Showing posts with label For. Show all posts
Showing posts with label For. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
holiday gift guide for him
Jordan is the easiest guy to shop for.. but yet at the same time he is so difficult to shop for. he wants big things. expensive things. and when he decides he wants these things, he straight up goes out and purchases them. well.. that leaves me with a whole lot of nothing for ideas when it comes to Christmas, birthday, and anniversary.
that being said- he's a pretty simple guy. a simple guy that is happy with the little things, too - outside of clothing, he would rather spoil his wife and little girls and now future little man than allow me to buy him ANYthing.
I'm okay with that:) this year we opted to skip really elaborate gifts and stick to the simple. after all, we have three girls to buy for and a nursery to fill, so saving monies everywhere we can is most important, right now..
a man's mug // a couple months ago I got Jordan a campfire mug just for fun and he drinks his coffee every single morning out of it! if your boy is a coffee lover this is a "manly" mug that he is sure to love.
quality leather goods // for father's day this year I had an old friend make my hubby a new wallet that he desperately needed. he doesn't love a "big' wallet that makes his pocket bulky, especially when he's carrying his phone as well. when she announced on FB that her hubby was starting a new biz, gunnar & co., making handmade quality leather goods I might have been first in line! Jordan has carried it everyday since then and it still looks brand new- aside from the amazing look that leather takes on as its weathered with age.
just porter // I was recently introduced to Just Porter brand backpacks and bags and knew instantly that this would be something that Jordan could get some great use out of. aside from toting a bag to and from the fire station, Jordan also works one shift/week as a medic in the ER of a hospital close to our house. his ipad and snacks and even his lunch go in this bag- its like the best thing to ever happen to the "man purse" :)
a good pair of slippers // about seven years ago I splurged and got Jordan a pair of double leather lined slippers and he still wears them to this day. it is time for a new pair- the bottoms are looking rough (holes all over the place-ha!), but who can say they wore a pair of slippers for seven years? every husband, father, brother could use a great pair of slippers, am I right?
tech finds for your guy // Jordan has a bose speaker from last Christmas and they have come out with a new one- that he probably needs, too. while Jordan is a lifeproof case for life type of person, nothing like a good trendy case for his phone.
dollar shave club // if you haven't caught wind of my (our) love for the dollar shave club - it is the most perfect gift. after deciding to get Jordan a membership for Father's Day three years ago, I finally got a membership for myself (we do the $9/mo). the razors are legit..and so cheap in price, but not in quality! they have since come out with hair products and body wash- Jordan loves the hair paste the best. throw in some of their amazing shave butter and you're all set for the perfect gift set for your guy!
..and if you have never watched their marketing videos, they are hilarious!
Monday, August 7, 2017
Potty training tips for caregivers
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Friday, June 23, 2017
Vote For Amie
I have decided that one of the keys to effective parenting is this: know your limits. It sounds simple in theory, but it is so much harder to practice. It is the art form of constantly balancing everything in a manner not unlike the plate spinners on the boardwalk. In American society we all suffer from a great time suck. The fact remains that Americans work more hours, with less sick/vacation time than almost every other industrialized country. We fight obesity by condemning fast food, and yet our entire society is based around a fast-paced lifestyle. We have not built into our schedules anything that care for the basic needs of the family.
Because we work so much, gone are the days of the 9 to 5 job. Now we have the 8 to 6 jobs that require a rush home to somehow cram in dinner, homework, housework, extra curricular activities and quality family time all before bedtime. It isn't really feasible to cram it all in, hence the popularity of convenience foods. So we nuke our dinners, or grab yet another drive-thru meal, all in an effort to maximize time with our families before we have to get up and put our nose to the grindstone for another day.
Add to this the rising costs of feeding families, rising costs of childcare and lack of support from the workforce (not just with the inflexibility of most full-time jobs, but the serious lack of quality, well-paid part-time options). America simply does not have the time or inclination to care for its own families. We are too busy engaging in the rat race of consumption. To take it one step further, we even push our families into the realm of consumption by feeding them, caring for them and cleaning up for them by purchasing these services from third party providers.
In the wake of the whirlwind of political nonsense we have all been subjected to recently with the upcoming November elections, I would like to propose that one of the candidates (at this point, I really don't care which) start addressing the fact that families need help. And, before you, the reader, assume that I am strictly referring to families with young children, I am not. I am talking families who have elder care responsibilities, families with young children, families who have special needs children of any age birth to adult, families where one parent or spouse has a disability or illness and anyone who does not fit into the dual-income, no children model we seem to assume our economic system is based on.
As we once heard in high school speeches for class president, "If I were elected I would promise to increase revenue and taxes to benefit our abandoned education systems. Good schools create increased property values, which last time I checked benefit even those who do not have children, or children in school.
I would encourage the workforce to add quality part-time jobs to their employment offerings so as to provide adequate time for each family to meet its own needs.
I would institute a program by which to encourage employers and families to work together to make time for proper food preparation. I believe that this would not only decrease American obesity rates by controlling what goes in our mouths better, but allow for more family meal time. Studies have shown regular family meals have decreased the likelihood for all sorts of negative social behavior such as drug use, eating disorders, depression, and truancy, which like quality schools, benefits all of American society. While there are many changes that could be made to improve the lives of all families, if I were elected, these are the three that I would change first"
"A vote for me, would be a vote for Valuing Families"
Alas, you will not see my name on the ballot come November. And, as far as I can tell, there is little to no chance that the current candidates will start espousing real valuation of parents in this country anytime soon. It seems we, as Americans, instead only value the almighty dollar. We have built an entire society that circulates around the idea that someone is home taking care of things, and when no one is or no one can and there is no money to hire someone....there is no time, in fact there is negative time and it affects all aspects of health and sanity. The only thing left for stressed parents living in this country is the critical coping mechanism.....KNOW YOUR LIMITS! And find a way to work within them as best you can. But, if you find you ever have extra time on your hands, maybe you can help me run for office in 2016. Then again, I might not have time.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Mom Tips For the Kitchen
I so enjoy the little "mom tips" that I've come across in life - those little things that I've learned learned from my mom, or a mom friend, that just make life a little nicer. Things that make the "daily-daily" just a little easier, or make me smile a little more, or maybe will be a time saver for me. I'm not referring to the bigger projects like de-cluttering or re-organizing, (although those definitely make me smile)! But just the small things - the "mom tips" that aren't in the self-help books, they're just life-experience things that I've gotten from a mom with experience under her belt. Well I'll share with you some of my Mom Tips for the kitchen; I hope they bring a simple breath of fresh air to your regular every day patterns! *smile*
~~~~~
~ Paper plates for pans. I store our cooking pans with a paper plate between them to protect the non-stick surface from the bottom of the pan above it. Regular or heavy-duty paper, or foam plates work equally as well.
~ Safe knife drawer. We've had a problem with one toddler in particular staying out of the knife drawer in the kitchen. I don't have counter top space to keep a knife block up there (and too many knives anyway), and there is a built-in place for knives in our kitchen drawers, so knives really need to be stored there. So my husband purchased some extremely powerful magnets online (from KJ Magnetics) and screwed them to the inside corners of the knife drawer front. Initially we tried a small pair of magnets, but that wasn't strong enough to keep little toddler buddy out. So Bob changed then to a larger pair of magnets. Now it's very strongly held closed and kids are safer. I actually can no longer open the knife drawer by the handle, I have to pull down on the front of the drawer front with both hands really hard to get it to open; but it's worth it - knives put away out of sight & kids are safe. *smile*
~ Preheating serve ware. Before putting the steamed vegetables I've cooked in to the serving dish I need to use, I first fill that dish with the hottest tap water I can and let it sit for a couple minutes with the lid on while I do other things. I then empty the water, and when I put the food into the dish, cold ceramic does not suck the heat out of our hot vegetables, but rather heated ceramic keeps the food warm for us until it is served. Nice.
~ Preheating serve ware. Before putting the steamed vegetables I've cooked in to the serving dish I need to use, I first fill that dish with the hottest tap water I can and let it sit for a couple minutes with the lid on while I do other things. I then empty the water, and when I put the food into the dish, cold ceramic does not suck the heat out of our hot vegetables, but rather heated ceramic keeps the food warm for us until it is served. Nice.
~ Paper plate food prep. When I'm cutting up an especially messy food into bite-size pieces for our toddlers, such as pizza or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or greasy foods like grilled cheese sandwiches or hamburger - things that I'd have to remove the wooden cutting board from it's slot in the kitchen and scrub it over the sink to get it clean - I instead cut those items up on a paper plate and then throw the plate in the trash. No messy scrubbing. (And I can't stand the smell of wet peanut butter - eww - so not having to go there makes me happy in itself.)
~ Dishwasher clean! We run all kinds of things besides dishes through the dishwasher to get them clean, which not only saves us a lot of headache trying to scrub tiny parts and cracks, but it saves us time. *smile* Yay! Especially the really yucky items. For instance, our vaporizer which accumulates pink slime inside of it after years of use, and is covered with tiny cracks and angles inside of it, with the motorized part removed (my hubby does this) it gets totally sparkling clean in our dishwasher. We also clean fan or vent covers from our house this way by just removing them from the wall or ceiling and standing them upright in the dishwasher, and small window screens (like from our bathroom ceiling) that collect dust and hairspray, toddler booster seats that can be taken apart can usually go in to the dishwasher. My hubby's baseball hats go through the dishwasher and retain their shape (which is very important to my husband *smile*) unlike when they go through the washing machine. Also candle holders (votif or pillar), kitchen counter top canisters, dusty or food-splattered ceramic wall plaques (from being above the stove), flower vases that hold silk flowers and get dusty, even the children's plastic bathroom step stools that get mud or urine on them (because they're stored beside the toilet) get a bath in our dishwasher. Love it.
~ Dried food wipes off. If I have dried food stuck to the kitchen counter or the stove top, I simply put several drops of water over that spot so that the food is covered with water, then I wash the rest of the counters and the sink and when I get back to that food I can just wipe it right off with the sponge.
~ Sippy cups assembled. When we take little children's sippy cups out of the dishwasher we assemble the lids and stoppers or straws with the cup it goes with before placing the set on the shelf. This way when we need a sippy cup we can just grab the one we need and not have to waste time digging through drawers trying to find pieces that go together.
I also only keep about 13 sippy cups total; we don't need more than that, so I don't choose to manage more than that. *smile* We currently have 2 babies and 2 toddlers using sippy cups for milk, and each of those children has 2 cups in their own color, making 8 total (plus they do have a water bottle each, also, but those live on the kitchen table all day every day). Each child uses one cup all day long for milk, which is stored in the refrigerator between meals (they sip on water between meals). We run our dishwasher twice a day, once after breakfast and lunch, and once after dinner, so they don't need more than 2 cups each. Plus I do keep 5 straw-lid cups for older kids to drink pop from when sitting in the family room on pizza night. But this is all we have - not tons of cups to manage. And we still have cups available for kid-company.
~ Rinse dishes until cleaned. We rinse all of our dirty dishes off completely before setting them in to the sink so that there is no food to put our hands in to later when we're ready to load the dishwasher. There is no smell, no slime, and there is no scrubbing. In my opinion, this is an easy, time-efficient, and more pleasant way to load the dishwasher after cooking or after a meal. Then at the end of the meal who ever is loading can simply pick them up and load them straight in without hassle, a gross mess, and a lot of extra, unnecessary work.
~ Rinse dishes until cleaned. We rinse all of our dirty dishes off completely before setting them in to the sink so that there is no food to put our hands in to later when we're ready to load the dishwasher. There is no smell, no slime, and there is no scrubbing. In my opinion, this is an easy, time-efficient, and more pleasant way to load the dishwasher after cooking or after a meal. Then at the end of the meal who ever is loading can simply pick them up and load them straight in without hassle, a gross mess, and a lot of extra, unnecessary work.
~ Stove light reminder. Whenever we use the oven or the stove we always turn on the light under the hood at the same time. This way we ca always see when the heat/gas is on with the light and not risk leaving them on when they're not being used and are unattended. And, other people who come in to the kitchen can see that the stove is on and be extra careful.
~ A box for the reusable bags. In a cupboard of the kitchen I keep a plastic shoebox-size container without a lid where we keep any size of ziplock baggie or tin foil that can be re-used, and we always try to remember to check that box first when we need one of those items. This gives a place to keep the perfectly good, reusable bags and foil without cluttering up the area where we store the new boxes of bags and foil. Cost effective and uncluttered.
~ Forgotten item to the next appropriate list. I keep extra copies of our Master Grocery List printed from our computer in my file box on my desk in the kitchen, so that when I need a new list each week I can just grab one. Occasionally I need to pair-down our grocery list of desired items to just the necessities, and when I do this I'll write down those additional grocery items on either the next week's list, or more likely the next paycheck-day list, which maybe a couple of lists away in my file.
For example, my husband gets paid every two weeks, but I grocery shop every week. So if I'm shopping on the first Saturday after Friday pay-day, and I need to pair down my grocery list to necessities only then I'll write those extra desired grocery items not on the next week's list, which would be the second Saturday of a pay period, but on the list after that which would be pay-check week again. So when I go to get my next week's grocery list those items won't be on it as it's the end of a pay period and not the time to purchase any extra things; but when I get the next grocery list after that, then those desired items are already on the list ready for me and not forgotten.
~ From "Ewww" to "Wow!" My mom told me about the best scrubbing agent ever! *cheer!* It's called Bar Keeper's Friend, and only costs about $2.00 for a larger container from Low's or Home Depot. We let our kitchen sink get really stained so that we could show you what this product can do. I am not kidding you, it is really this good. (And no, this is not a paid product review)
For example, my husband gets paid every two weeks, but I grocery shop every week. So if I'm shopping on the first Saturday after Friday pay-day, and I need to pair down my grocery list to necessities only then I'll write those extra desired grocery items not on the next week's list, which would be the second Saturday of a pay period, but on the list after that which would be pay-check week again. So when I go to get my next week's grocery list those items won't be on it as it's the end of a pay period and not the time to purchase any extra things; but when I get the next grocery list after that, then those desired items are already on the list ready for me and not forgotten.
~ From "Ewww" to "Wow!" My mom told me about the best scrubbing agent ever! *cheer!* It's called Bar Keeper's Friend, and only costs about $2.00 for a larger container from Low's or Home Depot. We let our kitchen sink get really stained so that we could show you what this product can do. I am not kidding you, it is really this good. (And no, this is not a paid product review)
(These stains won't come off with "409", baking soda, or bleach...)
(But with Bar Keeper's Friend! Ta-da!)
(I've cleaned the food off the stove top with "409", but these black marks wouldn't come off even with baking soda...)
(after using Bar Keeper's Friend!)
And this product can be used on all sorts of other areas around the house (but please read the container instructions before using in your own home). I use it in the bathroom tub, toilet, sink, counter tops; on aluminum, glass, or brass cooking pots; and on my tea kettle.
~ "Condiments bottle" for dish soap. I purchase dish soap in large quantities at Costco, so I keep that huge container underneath the sink in the kitchen but fill an inexpensive, clear plastic ketchup bottle to have on hand at the sink edge. This keeps the soap handy for use, but without bulking up my small counter top with any large bottles.
I would really love to hear about any other Mom Tips you have for the kitchen! Let's share and add a little "Nice!" to our daily-daily!
Blessings on your efforts,
* You may also be interested in reading my other Mom Tips for around the house, for children things, for traveling in the car; or posts on organization that include how I organize our small kitchen, our pantry, or how we made a pantry out of a coat closet!
Thursday, March 9, 2017
five on friday nordstrom sale picks for mama
its down to the last weekend before my favorite sale of the year ends! with the fall season on it's way I picked up some really cute stuff this year. I LOVE leggings and wear them basically everyday throughout the fall and winter months. layering them with dresses and tunics.. big bulky cardigans or a vest and then finishing my outfit with a wedge bootie or riding boot. I have like five different pairs of wedge booties, and I just cant stop. I read somewhere last fall that the wedge heel was 'out' and I was in literal distress over it in fear I could never buy a wedge heel again.
slight overreaction.
here are my mama favorites from this year's sale!
1. pants
2. tops
3. dresses + tunics
4. shoes
5. accessories
happy Friday and cheers to hiding the shopping bags + receipts from the hubby:)
Saturday, March 4, 2017
Here Toilet training for girls
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