If you are looking for smell goods for your house, but don’t want an overpowering commercial air freshener. Well, ‘tis the season for eucalyptus. It is usually hard to find fresh. But, during the fall and holiday season, you will find it in bunches and mixed in flower arrangements in some floral department. Eucalyptus cleans the air and gives you a wonderful burst of freshness when you approach pass by it.

Here’s a few tips and tricks I’ve either come across, or used myself in preparing for Thanksgiving.  Hopefully there’s something in here for first-timers and veterans alike!

1. Do as much as you can ahead of time.

I know this seems like a no-brainer, but there are some things you may not have considered.  Aside from your regulars (dessert, cranberry sauce, etc) try chopping potatoes the night before, and placing them in the pot you plan to boil them in.  Cover the potatoes with water, adding a little bit of salt, then cover the pot, and put it in the fridge.  The salted water will keep the potatoes from oxidizing (turning brown), and you can save yourself about 10-30 minutes of potato prep on Turkey Day.  You can also cook most of the stuffing ingredients the night before (celery, onion, sausage, etc).  Once they’re cooked, put them in the fridge.  Let them warm up to room temperature the next morning, and go on combining them with the bread cubes, chicken stock and other ingredients that would otherwise get mushy sitting overnight.

2. Plan, plan, plan.

Plot out what can be made ahead of time, what needs to go in the oven and what can be cooked on the stove, how long each item takes to cook, as well as what (if anything) can be baked in the same oven as the turkey.  Or, if you live in a temperate area, think about grilling your turkey instead.  Not only is this a hot culinary trend, grilling it will free up your oven all together; just remember to have your meat department either butterfly it, or segment it for you.  If grilling your turkey, check out the link for more info and recipe ideas: http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/delegate.do?fnSearchString=grilled+turkey&fnSearchType=site Only cooking a turkey breast this year?  Think about using your toaster oven.  And don’t be shy about asking people to bring things.  If you know you won’t be able to bake fresh rolls, see if someone else can make them, or pick them up on the way over to your house.  Not enough room in your fridge to keep that salad cold?  Have someone else bring it along or, if it’s cold outside, cover and set out on your porch.  The less stress for you, the better!

3. Don’t forget some of the most under-utilized Thanksgiving cooking tools: the microwave and slow cooker.

A couple of companies now make steamer bags, perfect for microwave steaming veggies.  Dice up a vegetable medley and throw in some herbs instead of the usual oven roasting.  I’ve even tossed potatoes in there to soften, then mashed them up with milk and garlic paste afterwards.  My microwave mashed potatoes were done in 10 minutes; much quicker than if I’d had to wait for them to boil.  Also, candied yams can be done in the slow cooker.  Here’s a link to a recipe from RecipeSource.com: http://www.recipesource.com/fgv/vegetables/yams/00/rec0004.html You can transfer the yams to another baking dish, then pop them in the oven while the turkey is resting. You’ll get that nice, browned marshmallow topping and no one will know the difference.  Plus, clean up is a snap when you use a slow cooker liner.

4. Make other people do your dishes.

You’ve served the meal, and everyone is fat and happy.  When the inevitable offer arises to help with the dishes, say yes.  After all, you’ve been cooking for two days at this point.  You deserve to undo that top button, sit back, relax, and let someone else do the dirty work.

Enjoy!!!

I remember when Lea was a baby we got a book from the library about quilts. It was just an ole story about a girl who watched her mom and grandmom make quilts out of their old clothes and how nothing was ever wasted. I then wanted to learn how to quilt but I didn’t know how, so I just started using the cloth I had and I made a memory quilt out of Lea’s old baby clothes/her cloth diapers, blankets even the shirt I wore while pregnant with her and a piece of her dad’s robe. That quilt as slightly twisted as it is usually graces the living room wall. Its in my mom’s storage area right now so I’ll have to wait to get it. But then when Lea was 3 yrs old, instead of throwing out clothes she had outgrown, I made it into a quilt that she used on her bed for many years. I have even used it. Its not perfect, its not even quilted correctly-lol, I made it out of her clothes and I hand stitched them and so I have to go back and fix what I did but its nice and heavy and it makes for the best lap quilt. One of these days I’m gonna extend it since its too small for her the way it is. Heres a picture of Lea reading the paper in my bed with the memory quilt I made her for when she was three. You can see it has some characters from the Ruggrats in it and even the hat from my old college, Marygrove College.

But in looking at Dorothy Ainsworth’s website the other night, it got me to thinking about quilting again. She has on her website about making a Levi quilt using your old blue jeans found at: http://www.dorothyainsworth.com/quilt/quilt.html  I may never learn to quilt like that, esp. since I do it by hand just like people used to do but I was thinking of how to quilt simply and so I found out about Rag Quilts. Its the same concept of using clothes esp. jeans like Dorothy does but you rag it for design and for practical reasons like you’re mistakes aren’t mistakes but are turned into an asset. A good website for this is found at: http://www.crafterslovecrafts.com/rag-quilts.html  You simply sew each end together and instead of hiding the exposed side, you tatter the exposed side up to the seem and then you wash your quilt to make it more tattered and you have a blue jean rag quilt. And from what I’ve been reading, the blue jean rag quilts are very warm and they are simple to make without all the hard work that goes into normal quilting. I’ve even seen it said that they are ‘no quilting quilts”. Once you’ve washed the quilt and let it fringe up, you then tack it to a backing and you’re pretty much done. I have some old jeans, and some old cloth that I’m gonna start working on. So don’t throw out your old clothes and jeans, put them to good use!!!

romaine hearts cut for a salad
sweet balsamic vinaigrette
1/2 of a granny smith apple
4 halves of canned pears
8 chunks of canned pineapple
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 oz of brown sugar
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
6 grape tomato’s (cut in half)
an ounce or two of sliced black olives
an ounce of shredded Parmesan cheese
save the juice from the canned pinapple
a few rings of a slice of red onion diced

take the 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of water and mix it, set the chicken breast in a bowl and cover with the brown sugar and water, marinade for about 20 minutes.

crush the pineapple chunks, place in a small pot, mix the one ounce of brown sugar with it and just a little bit of pinapple juice to dissolve the sugar. Heat on a burner until the mixture is thick, then set aside to let cool.

When the breast is ready for cooking, grill it or bake it, but take the marinade mixture and put in another pot, boil it until it reduces and thickens, you must time it so that when the chicken breast is done, you can place the breast in that thickened sauce and coat it.

Chop the coated breast into small chunks, mix with lettuce, cheese, pears, the crushed pineapple mixture, onion, and balsamic vinaigrette, thoroughly mixing it all.

Place into salad bowl or plate, add the olives, sliced grape tomatoes, and cut the apple just before eating.

Enjoy!!!

I’ve been busy at my local church volunteering at the food pantry esp. since I was on pins and needles over the latest house, the one that still has a nice size yard, not an acre but find by me, in a nice area, which happens to be across the street from our Reverend-(can’t do nothing wrong now!) I was waiting for it to be inspected so we could sign the lease and move in. Well, today was the inspection day so I volunteered again at the food pantry for a total of 3 times this week, and we moved in several tons of food and restocked it. So afterwards I was anxious but I went home instead of sitting in front of the house-(which is what I wanted to do)-and got a call from the new landlord. So I called her back and she told me she wasn’t sure that she wanted to rent it out to us, that it might not work out. Now here I am having gone through this already with this one guy who just left us hanging making us think we got the place, then to have her like a half an hour before the inspection tell me she wasn’t sure if she wanted to rent it to us…she had to think about it…I started freaking out. She wanted the gas turned on so they could inspect but the gas was turned off from the previous tenant which lives right next door to me now in the next building. But here in Johnson City when you have a utility turned on you have to pay a deposit and my deposit for the gas is $300, thats not including the past amount I owed from a previous house which would make it nearly $700, the bill was from 6 yrs ago! So, I told her I was going to wait until the first of December to turn on the gas, but she said she didn’t know…I opened up my newspaper and she had the house listed again! So I started calling around for places to move again. My 30 day notice ends on Nov. 20th! So I started freaking out. This guy said he may have a place, he’ll let me know, its not a house but a duplex. But water, washer/dryer is included. I just paid my rental for the washer/dryer yesterday, but I could always get my money back but I still wanted the house, I wanted my garden again and maybe one day stealth chickens!

So, I called my mom and told her, I was nearly in tears but she said she’ll send me the $700 and to call this landlord back and let her know I will have it on before we moved in. So I did and she said great but she needed to call me back because she had a call from the Power Board. So, I waited and didn’t hear from her…so then I went to the house and looked around and just stood there, ya know…I was crushed because I didn’t know what the deal was…so then I went home and called her back and she said that it sounds like it’ll work out because now she can have the inspector come with the gas being turned on and have them inspect the place. She said she will have the carpet cleaned and to let her know when the gas is put on there so she can have them come back and reinspect. So I brought Lea and her friends to see it, it smells like FEET, really, really strong! So, I am glad she’s gonna clean the living room carpet, I  need to rent a cleaner to clean the bedrooms so they don’t smell like feet!

I’m still looking though just in case something else pops up. I hope not!!! I really want to be back in a house!!!

If you are like me and cannot stand a stale house, this little trick might help. We have two large dogs and with large dogs come large smells, especially during the dreary wet days of fall.

The dogs often stay in the laundry room. I have found that lilies are powerful order neutralizers. Yes, I have allergies. But, it seems the lillies and the dog smells fight it out and my sinuses still win.

When making  jello, here is a good tip to keep it from sticking and breaking apart when you remove it from the mold or pan.

Make as directed.  When it is ready, it will be a bit frothy at the top, this is where the tip comes in.  Let it sit in the bowl for a couple of minutes, stir it again, then wait a couple more minutes and stir some more.

What you want is the froth to be gone so as the gelatin will be completely dissolved.  This will make for an easy removal when it has congealed to the mold. 

When making  jello, here is a good tip to keep it from sticking and breaking apart when you remove it from the mold or pan.

Make as directed.  When it is ready, it will be a bit frothy at the top, this is where the tip comes in.  Let it sit in the bowl for a couple of minutes, stir it again, then wait a couple more minutes and stir some more.

What you want is the froth to be gone so as the gelatin will be completely dissolved.  This will make for an easy removal when it has congealed to the mold. 

Just a quick tip for you guys.

If you want yourself some nice scrambled eggs tomorrow morning and are still hung over from your Halloween parties consequently dropping numerous chicken periods(eggs) on the floor, simple pour some salt over the yolk and you can simply scoop it up and throw it in the bin!

No more messy hours long egg clean up  for you guys !

Have you lost your drain stopper or maybe like me you took your drain apart leaving you without a stopper of any kind.

Here is the trick for stopping it up to bath. Use a golf ball. Works everytime. Not only that but it works great in the bathroom sink too.

If you want to be entertained, use a plastic ball and when you take it out to drain the tub, watch it do a little dance. ha ha

Keeping busing getting ready for my next show, I know many crafters do shows each week I hope to add more as time goes on.  The truth is right now I could not handle more.  My machine is down and I have to get it in to service.  By the time it is fixed I will be able to add just enough stock to feel okay about the show.  But here is the information!  Mark your calendars this will be a fund event!

NEWS RELEASE

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Ami Voeltz, Executive Director

Do It Green! Minnesota

612-345-7973 or ami@doitgreen.org

www.doitgreen.org

Do It Green! Minnesota Announces the

4^rd Annual Green Gifts Fair

Shop for all of your green gifts in one place!

Learn about ways to have a green holiday season!

MINNEAPOLIS/ST.PAUL, Minnesota [September 2009] - Kick off the holiday season with Do It Green! Minnesota’s 4^rd Annual Green Gifts Fair on Saturday, November 21st from 10am-5pm at the Midtown Global Market on Lake St. and 10^th Ave. in Minneapolis. Shop among 70+ local, eco-friendly artists and businesses, catch the low carbon cook-off, an eco fashion show, children’s eco activities, and learn how to entertain green this holiday season. At the fair, pick up the new 2010 edition of Do It Green! Magazine.  This is a free family fun event.  Visit www.doitgreen.org for more details. Estimated attendance is 5,000+.

2010 Do It Green! Magazine Launch

The Green Gifts Fair event launches our new guidebook each year. The 2010 Do It Green! Magazine offers over 100 educational articles on living green and living simply, many resources, and a Minnesota Green Pages Directory. This guidebook features articles written by Minnesotans ranging from food, to transportation, to education.   It is the perfect holiday gift for the ecologically minded.    This guide is Minnesota’s only comprehensive community guide to green and sustainable living. The 2010 edition of Do It Green! Magazine will be available for sale at the Green Gifts Fair.

Activities at the Green Gifts Fair

* 70 + local green retailers and vendors selling green, recycled, fair trade and local gifts

* Launch of the 2010 Do It Green! Magazine themed “Living Green, Living Simply”

* Low Carbon Cook Off with local chefs and taste testing

* Sew your own cloth gift bag with the American Sewing Guild

* Visit the Low Waste Oasis to find out how to host green holiday gatherings

* Eco holiday tree options display

Do It Green! Minnesota, is a 100% volunteer-powered organization, the publisher of Do It Green! Magazine, the host of the Do It Green! Gifts Fair, Do It Green! Resource Center in Uptown, and ongoing classes and workshops. For more information about our organization or for more details about the fair, please contact Ami Voeltz at ami {at} doitgreen.org or visit www.doitgreen.org.

Getting ready for Halloween?

Here’s some tips for the stocking wearers amongst you,  the wicked witches from the east and the naughty nurses who will grace this weeks many Halloween parties.

• If you struggle as many women do to close your suspenders around your stockings or to fit them into position without twists or snagging your pretty new nylons,attach stockings to suspender belts before putting on and pull them onto you legs as you would tights/pantyhose. So much saved time  so few stockings with snags !
• Be sure to carry clear nail polish/varnish  simply dab a little bit of varnish onto the snag and it will stop it further spreading and making you look like  a cheap hooker, of course if the party is tarts and vicars,look as back seat whore as you like
• As an aside to the above a little hairspray works just as well at stopping snags from getting worse just remember to stay away from naked flames !I will be posting tips on how to carve the perfect pumpkin and tips for what to do with all the extra pumpkin flesh you’ll have lying around very soon!Don’t forget Always trick! Candy rots your teeth, trickery gains you a reputation that everyone else wishes they had.

Did you ever wonder how a washing machine gets so dirty? I mean isn’t it suppose to clean clothes, yet it can be one of the dirtiest appliances. How does a refrigerator get so grungy? Crumbs, solidified jelly, and spilled soup can cause quite a mess in the refrigerator. The wonderful thing about the refrigerator is that it preserves spills into sticky hard to remove putty like substances. But, if you are tired of hot water and a steel wool Chore Boy, then try Clorox wipes.

Clorox wipes easily and quickly wipes down a refrigerator and breaks up stuck on food without scrubbing. The refrigerators shelves will sparkle.

I am! By now my mother would’ve been done with shopping, I’m never done that early, but October does cause me to start thinking about the upcoming holidays. For years although I was frugal the whole year round, I would splurge and buy all kinds of stuff for Lea for her birthday and for Christmas. But I told Lea last year that we were gonna start economizing for Christmas. My uncle started his kids off with getting only 2 gifts for Christmas and they celebrated the holidays instead. I always thought his kids were missing out on things, but now I know that by teaching them that the holildays is more than just recieving gifts, he was being smart. My sister too started her 2 children off with getting only 4 gifts, so thats what I did with Lea. She got 4 gifts from me, she got 4 from her grandmother, etc. So yes she got more than just 4 total but by sticking to the 4 gifts myself I didn’t have to buy as much and she picked out the 4 gifts she really wanted instead of a bunch of gifts she really wasn’t interested in. Its pretty tricky when you have teenagers and they want expensive gifts that are nearly $200 for the system and one game is nearly $40, even used its $100 for the system…so with that I’m trying the wouldn’t you like it better to get 4 gifts vs. that one expensive one technique…

Then you have friends/family to shop for too. I stopped buying individual gifts except for my young niece and nephew and buying family gifts…one gift per household. So like for my sister, I buy for the kids. And for my mom…well, thats a good question on that one because she has everything…but anyway, for the most part, I try to send one gift. I’ve even made cookies/fruitcake and dropped them off or mailed them as gifts. Don’t forget that the closer to Christmas, the more deals will show up but remember thats a trade-off with the crowds, the lines, and the traffic. And remember after Christmas there are sales. My mother picked up my niece/nephews birthday gifts after Christmas and gave it to me and I have kept it all year, even moving with it. I mailed off my nieces gifts last month, my nephews birthday is coming up and we decided to send a movie for his birthday and save the big car my mom bought for Christmas. But, that taught me to look for gifts during the after Christmas sales, and save them for when you need them.

We also use ornaments as gifts. Every year I buy a special ornament for each family member. My niece and nephew as well as Lea look forward to their new ornament. Its special and meaningful and they can look back and remember what they did and what they were into. Last year I went to Michaels and bought two wooden cutouts, the ones that are already painted and I drilled holes into them and made them into ornaments, one a soccer ball and one a football for my nephew, the two sports they were in that year.

But, I found this website and thought I’d pass it along…63 Gift Ideas for Under $10 – For Any Occasion of the Year! by Michelle Jones found at: http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/money/63giftsunder10dollars.htm

I’ve bookmarked this site myself. Hope this helps!

I am not a mother myself, but I do think that Mom always knows best, which is why you would be wise to check out the Simple Mom blog. This is a blog created by a mom who provides some simple money-saving tips, like budgeting family finances, making homemade projects, and going green around the home. If you have a family at home, or even if you live by yourself and want some money-saving household tips, then this would be a helpful blog to check out.

One of the latest and very useful posts is 10 Weeks Till Christmas, which is going to give you information on getting all of your gift shopping done in time. If you have ever faced the nightmare of last-minute holiday shopping, then you are going to appreciate these money saving Christmas tips well in advance so that you can get gifts for your loved ones and not break the bank. This blog does provide a simple approach to holiday shopping, which is almost unheard of. If you want to keep your sanity in the holiday season, then you would be advised to check out this blog post to stay ahead of the game!

I would like to write a preface to this post.

Preface: The below post is not in any way indicating that my house is spotless every day or that I am some sort of super woman. I have, however, found a system that works for me. I love hearing other peoples’ tips on cleaning, kids and life in general, so here is my two cents.

When we moved into this house we started at ground zero. I had it cleaned before we moved in and after we unpacked and decorated, I sighed… “I really want to keep my house this clean.” I had accepted long ago (after having kids) that my entire house would never be perfectly clean all at once (unless I left with the kids and some else cleaned for me!). As annoying as that fact is, that is our life right now. I have about one hour of semi uninterrupted time during the day at rest time to get un-kid-friendly stuff done. I needed a plan.

I have looked into Fly Lady before, but it was a little intense for me. To many emails, to many rules, too much pressure and I hate wearing shoes inside. I don’t want to be cleaning every day all day and I also didn’t want a stringent schedule that if something came up one day I couldn’t move change stuff around. I stole a little bit from her and came up with my own plan.

First, I decided that floors and bathrooms obviously need to done every week. So Sunday or Monday, is floor and bathroom day. (I do usually have to wipe down the sink and counters at a couple of  times during the week…) My kids love vacuuming so I do that when they are awake and then during naps I mop and clean the bathrooms. Floor day is also, pickup the play room and bedroom time. That is another reason I like to have the kids awake during vacuuming… they are forced get to help pick up. (by the way, if you do not own a steam mop, buy one right now. They are worth every penny and make mopping so so so much easier and less time consuming. I have the Shark.) I also decided that every evening Mike and I would spend about 5-10 minutes picking up, finishing the kitchen, etc. so when we woke up it would be to a fresh start. And when I say 5-10 minutes I mean it. We set the timer and go at lightening speed and then we are done.  It is amazing how much two people can get done in 10 dedicated minutes.

Next I divided my house into four zones a little bit like Fly Lady so each room would get deep cleaned once a month. Tuesday, while Scott is at school, is usually when I do my deep cleaning day because Nate will nap and I will have two hours to power through it. BUT my goal is that the zone for the week will done some time in that week! Here is my deep cleaning check list:

Zone 1: Kitchen and Laundry Room- Let me say, this is my least favorite zone. It is the most time consuming for the least amount of visible pay off.

- dust base boards and molding

- dust ceiling fan

- clean blinds and window sill

- clean out fridge and freezer and clean the shelves and drawers

- dust top of fridge

- sweep behind fridge

- organize and wipe down pantry shelves

- wipe down insides of all cabinets and drawers and de-crumb any silver ware trays etc

- clean fronts of cabinets

- wash high chair cover and deep clean high chair

Laundry Room

- wipe down tops and fronts of washer and dryer

- clean base boards

- organize and clean out “shoe baskets”

- de clutter coat hanger thing

- wipe out cabinets

Zone 2: Living and Play Room

- dust baseboards and mantle

- clean/dust shutters and sills and light fixtures

- wipe down all pictures and decor

- vacuum under couch / chair cushions

- organize movies and dust tv stand cabinets

Play Room

- organize and sanitize all toys

- dust base boards, shutters and light fixtures

- clean french doors

Zone 3: Bedrooms and Master Bath

Bedrooms

- dust all base boards, blinds, and light fixtures

- dust all furniture and clean all decor and pictures

- organize all bedrooms toys

- clean out clothes (if needed)

- organize shoes and closet (in master)

- organize/clean out night stands (master)

Master bath

- dust/clean baseboards and blinds

- clean out/ organize all baskets (ie get rid of any make up, organize hair stuff etc)

Zone 4: Entry, Dining, Hallway and Hall Bath

- dust all base boards and shutters

- organize entry closet

- dust and clean all pictures, decor, and furniture

- organize inside of buffet

- wipe down every inch of every chair (NOT FUN)

Hall Bath

- organize and wipe down insides of all drawers

- organize, throw away expired meds

- organize towels

- organize/clean out all cabinets

So there it is! I know everyone has different rooms than I do but this system has really helped me. My entire house might not all be clean at once BUT it is also never completely gross. Also, I don’t feel like I am constantly cleaning but never getting anything done. I spend two nap times cleaning non stop, it feels so good when I am finished and I actually feel like my house is clean and organized. Just promise me that if you ever come over on the last week of the month, you won’t judge me if you open up my fridge… It will be done the next week!

Tip: I have found that watching a show on Hulu that I don’t really care about helps. It is a little bit of distraction but I don’t care enough about the show that I want to stop and watch. Plus it is on my lap top so I can carry it to each room with me.

I would love to hear any tips any one else has!

“My attic, my attic someone come help thee.  The forgotten, the treasured and little mice three.”

If your attic is like most, it’s one of the most forgotten areas in the home when it comes to cleaning projects.  It’s where the seasonal clothes and decorations are stored.  Sometimes even furiture and housewares that you’re sure you’ll use again will find it’s way up the stairs and into that space above our heads. 

I recommend bringing a vacuum or broom up to your attic at least twice a year to attack the webs and dust that accumulates in the rafters.  Plus, move things around a bit to check for extra inhabitants – rodents (and their droppings) and insects.  Nobody likes to pull out their summer clothes with mouse droppings on (or in) the box or have it covered in spider webs.  In the case you do have “visitors” up there an exterminator can be your best friend and should be called to consult on the situation. 

While your moving things around, it’s also a great time to asses what really needs to be up there & what could be sold, given or donated.  Old or vintage clothing could be donated to a theater group, old toys or other items could be loaned or donated to museums & travel around the country on display and books could be donated to the library to update their collections.  There’s plenty of tax write offs waiting to be had in our attics. 

Good luck!  Please submit your questions to:  www.sortmyspace.com

Do you even know what’s in your junk drawer?  Of course not.  That’s why we call it a junk drawer.  It contains all the little things we’re sure we’ll need in the future, but it doesn’t really have a place to be.  Or, it’s in there because you’re planning on putting it in the right place “in the future!” 

Well, most of us don’t deal with our junk drawers until they’re too full to even open – am I right?  Of course.  And, I’ve been guilty as charged.  What I decided to do was to put some compartments in that drawer.  They can be little containers for pins & coins or plastic desk drawer dividers for pencils and the screwdriver.  Those are the usual things I put in my junk drawer. 

It’s important to look at the frequency of usage when ‘allowing’ anything to stay in our junk drawer permanently.  I actually don’t use very many batteries.  So, my batteries go in a container in my cleaning items pantry.  On the other hand, I use a lot of different chargers, and those have been awarded their own drawer all by themselves. 

Not sure what you have in your junk drawer?  Time to dump it out and sort it out!

For questions:  Visit www.sortmyspace.com

After one month of marriage, I found my husband and I running in opposite directions as soon as Saturday morning came. I like to plan things so I can keep the family organized. On the other hand, plan and weekends are two words that you will never hear come out of my husband’s mouth in the same sentence!

To minimize the stress of knowing who, what, when and where everything was going on, I put a Dry Erase Calendar in our kitchen. The dry erase calendar is for the month and we add and delete activities as we go along. We have a different color marker for each family member and use black marker for activities that involve everyone.

This was a very easy thing to do and has helped us get back on track! Try it with your family and let us know the results.

1. Drip-proof hanging plants

Even if you over-water a hanging plant indoors, you can prevent it from leaking on your floor by using a plastic shower cap on the bottom of your planter.  The elastic will hold the shower cap onto the bottom and collect any dripping mess.

2. Get rid of mosquitoes before they attack

Run back into your kitchen and grab some vanilla extract.  Add 1 tsp. mixed with water and put in a spray bottle.  Spritz the mixture onto pulse points.  The sweet smell blocks the receptors on mosquitoes’ antennae, which prevent the bugs from being able to “smell” the human prey.

3. Not sure what to do with styrofoam packing peanuts?

Place them in a bowl and spray them with your favorite scented air freshner.  The peanuts are porous and will absorb perfume molecules, releasing scent over the course of four-five days.  Once fragrance evaporates, just respray the peanuts.