black. Buy other colors if necessary. Use one color per room. As you pack boxes for one room, label the box using the color marker that you have designated for that room. I also colored a circle on the top corner in that color so that people helping us move just had to look for the colored circle, but you could also just use colored stickers. If you used stickers, you wouldn't necessarily need to use the colored markers.

On moving day, take a colored piece of paper (matching your marker colors) and color code your rooms as well. Hang the colored paper on the door, so that it is easily seen from the stairs or the hallway, wherever people will be moving the stuff (We used colored paper taped to the door) You know which room you plan to put your daughter in or which room is going to be the play room, but not everyone else will and they will probably will have a hard time remembering which room is which, even if you do tell them. So if they see a blue paper on the door they will put all boxes labeled with the blue in this room. It worked great and things moved from the truck inside much quicker.

**We realized after the move we did not have to go through the color coding. All we would have needed to do was label the boxes according to the room and then have a piece of paper labeling the rooms. The color coding was handy for all the miscellaneous boxes that people shoved in my living room because when I was looking for Lady Bugs stuff I just looked for all the boxes with the purple label. It worked well because the colors stand out.

Give each box a number and index it: As you pack you can label the box "kitchen - fragile", "master bedroom" or "play room", etc as needed but you can also give it a number. Using your spiral "moving book", create an index of the boxes. For each box give a brief description of what is inside.

I only took the time to do this with my kitchen stuff - for one thing I didn't have time to do this with the whole house and for another, the kitchen is the one that I always find myself going "where is that can opener?" and I end up tearing open 5 boxes before I find it. (another reason I didn't index the whole house is because my SIL helped pack and I thought it would be rude to ask her to index for me..... I was so very grateful for her help!!)

For example:

#1.

Can opener
large cooking utensils
towels and napkins
coffee pot

#2.

dinner plates and salad plates

#3.

Glasses and coffee mugs

This way when you get settled in and need the can opener you are not shuffling through 9000 boxes all labeled "kitchen". This way you open one box for the one thing you desperately need, instead of 24 boxes before finding the ONE thing you needed at that moment. You can unpack the one box as you go along also.

Have a garage sale / donate unwanted items: We actually put a ton of stuff out for sale and made $200. We then took pictures of what was left and then donated it to the thrift store, we also got a receipt from the store for tax purposes. I stapled the receipt to the picture of what we donated. We plan to have another garage sale this summer because as we are unpacking we are finding things we don't need anymore.

Pack an overnight bag: Pack a suitcase for each member of the family or use a laundry basket. Make sure to have a couple outfits, pajamas, toiletries (shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.) for each member of your family. This way you aren't rushing to unpack boxes after a long day of moving to find pajamas or toothbrush, etc. Make sure the suitcase or laundry basket is taken to the new house safely in a car (maybe even in the first load over) and put in a safe place at the new house, such as the master bathroom - just be sure it is somewhere that it can't get buried.

Last minute checks:

Check closets, cabinets and drawers for any items left behind.
Have a cell phone or leave a home phone available for any last minute calls that need to be made. Is the water shut off?
Heater / Air conditioner turned off or down?
Light switches all turned off?
Windows all shut and locked?

At the new house:

Check the hot water heater that the temperature is set correctly. Ours was set to vacation mode so it took quite awhile for it warm back up.

Check the temperature in the fridge. Again, ours had been turned down low since no one was using it for several months.

Here is a neat Moving Checklist that I found to be helpful. I also read through this Packing Tips list.

WFMW - Grocery List

Our closest grocery store just remodeled and during the grand opening handed out printed lists of what was on each aisle. The list was numbered aisle by aisle and listed the items found on each aisle. I took this and made copies of it. Then I hang it on my refrigerator and circle the items as I run out of things. Then on grocery day I take this list and can shop easily aisle by aisle.

I recently decided to go to a different store for some sale items and decided I liked this store's layout better than the other store. I went to the Customer Service counter and asked if they had a similar list and they did! So I took it and made copies of it. Now I hang this list on my fridge!

This is what works for me. For more awesome tips and tricks, head over to Rocks In My Dryer.

Clearing out my closet

I haven't jumped into any spring cleaning since we are moving I figure I will be spring cleaning on my way out and spring clean the new place on my way in!

BUT....what I did do, is spring clean my wardrobe. I decided that I needed to go through my closet and clean, toss and give-away anyway before packing unwanted/torn items.

First thing I did was pull everything out, section by section. I have several drawers, shelves and then a higher hanging section, a lower hanging section and then a longer (for dresses and such) section.

I started with the longer section. I pulled everything off the rack and asked myself these questions:

#1 - Does it fit? -- Yes, keep pile or No, toss or give-away pile

#2 - Is it stylish? -- Yes, keep pile or No, toss or give-away pile

#3 - Have you worn it in the last 3 months? -- Yes, keep pile or No, toss or give-away pile

Then I put all the "keep" items back in the closet.

Then, I went through the toss/give-away pile to see what items should be tossed (torn up or heavily stained).

The next section was my shoes.... I have a ton of shoes, I got rid of ones I haven't worn in months and even found 2 pairs that are too tight (so why keep those??)

The above picture is before I cleaned and the below picture is what it looked like after.... not great, but not bad either!

I need to still finish up the rest of the shelves and sections tonight, but at least it is a start.

WFMW - Keeping straws in the diaper bag

When the kids were old enough to use a sippy cup and could also figure out how to use a straw, but aren't quite good enough to drink out of a regular cup yet, I started carrying around straws in the diaper bag. I would grab an extra one or two each visit to a fast food place and just stick them in the diaper bag. This way when we went somewhere and I didn't have a sippy cup with me and little one needed a drink, then I could take a regular cup (Usually my cup) and place a straw in it. Viola, less spills, less messy clothing (both baby and me) and less stressed out mamma!

We don't have much need for the diaper bag any more, but now I just keep straws in the car.

For lots of great tips go to Rocks In My Dryer

Using old tee shirt as a cover-up

Lady Bug (3 years old) does not think she should have to wear a bib anymore because her big brothers don't. Most of the time this is not a big issue, but when we are eating spaghetti or anything else that might stain her clothes I get a little more picky.

Here is a tip that has helped keep the tears at bay at messy meal times:

I take an old tee-shirt of the boys that they have outgrown and then I put it over Lady Bug's clothes as protection from the messy food. I actually keep 2 or 3 in a drawer near the table (where I used to store bibs... actually there are still some in there but they go untouched thanks to her being so picky about this issue!)

This solves two issues really, she is being protected from the messy food items, and she thinks it is cool that she gets to wear her brothers clothes.

This is what works for me. For more ideas head over to Rocks In My Dryer.

A little bit of This and That today...

• Five years ago yesterday I gave birth to a still born baby boy. We named him Wesley, after my grandfather. We went to the cemetary where we had his ashes scattered and he has a name plaque along a stone walk way. Still, five years later I feel like it was yesterday that I was giving birth to him. Funny how the rest of the world goes on and no one but Mr. Man and I remember the date --which is the same feeling I had when I was in the hospital. I remember holding his life-less body and looking out my hospital window at the traffic going by and wondering how on earth those people could go on with their day as if nothing was wrong. Didn't they know what I was going through? I feel the same way about the day yesterday, but on the other hand I realize that no one can be expected to remember such a thing five years later. (and I certainly wasn't upset that no one remembered!)
• Spirit and Lefty decided to walk home from school without telling anyone yesterday. Boy were they busted when Mr. Man caught up to them!
• We have found two houses that are possibilities. Both, of course have some minor complications so we are on "hold" waiting for our realtor to help us work through the issues. Then we can hopefully make a decision on one or the other!
• We are having our first Children's Ministry event at the church tonight! I am a little nervous! All I have to do is work in the nursery, but there has been a lot of planning going on to make this event extra special!
• Spirit has had hives for a week now and I think he is worried about this housing stuff. He has always been a worrier and even though I ask him if he is ok, he just says "yup!" and won't open up to me. I called the doctor and of course there isn't anything they can do. They told me a week ago, when he first got them, that he had a virus and this rash was the tail end of it... but I am not so sure anymore. I am not going to worry about it though and let it runs it's course. I will just keep an eye on it.
• I found some cool storage ideas, but don't want to commit to anything until we know which house we are getting... if any!
• I am going to start packing this weekend, even though we haven't found a house yet. I want to be ready. There are all kinds of things that we don't need and I can get them packed up and put them in the garage. I also want to donate some stuff, maybe have a garage sale too if there is time.

Journaling

When we were grocery shopping the other day, the boys asked me if they could get a spiral notebook. I asked what they wanted it for and they both said they wanted it so they could use it as a journal.

Of course I let them buy one and we even replenished our pencil supply. They both have written it the journal a little bit here and there.

I wanted some ways to encourage the journaling and so I turned to Google...I found a few ideas but nothing earth shattering. Then I realized..... I have the answers already. I use a journal, so I decided to think about what I do in my own journal.

I use my journal in several ways:

1. I use it to write down prayers/concerns I have for people in my life
2. On occasion I will hear a new word so I write it in my journal and then look up what it means
3. I write about our day
4. I write about fun, cute or even concerning things my kids do
5. I write about a movie we watched
6. I write about my feelings or how a certain thing made me feel that day
7. I write silly poems

I wrote these out and realized ANY one ANY age could use that list for journal ideas.

I am going to type this up (editing #4) and maybe add to it and then print it off to hang on the refrigerator or somewhere so when we have some quiet time, they can journal!

WFMW: Protect your carpet when kids are eating

Usually Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer hosts this, but this week she is in Uganda so Melanie at Don't Try This At Home is hosting this week.

When we have company over for a meal and the kids need to sit at the little kids-sized table it usually ends up sitting on the carpet somewhere and since kids can be so messy, I use a vinyl table cloth (you can find these pretty cheap) underneath the table and chairs. Then when we are all done eating, I can roll up the table cloth and take it outside to shake (and rinse with the hose if necessary).

This is something that "works for me"!! For more ideas, go here!

My Valentine Dinner menu

When you have kids it totally changes the events of Valentine's Day - at least in my house! Especially when it falls during the week. Mr. Man and I have gone out for dinner over the weekend to celebrate in past years, but our lives are too crazy this year so we won't be doing that.

I wanted the day to be special for everyone. I saw this idea at Heavenly Homemakers that I thought would be fun. What I am going to do is print up the menu and have Mr. Man and the kids select the items they would like served with their 1st, 2nd and 3rd courses. (I am going to do one menu for the whole family. They can work together to decide what to have with each course.)Then I will serve the menu, just as they select. Obviously, they won't be able to do much with the first course, so I will give them time to review the selections they made and then bring them out the second course. Give them a few more minutes and serve the third course. After a few giggles (I hope...) then I will let them at the kitchen to have the full meal! I think it will be alot of fun!

I am going to make these utensil holders that I saw over on Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. Because the mystery dinner menu includes napkin and fork as a selection, I am not going to present the utensil holders until after I serve everything!

I am going to make some place cards with each person's name on them too.

We don't give the kids presents on Valentine's Day, but we do decorate and buy fun candy, etc. I want this day to be special for the family and then after the kids are in bed I will give Mr. Man a card and a new CD that I plan to buy today!

Time Capsule

When we got pregnant with our first child Mr. Man decided he wanted to put together a time capsule. He put things in there that had the year one them, TIME magazine Year in Review, some collectible cars that were only issued that year, since Spirit was born in 2001 (just before George W. Bush was sworn in) Mr. Man found a dollar bill that had 2001 printed in the corners and then a picture of the president in the center. He also collected some quarters from that year and even still (7 years later) shops ebay for items to put in the time capsule.

Mr. Man has also created a time capsule for Lefty with similar items and his plan is to give them to the boys on their 18th birthday.

Now, when we found out we were going to have a little girl, Mr. Man told me that it was my job to do a time capsule of "girly" things for her. I really struggled. There wasn't alot of girly things with the year. I am still shopping ebay for a 2005 Holiday Barbie because when I went to buy her one in 2005 all that I could find were ones with the packaging all torn up or the store was completely sold out. So far, I have a teen magazine from February 2005, a Better Homes and Gardens from February 2005 and a collectible Winnie the Pooh from 2005. Her time capsule is pretty lame. I hope ebay can save me and help me get some more stuff for her!

Sharing a closet

My boys have had to share a room in the past and with us looking at new houses, they most likely will be sharing a room again! Unfortunately they wear close to the same size clothes.

Now, I know which clothes belong to which boy, but sometimes Mr. Man has a harder time. I came up with a solution that has Worked For Me. I bought plastic hangers, one set of blue and one in white. Blue is for Spirit and white is for Lefty. I also try to hang one set of clothes on one side and the others on the other side, but this way, no matter who goes in there they can easily determine clothes for one boy or the other!

The catch is when Spirit out grows something and I move it from a blue to a white hanger, then Lefty says "noooooo, mom that isn't mine!!" -- that is a problem I do not have a solution for. Unfortunately, Lefty will always get the hand-me-downs, poor kid!

This is what works for me! For more tips, go to Rocks In My Dryer!

Lunch Box Notes

I try to include a note or a joke in the boys' lunches everyday. So I am always on the lookout for fun, quick to print (or photocopy) jokes or puzzles. Click here for the website! Scroll to the bottom of the page for the notes and then click on the pictures in order to print them!

Or click here for another website of lunch box notes, plus some other cool downloadable things!

This is another neat website for lunch box notes, although they are very cute I think they are a little too "girly" for my boys. This website has several options and some are edit-able too which is cool too! I find them absolutely adorable so I have bookmarked the website for my own future reference!