Unionization of the Shorties

This morning, the children formed a union. (Now, they didn't exactly realize they'd formed a union, but as I looked at my husband while they recited their negotiations we knew what had happened.)

The demands for today:
Swimming
Going to the Movies
Going to the Park
Bowling

Or else.

The "or else" implied that they would not be forth coming with their chores unless demands were met.

Typically we don't negotiate with those who strike terror in our hearts... but something in their grins was infectious and we were reminded that, from time to time, we all deserve a break from our day to day routine.

So my little unionists are getting their demands met... for today.
Tomorrow I'll start adding some more complex chores to their list and see if the break has helped any.

Chore Skirmishes and Putting my Size 10 Foot Down

Over the weekend, my husband finally unpacked the box the geeklets had been waiting for. Somewhere, in the depths of that box, the Wii was hidden.

This prompted a rush of "I wanna play Mario Kart!" and "OOOOOO.... Cooking Mama!"

I looked at my children, so eager to play a video game yet so desperate to get out of common household chores.

The lightbulb went off.

"Fine," I said. "You can play the Wii tomorrow until lunchtime... IF you get your chores done."

"Okay!" "Yeah!"

See, what you have to understand, is that I'm not an evil Mom. I just have an evil sense of humor. Ever since school has let out, my children have taken a cue from my husband and become, shall we say, domestically-challenged.

My five year old, who has been making the bed since he was three, suddenly decided he had no clue what I was talking about when I discuss putting the pillow back on his bed.
My eight year old who loves to cook and has finally been given a certain amount of autonomy when it comes to making a bowl of cereal or a peanut butter sandwich can't figure out how to put a dirty spoon in the sink.

So, in my evil sense of humor, I began writing a list. I slipped it under their door as they slept last night.

1) Wake up. Should go without saying, but they refuse to wake up at the same time and often throw tantrums.
2) Use the bathroom. Wash Hands. I feel rotten that I have to remind them to wash their hands by this stage of the game.
3) Brush teeth. Again, by this point you'd figure they have it down. But, no.
It goes on with more tasks such as pick up the toys from the floor to making beds, taking care of their laundry, etc...

At the bottom of the list I wrote in big letters: Any fighting, crying, tantrums, or whining will result in this agreement being voided.
"What's that mean?" the five year old asked.
"It means we can't play the Wii if Mommy thinks we're acting like brats..." The eight year old told him solemnly.

Their room is spotless. They've only had a couple of minor squabbles that they quickly suppressed without adult intervention.
It's been such a pleasant morning.

I'm already writing tomorrow's list. I wonder if either of them can use a steam cleaner...?

On PlayHouse Disney and the Space-Time Continuum

As a parent, I love channels that show simple-to-follow children's shows filled with themes of cooperation, friendship, and acceptance.

Thus, as a geek, I cringe fully inside over one of my son's favorite shows: Handy Manny.

In the odd event you've never heard of Handy Manny, let me sum it up for you. In an extremely inter-cultural small town, a man sets up a repair shop with his animated and intelligent tools and begin performing acts of random kindness with no apparent transfer of payment.

1) Handy Manny apparently has some method to speed up time. In almost every episode, he has to paint something and nothing requires drying time. It's instantly ready to be used as a skate board ramp, sat on as a park bench, or knocked on as someone's front door... all within mere seconds of the final paint stroke being lifted.

2) And what's with the intelligent tools? In Dungeon's and Dragons, there are intelligent items and animated items. Occasionally there are intelligent-animated items. Either way, they are classified as "magical" items and the crafting of such items takes a lot of time, gold, and XP. (Oddly enough, Dwarves are considered one of the better races to be craftsmen. You can see where this is going, right?) So, apparently Snow White's little dwarf friends spent a bunch of time learning to craft magical tools so we could have Handy Manny the TV show.

3) Manny can fix ANY thing with his seven tools, which are a phillips-head screwdriver, a flat-head screwdriver, a hammer, a saw, a pair of pliers, a tape measure, and a wrench. I certainly hope he never has to put together anything from Ikea... without an allen wrench and a level, he'll be hard pressed.

And now, as my kids have glued their eyes to the screen, I have to conceed, there IS something magical about the show: it has kept my kids from picking on each other for the last half hour which is a rare thing indeed.

With Love,
Meg

What a Difference Hot Water Makes

I'm so excited.
I'm CLEAN.

We moved in about a month ago, and since then, our hot water has been pretty hit or miss.
For a while there we were resetting it twice a day. Then, the landlord gave us a key and we were resetting it every time we used it.

Then, on Monday, it died.
Yep. No hot water since Monday morning.

Cold showers don't appeal as I always end up feeling twice as dirty as I did going into the shower.

Today, they fixed it. As in, REALLY fixed it.

I waited impatiently for the time frame they suggested to allow the water to heat. Then, towel in hand I jumped into the shower.

The kids reported they heard me squealing with joy. (I used lots of nice soap and broke out my fancy shampoo!)

I'm clean! So lovely.

So, here's to hoping all my readers get a chance to enjoy the simple pleasure of a warm shower...

With Love,
Meg

Entertaining on a Budget: Snack Food for Gamers

Every Thursday (and sometimes Mondays and Wednesdays as well!) the local gamer's group makes its way to my kitchen table to sit for hours and chat and play various Role-Playing, card, and board games.
While during the summer time my schedule is a bit too hectic to join in most of the play, as the hostess of the games, I find myself stretched to provide some basic snacks for a crowd that ranges in size from 7 players to 20 players depending on the week.

Early on, I came up with what the perfect solution: I set up a Make-Your-Own-Nacho Bar.
And the basis for my nacho bar- the one item that everyone has deemed a "MUST" is home-made tortilla chips. (It's also the one item everyone has tried to recreate on the rare occasions that someone else has hosted.) In fact, it's become a bit of a joke that one player actually keeps trying to buy different pre-packaged chips just to figure out which ones I'm using--- even though he's stood behind me and watched me make them!

Fresh Tortilla Chips
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1 package corn tortillas
Sharp knife
Heavy Pan
Corn, Vegetable, or Canola Oil
Fine Sea Salt

1) Place stack of corn tortillas on cutting board and slice into sixths. (You could fry them whole, in quarters, or in eighths as well. My group just seems to prefer the size of sixths.)


2) Place two inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Bring up heat until oil temperature is approximately 375 degrees F. (If you use a deep fryer, you can just use the "French Fry" setting.) Place "chips" into hot oil and fry until they begin to float. Flip and continue frying on the other side until lightly golden colored. (Note: If you are using fresh oil, the chips will burn before they turn golden. So, test a few chips to know what color you are looking for.)

3) Remove chips from oil and drain. (My draining method is the paper towel lining of a deep bowl.) While still warm sprinkle with salt. Serve with your favorite toppings, dips, or spreads and enjoy!

These chips are wonderful and NOTHING like the store-bought ones. Not only can they hold up to the most liquid of salsas, they can handle chunky guacamole and bean dips too! As a plus, they are cost effective; for the $1.50 it cost to buy the tortillas, I made the equivalent of FIVE bags of tortilla chips. Pre-made tortilla chips run $2 bag for the generic store brand here. I saved myself $8.50 by making my own chips!

Now I'm off to save myself some more money by playing with my new washer and dryer. (A post on those later, I promise!)

With Love,
Meg

And the winner is...

The winner of my last giveaway for a reusable shopping bag and gift card is....

Richelle!

I'm sending out an email to you in just a moment.

Thanks to everyone for entering! I should have another give-away in a few weeks.

With Love,
Meg

Sore Feet, Satisfied Soul

This last move in our household was so hectic. I was given literally 2 days to get the kids evacuated from the last house, and I wasn't given any time to contemplate the new place before the lease was signed and we walked in the door.

I've spent most of the last 24 hours finally setting the house to rights. There's still a bit of "temporary" furniture, mostly items loaned to us from our neighbors, but it's starting to look and feel like home.

I woke at 4 am this morning and while the kids and husband were still sleeping I drove to Walmart in a drizzling rain.
Why?
Because, I promised my husband that I would BUY him a TV. You see, for the last five years, we've been renting our TVs (along with most of our furniture) and he had had enough. The expense was too high, the customer service poor, and over all, it was just time for us to break down and buy one. We've been making do for the past two months with a tiny little 13 inch (non-digital- the HORROR!!!) model and no cable connections or other TV channels to take their minds off the situation at hand.

My husband (and children for that matter) can't live without a certain level of technology in the house. I'm fine with reading, cooking, and knitting for entertainment. They aren't. It's a sad state of things when my own family can't sit still without having a zombie-inducing box to stare at. However, what really made me decide that today was THE DAY was the simple fact that my children were driving me insane. The weather has been rotten for the past week. So they've been watching movies... the same five movies... let me repeat that: THE SAME FIVE MOVIES...over and over and over and over and over and... well, you know where this is going. I swear, I can tell what movie they are watching by the sound the birds or crickets chirping in it make, let alone the dialogue or characters.

So yes, I broke down, had cable installed, and bought them a television.

While the husband was distracted by the new shiny object of adoration, I began what I deemed phase two of making this place livable. I began putting soft objects around the house. I hung curtains. I couldn't find a rug of suitable size so I bought several smaller ones and I've duct-taped them together to make a giant rug. I've run cables and wires and hidden them behind masking tape that just happens to match the walls. In other words, I've been a stubborn idiot with a distinct fear of heights who has spent the day on ladders and chairs.

My feet are swollen. My hands have a few blisters. But I've wielded a drill and a screwdriver with an ease that my husband can never match. And I'm tired... in a good sort of way.

So, how has your day gone?

With Love,
Meg

Free Things To Do With Your Kids: 1

Fly a Kite.

That's right, I'm serious. Go fly a kite.

Chaos had never flown a kite before. Always before, when we tried to get him to fly one he got very bored with it and wandered off. We'd given up.

Suddenly, with his new-found love of all things engineering based, he decided he needed to learn how a kite worked.

Here are the results:
First attempt- Note, the kite is in the tree by the fence.


Second Attempt: The kite escaped back to the trees and Chaos fell over running to get it.

Finally a satisfied Chaos decided he'd had enough. Although he finally agreed to head home... as long as we came back soon for more kite flying.

A quick admin note

If you are coming back for a second or third time, you might notice that prior posts are suddenly appearing with pictures.

There's a simple explanation. They were supposed to already be there, but since I had a mental face-palm moment I couldn't find them on my computer to upload. Now that I've figured out which file they are automatically downloading to and corrected the path, I can begin uploading a few more graphics.

Mom, What's For Dinner?

After three rounds of trying to come up with meals that explained to Chaos and Em WHY they needed to eat healthy, I had a brainstorm:

Make THEM write the menu.

I handed it over to the kidlets as an art project.
I handed them scissors, a glue stick, sales papers and magazines from the recycle bin, and a paper plate each.

I gave them simple rules. 1 protein, 1 dairy, 1 fruit, 1 veggie, 1 starch. And yes, they could pick out dessert.They happily sat at the table and cut and drew out their menus.

Here are the end results:



On Chaos's Menu: Bacon Wrapped Filet, Glazed carrots, Berry and Yogurt parfaits, Flat bread, and juice.
On Em's Menu: Roast Beef tossed with tortellini, Steamed Broccoli, Orange Juice, and brownies topped with ice cream and cherries.

I think this turned out fairly well considering I was giving them free reign. I felt certain someone would come up with hot dogs, pizzas, and french fries.

I'd love to hear what your kids would pick for dinner if they had the choice.

With Love,
Meg

Giveaways Galore!

To celebrate my new blog, I'm offering one lucky reader a $10 gift card to Target as well as a reusable shopping tote that folds for storage.

(I personally LOVE reusable shopping bags and probably have close to thirty of them. I always carry one of the foldable ones in my diaper bag for those unexpected trips.)

Here's how to enter:
1: Comment on this post with your email address or some way to contact you directly. (1 entry)
2: Blog about my giveaway on your blog. Leave a separate comment with the post's address. (1 entry)
3: Follow me. Leave a comment telling me you are following me. (1 entry)
4: Add me to your blog roll. Leave me 2 comments with your blog address telling me that I'm on your blog roll. (2 entries)

I love hearing from new people, and I hope this give-away is a great one! I'll be drawing a name on Tuesday, June 16th, 4pm EST.

With Love,
Meg

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There are also some great give aways going on around the web. Check these out!

Frugal Mommy of 2 girls is giving away a pair of Baby Banz sunglasses. She's also giving away a shirt from PeaceLoveMom.

Homespun Spotlight

Every Thursday I scour the web to try to locate a crafter or craft group to spot light.
All items are handmade, high quality, and even more importantly have been made with love and joy.

So, I'm happy to present this week's crafter:

Catch a Dream

This shop, run by Shadow Wolf, carries a beautiful selection of dreamcatchers. As an added plus, she takes custom orders!

Each item is handmade and is absolutely exquisite.

Enough Procrastination

My house is currently an empty slate.
To be more accurate, I should say it's an empty slate if you ignore the large pile of boxes and trash bags my husband used to move us from the last house into this house.
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I wasn't much a part of the last move. Our last house held a few surprises in it that required the kids to be evacuated quickly, and as the nurturing parent, I was sent along with them. This left my husband behind with three cats and a household to move.

My husband is not much of the domestic type.
After a few weeks of procrastination, he finally found a house for us to live in. We live in a first floor apartment of a building that is, oddly enough, located less than two blocks from our old house. I can look out the bedroom window and see our old rental, we are that close.
Then, my poorly domesticated husband began to pack and move items over to the new house. First came the beds. Then a few kitchen items. By the time I got here there might have been a pot, a pan, and the beds moved in.
I waited until he was at work and his friends had stopped by and gave them the task of moving more stuff. (I literally said, "Hey...go down to the old house and get my dishes, my pots and pans, and anything else that looks valuable.") Being males, they took this to mean all the cables and cords from the video game consoles.

Sigh. Finally, at the end of last month, they got everything they deemed important out. This took them a week and a half. I walked in and nearly cried from the mess. Then I picked up the broom and began cleaning. It took me three hours to clean the house from top to bottom and sort out the remaining important things from what was left in the dross.
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This leaves me to where I'm at today. For two weeks now I've been avoiding the boxes and bags of poorly organized belongings. But, since this weekend is a full shopping trip, and I'm tired of chasing small children away from unopened boxes, I shall have to woman up and get things done.

Or, I could leave it to my husband and I'm sure it'll get done before the next move.

With Love,
Meg

Great Freebie Offers!

For your budding transportation enthusiast, Fisher Price is offering a free GeoTrax DVD. I've ordered several of these free movies from Fisher Price, and I can testify they are a legitimate offer. My son has gotten very fond of GeoTrax and other characters.

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I just found out from my CVS newsletter that they are once again offering some great photo department freebies.
Get a free 8x10 portrait printed when you order from the CVS Photo Center and use the code FREE8X10. If you opt for in-store pick up, this is truly free.
This reminds me of another freebie from CVS- 50 free photos when you sign up for a new CVS Photo Center account.
This is just in time for Father's Day!

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I'll be keeping my eye out for more freebies to help you out! Just keep reading.

With Love,
Meg

Coupon Crazy

I began cutting coupons for my Mom when I was five. I remember thinking it was fun to cut along the dotted lines. It never occurred to me until many years later that my Mom must have saved thousands of dollars in my lifetime.

I love cutting coupons. Most women, when they get stressed, might head for a bubble bath and lock the bathroom door. Me? I cut coupons. It's the most relaxing thing in the world.

Do I actually save money with my coupon madness? Of course!
When people find out I use coupons (despite the fact that I really don't NEED to) I generally hear why they don't bother.

Excuses, Excuses
"It's so much work for a couple of little pieces of paper..."
---If that were a real dollar bill printed into your paper, you'd cut it out to keep. Consider coupons to be free money that you can spend with a manufacturer. For every dollar in coupons I use, that's one less dollar I pull from my bank account.
"I always forget that I've cut them out..."
---This is why I carry them with me... AT ALL TIMES. You'd be surprised at the places that accept manufacturer's coupons. There have been road trips where we were down to our last four dollars and I managed to duck into a grocery store and bring out a full dinner for four... and spent less than a dollar! Cut them out and find a way to use them. They are worthless if they are just going to sit in a pile.
"I never see coupons for things I need..."
---I actually get coupons from several sources. My Mom, who no longer has small kids in the house, sends me coupons for diapers and children's foods as well as for brands that I use that she doesn't. (For example, we can only use one variety of laundry soap due to allergies.) Miss Alice gives me coupons for kids products. I have the kids trained to spot those coupon dispensers at the store. (I might not need that frozen pizza this trip, but maybe next trip...) I even write the manufacturer's to see if they have coupons available. This is especially nice with organic and specialty foods- the company will normally send you a coupon or a voucher for free product. I'm also a product tester through several companies websites. Even my magazine subscriptions have coupons that come with them!

Is it worth it?
Without pulling out the reciept I can't be too certain, but I believe the total before coupons and my store cards from my last shopping trip was around $680 worth of product. This included diapers, wipes, formula, meat, produce, laundry soap, and $60 in quarters for a trip to the laundromat along with the regular groceries. AFTER coupons and special deals, I spent $154. That's a substantial savings.

Using coupons can be done easily... but the first thing to do is to think of them differently. They ARE not worthless little pieces of paper. They can be worth the time it takes to clip them out.

With Love,
Meg

Thinking Outside the Box:

The other day my husband began to grumble about a squeaky hinge on our bedroom door. After muttering about not having any of the expensive products he'd normally use on hand to lubricate the hinge, I wandered into the kitchen and came back out with the can of cooking spray. While he watched, I quickly sprayed the hinge, opened the door a few times and walked off to put it away. My husband kept testing the door and muttering something about "smart aleck-know-it-alls".




This got me thinking that there are a lot of things I do with cooking spray besides it's culinary applications.

-Stubborn Keys: The next time your keys get a little stubborn in releasing the lock, spray them down with a bit of cooking spray. After wiping off the excess, they should move freely in their intended lock.
-Wax Free Build-Up: I always spray my candle holders and votives before I replace the candles in them. Then, once they get the melted wax on them, I can simply pluck it off without having to break out a hair dryer to melt the wax.
-Sticky situation: I love cooking spray's effect on the stickier effects of adhesive and chewing gum. My children are forever getting tiny bits of stickers stuck on their skin or chewing gum in their hair. A quick spray of cooing spray, a wipe down with a washcloth, and the offending items come right off. I can then wash their skin or hair in some warm soapy water to remove the oil residue. (Hint: This also works well for paints and glues you might get on your hands!)
-Tough Love for Soap Scum: In cases of really thick soap scum, a quick spray of cooking oil followed with a rub of a coarse sponge or washcloth will clear your walls right off.
-Chain Gang: Those rusty bike chains will stick no more with a quick spray of cooking oil.
-Scooper Duper: Spraying the scoop before you begin scooping kitty litter from the dirty box will help prevent build-up. This even works with the automatic scooping boxes. Alternatively, you can also spray your snow shovel to prevent a ton of icy build up.
-Grating Good: Spraying the blades of a grater can keep cheeses from sticking and making a huge mess.
-Banish the Blahs: Tired of your spaghetti leftovers making you see red in your microwave dishes? Before packing your tomato based foods, spray the inside of the dish with a little cooking spray and future stains will be gone.
-Bug Beater: If you live in the country, bugs smashing into the grille of your car is a common thing. Beat the bugs by spraying the grille of the car with a little cooking spray, then you can rinse them off easily with your garden hose.
-Cut Down on Drying Time: I don't know about you, but I need every spare second I can get. I spray my fresh painted nails to cut drying time in half. (A plus: the oils in the cooking sprays can moisturize your cuticles.)


Now, I'll leave you with a bit of a warning (and an amusing real-life story) about how too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing.

A few years ago, I was sent a can of professional strength cooking spray to test. I went to bed and left it on a low shelf in my pantry. Upon waking the next morning and walking into the kitchen I found myself skidding across the floor. Landing on my back with my feet in the air against the cabinets on the far side of the room my shrieks turned to laughter as I spotted the obviously empty can of cooking spray on it's side next to me. My then three year old son was famous for little "experiments". His current experiment had been how long it takes to empty the can of spray... on the floor. I spent weeks trying to clean up the cooking spray using everything from very hot water with degreasers added in to finally breaking down and covering the floor with newspapers to absorb the grease. I even wrote the manufacturers of both the spray and the flooring to try to find a method that would remove that much of the spray from the floor. A month later and I could finally walk in there without falling. Two months, and I could remove the newspapers completely. On the up side, mopping and stain fighting on the floor became a snap from that point on. My husband and I still get a giggle to this day any time we see a cooking spray commercial showing small kids in it. And yes, we NEVER leave it on low shelves anymore.

Do you have any other ideas or uses for cooking spray? I'd love to hear about them!

With Love,
Meg

So, Miss Alice and I were talking...

Miss Alice, our elderly neighbor, and I were talking the other day.

"Meg," she said (She has always called me Meg. My real name, Morgana, she declared too difficult to remember.), "You and I think alike. We know what needs to be done, and a hundred ways to get it done."

The "it" in question is domesticity. In the two weeks we've lived in our current house, she and I have compared notes on everything from cooking magazine subscriptions to pickle recipes, current sales to coupon matches. We've even argued the merits of cleaning with vinegar versus cleaning with lemons and salt. We've discussed the best methods for stain removal in the same conversation we've discussed knitting patterns. In short, she's as committed to being a domestic diva as I am.

So, as she made that declaration, a light bulb went off in my head.

True, I've always been a bit of a Hippie. My mom, back in the day, was committed to being as tight-fisted as possible. There wasn't a pair of jeans in the house that all of us hadn't worn at least once each, nor was there a meal on the table that cost more than $5 total. I picked up those skills and refined them to my own methods and lifestyle.

I thought to myself, "Self, why don't we pass on some of our little tidbits, recipes, and crafty know-how?"

Then I answered myself. (That's always a bad sign.)

Thus, this blog was born.

I hope everyone who stumbles upon this blog enjoys it as much as I'll enjoy writing it.

With Love,
Meg