My Apologies

My apologies for the lack of posts lately. Life has been crazy. Things seem to be returning to normal and I have tons of posts in my head waiting to make it into this blog!

Post-Valentine Project for Kids

Do you have kids who come home from school with bags full of Valentines that they don't want to part with? Here a tip that allows the kids to keep the cards in a way that's practical:

Place the cards in between sheets of contact paper or laminate them in a rectangular shape. The cards will be visible on both sides of the paper and your child will have a new place mat! Use them for eating or coloring and preserve memories at the same time.

Natural Sleep Help

I often have trouble sleeping - my body gets tired but my mind won't shut off. Here are a couple things I use to help me fall asleep:

• I take a hot shower before getting into bed.
• I use lavender aromatherapy oil.
• I drink chamomile tea.
• I listen to calming music.
• I meditate.
  

I'm always looking for new suggestions. Counting sheep just doesn't do it for me. Someone suggested I try visualizing mowing the lawn. I tried. I failed. The next day I couldn't get the image of the lawnmower mowing in a square out of my head. What helps you sleep?

Cat Duster

Cats are so handy sometimes!

Brogan was extremely hyper today and batted several toy mice under the stove. He frantically tried to get them back and went so far as to cram himself behind the stove. This is an extremely tight space that I usually have trouble cleaning. He came out with one toy mouse, several clumps of cat hair, and a nice layer of dust!

I love those automated dusters...

Smoked Dinner

Do you ever write a word and stare at it, contemplating how it looks? "Smoked" is messing with my mind.

Anyhow, today was my mother-in-law's birthday. I spent a good chunk of time preparing for her to come over. Her gift was wrapped, the cake was made, dinner was cooking and the table was set. Then the smoke alarm went off. At first I panicked about the biscuits in the oven burning. When I checked the biscuits were fine, but one had slid to the end of the cookie sheet and, not being fully cooked yet, was dripping onto the bottom of the oven. It took about a minute for the house to fill with smoke. Our smoke alarms are the fancy-shmancy kind that are all connected so they were all going off at once. I turned off the oven and my husband was frantically fanning the smoke alarm, but to no avail. The noise continued. We turned on all the fans in the house, turned off the heat, and opened the door. (Side note - I was worried that the sound of the smoke alarm with the door open would bring neighbors running, but in our keep-to-ourselves woods not a soul came to check out the loud, annoying noise. Good to feel safe in case of actual emergency...) Eventually the alarms stopped. The house was suddenly quiet, cold, smelly, and full of smoke. And my mother-in-law was due to arrive in 15 minutes. For her birthday. I lit some incense (yeah, that'll hide the smell) and set a pot of water boiling to re-humidify the air. I added some spices to the water which, believe it or not, really helped! Overall, not my best evening.

A few things turned out okay. My mother-in-law was running late and the smoke was gone by the time she arrived. Dinner turned out fine and didn't even taste like smoke. We had great conversation and everyone enjoyed the cake.

I think my cats are still hiding.

Snood Update

I forgot to post an update on my knit snood. It actually turned out pretty well. It keeps my ears much warmer than a hat and I like how it looks. I adapted it somewhat and added a button in front. Rather than designate a specific buttonhole I can slip the button anywhere - the stitches are large enough. This way I can keep it from falling down in back. Hmm...what should my next project be?

A Neighborly Vent

We have a neighbor who seems quite nice. We exchange greetings occasionally, but he generally keeps to himself. Lately he's developed the interesting habit of snow blowing at night. Apparently prime snow blowing time is between midnight and 3 AM. It drives me crazy! Now, I don't know if he has a job with strange hours or if he enjoys being out at night, but I don't know what to do. We don't talk a lot and I don't want to be the rude neighbor complaining about his snow blowing. It's not keeping me from falling asleep, but it does make it harder to do so. I guess I shouldn't make it into an issue. Snow blowing is only necessary after snow falls, so it's not like this is a year-round hobby. I just hope he doesn't mow the lawn during the same hours...

Patching Ripped Jeans

If you're the kind of person who always wears the same color and wash of jeans, here's a tip for making patches. Take your oldest and most ripped pair of jeans and put them with your sewing materials. When you need to patch your other jeans you'll have those old jeans to make patches with, in just the right fabric!

Ten Years of Harry Potter?

I was very excited to read an article this morning listing the release date for the next Harry Potter book as July 21st.

Then I read that it will be the ten-year anniversary of the release of the first book.

Ten years?!?!?!?

I feel so old. I would rather not measure my age using book releases, but I'm really stuck on this one. It kind of takes away from the excitement of the last book in the series coming out. Oh, well. Still looking forward to reading it.

Wednesday Woes

I've done something to my back. I don't know what I did or what exactly is wrong, but it hurts. A lot. The same thing happened last year. I did a set of stretches every day and the pain went away after a couple of weeks. I really don't want to wait that long. That's what I get for posting about my Monday success. (I can probably trace the back incident to my furniture moving spree last week. Oh, well. My room is so pretty now...)

Monday Success

I enjoy Mondays. Weekends are nice, but they mean that I get behind schedule. Things around the house run astray. Work, some of which I do from home, gets put on the back burner. Then Monday arrives. I catch up on dishes, do all the laundry, clean the house, get my work ready for the week, and enjoy the order that has returned to my life! Maybe it seems silly. Does anyone else have this orderliness affliction? Sometimes I wish I could enjoy a little chaos, but then Monday arrives and I'm content again.

Online Coupons

I'm a huge fan of coupons. They seem so logical to me. Take a few minutes to clip them and save some money. Unfortunately my local paper offers limited coupons that actually apply to things that I buy on a regular basis. That's where online coupons come in handy. A little research goes a long way. I have several coupon sites that I check regularly for discounts, both online and in stores, that I might use. A great resource is Coupon Chief. You can search by store or by category and find coupon codes to use for online purchases. 5% or 10% might not seem like a lot, but if you have a large order or expensive items to purchase it can really help out! (And I, not being a person who enjoys the store experience, love having purchases delivered to my door.)

Here are a few stores that offer discount codes through Coupon Chief:

• Only Natural Pet Store - A great resource for natural pet products.
• Overstock.com - This is a useful online store for discounted items to begin with. Combine with coupons and save even more!
• Gardener's Supply Company - I'll be using this resource soon, as I prepare my garden for the spring.

This has been a PayPerPost ad.

Stevia

I'm curious about how other people use stevia in recipes. I've been experimenting with it as a sugar substitute. Does anyone have a problem with the lack of appropriate support in the US? I'm just looking for some feedback.

Giant Kitchen Rags

Have you ever had a bad spill in the kitchen, like an entire pitcher of juice falling out of the fridge and spilling across the entire kitchen floor? No, neither have I. And when you tried to clean up the juice you realized that none of your rags were sufficient and not even your mop would soak up the mess so you used bathroom towels that ended up with pink juice stains on them? No, neither have I. And I'm sure that a nice juice coating is good for wood floors.

Anyhow, here's my solution to the giant kitchen spills, since I'm not a fan of paper towels. When you have bath towels that are wearing out or have holes, turn them into giant kitchen rags. Don't cut them up into normal rag sizes. Keep them their original size and accessible. The next time that pitcher of juice spills you'll be prepared. Or I'll be prepared. Whatever.

Snow Yourself In

Why snow yourself in, you ask? I've found that this is a great solution to drafty doors. I realize that not everyone has doors that aren't being used, but my house has several doors leading outside. Drafts can be a problem in the winter, particularly with the sliding doors. A great solution (in addition to stopping the draft from the inside) is to pile snow in front of the door. I do suggest that you keep at least two outside doors accessible - in case of emergency you don't want to be stopped by snow! This is just a quick fix if your house if more summer-oriented.

Train Signal Training

How's your computer knowledge? I feel like no matter how much I know I always have more to learn. Train Signal Inc. is offering free computer training. You just fill out your name and e-mail, and select a login ID. It's a simple process and the best part is that the free lessons aren't just demos - they're full lessons from the paid course that Train Signal offers. Do you want to assess your new (or old) knowledge? They also offer free practice exams! If you want to enhance your computer knowledge click here and try it out.

This has been a PayPerPost ad.

Moving-the-Furniture Bug

Finally, here's a real post for you instead of just a link!

I got the moving-the-furniture bug the other day. It started out innocently enough. We bought a new bed. It arrived and I was putting it together. As I did so it occurred to me that it might look better facing the other direction. That caused me to move the end tables, dressers, hampers and every other piece of furniture in the room. The new furniture arrangement meant that some of the picture needed to be moved. And the hooks on the walls. Basically, it's like a whole new room. And I love it! Now I'm looking at our tired, old bedding and thinking maybe it needs a spruce as well...

Do you ever get the moving-the-furniture bug? I do, a couple of times a year. Perhaps that's why I like the unpacking part of the moving process. There's something very satisfying about finding the perfect place for every piece of furniture. Or maybe I just have issues. Regardless of whether or not you like moving furniture, I think it's good to do once in awhile to get in some nice, deep cleaning!

Now I wonder which room will be next...

Blogger Survey

Yes, I'm redirecting you again! If you have a few minutes to complete a survey, head over to Why Do You Blog? There are sixteen questions and you can choose to leave an e-mail address or remain anonymous. (If you leave your e-mail address it will be submitted in a drawing to win an iPod Shuffle.) It really doesn't take long. Have fun!

Cystic Fibrosis

Take a moment to check out this post at Kid Squared. If you are able, donate a little money to help out Adelaide's team raise money for CF research.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Have you heard of this cookbook? I'm not usually a fan of cookbooks, because I'm not very good at sticking to the recipes. It never would have occurred to me to buy this for myself, but it was given to me as a gift so I tried some of the recipes. I'm thoroughly impressed! These are great vegan recipes that taste and look like your run-of-the-mill, heart-attack inducing cupcakes. Luckily they're somewhat better for you. Now, I don't often bake cupcakes, but I do like to bake muffins. I took some ideas from Vegan Cupcakes and made my muffins vegan and a little healthier. Yum! Has anyone ever heard of putting vinegar in soy milk to curdle it? I love this - I can't believe I never tried it before. Anyhow, go make yourself a cupcake. Yum.