Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Christmas Presents
I was at a local wood crafting store and they had plain wood blocks for sale. I didn't need them, but since I'm a woman and we always buy things we don't need just because it's on sale, I bought them. It didn't take long for me to come up with an idea on what to do with them. A little paint and yarn ribbon and BAM! Presents!
I didn't distress the edges or anything super fancy. I figured they'd get natural distressing done over the years with kids banging them against furniture and whatnot. At first I tried just wrapping a whole piece of ribbon around the block and up the other sides like you'd do with a real present but the cross-section on the bottom made the blocks wobbly. They wouldn't sit evenly on a flat surface. So I cut them and glued them to the sides like so:
It's not perfectly flat but it was a lot better than the first option. Plus with them being glued on, it's harder for the ribbon to be pulled off. So easy and so cute!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
House Cleaning
I've seen pins on Pinterest that say "How To Clean Your House" and similar nonsense. At first I kept thinking, you really need to have someone tell you how to clean your house? I thought it was a little odd. But then I saw one with a better description that said "How To Clean Your House Throughout the Week". I didn't read the pin, so this may be exactly what that pinner said, but it got me thinking. Cleaning your house throughout the week? Hmmm that's new.
I usually knock out my cleaning in a day or two but it's very time consuming. It ends up taking the whole day and I don't get to spend time doing much else, which takes time away from my daughter. So doing a little each day intrigued me. Why hadn't I ever thought of that? It makes perfect sense! Yes I'm cleaning each day but I usually do anyway in a disorganized way. Plus each day only takes 30 minutes to an hour tops. So I devised a plan that I wanted to share with you. Let me point out that this idea is for major cleaning, not just tidying things up. It's to help you deep clean your house once a week, every week, without it taking forever and to help make sure you cleaned everything. If the kitchen floor is gross and it's not the day to mop, do it anyway :). Normal upkeep isn't included in this.
Step 1:
Sit down and make a list of everything that needs cleaning. Avoid writing things like "clean sink, tub, and shower, and sweep and mop the floors in the bathroom". That makes the list look overwhelming. I broke it down into rooms. I already knew what needed to be done in each room, I didn't have to list each individual task. I didn't include vacuuming or dusting as part of each room though because I didn't want to vacuum each day. I included those as their own task. Personalize your list to your liking and what you want to do.
Step 2:
Arrange the list in order from the tasks that take the longest to the ones that take the least amount of time. My kitchen and master bath take the longest so they were at the top of the list. Dusting takes 5 minutes, so that was at the bottom.
Step 3:
Group a hard task and an easy task together and assign those a day. Repeat. It may take some tweaking to get everything to fit evenly throughout the week. Adjust it according to obligations you know you have on certain days to avoid being overwhelmed. Remember, this is supposed to be easy :)
Here's an example of my list:
Monday: vacuum and dust the whole house. I vacuum everything from the stairs to my cosmetic drawer because sometimes hair gets in there. I hate hair. It takes about 30 minutes.
Tuesday: kitchen, living room, and front room. We hardly ever use our front room and I just vacuumed and dusted it on Monday so I just tidy up if needed and sweep and mop the entry way. In the kitchen I clean off the counters, wipe everything down, clean the stove, oven, and microwave, wipe off dirty handprints off the fridge and pantry door, sweep and mop, etc. you get it. I also tidy up the living room and pick up toys.
Wednesday: laundry and small bath. Clean laundry room, sweep and mop the floor, and clean the small guest bath. Easy.
Thursday: master bathroom and bedroom.
Friday: blinds and windows. I dust the blinds and clean the windows that need it. On this day I also organize anything that needs it.
You'll notice I didn't include laundry. Some people like having a laundry day but I just do it as needed. So that's up to you. Also our bedrooms don't get that messy ever so dusting and vacuuming and putting some random clothes away or arranging things on a shelf are all that's needed. I put that as part of the Monday dusting. If you have kids who need their rooms cleaned, assign them a day and make them help! Or even make them do the whole thing alone. That way you can make sure it gets done. Each house is different so arrange your list to fit you. This may seem like an obvious plan and I don't think I'm sharing some earth shattering secret with you, but I've been trying this for a couple weeks now and it's really helped de-stress the cleaning process in my home. I feel much more on top of things. Happy cleaning!
I usually knock out my cleaning in a day or two but it's very time consuming. It ends up taking the whole day and I don't get to spend time doing much else, which takes time away from my daughter. So doing a little each day intrigued me. Why hadn't I ever thought of that? It makes perfect sense! Yes I'm cleaning each day but I usually do anyway in a disorganized way. Plus each day only takes 30 minutes to an hour tops. So I devised a plan that I wanted to share with you. Let me point out that this idea is for major cleaning, not just tidying things up. It's to help you deep clean your house once a week, every week, without it taking forever and to help make sure you cleaned everything. If the kitchen floor is gross and it's not the day to mop, do it anyway :). Normal upkeep isn't included in this.
Step 1:
Sit down and make a list of everything that needs cleaning. Avoid writing things like "clean sink, tub, and shower, and sweep and mop the floors in the bathroom". That makes the list look overwhelming. I broke it down into rooms. I already knew what needed to be done in each room, I didn't have to list each individual task. I didn't include vacuuming or dusting as part of each room though because I didn't want to vacuum each day. I included those as their own task. Personalize your list to your liking and what you want to do.
Step 2:
Arrange the list in order from the tasks that take the longest to the ones that take the least amount of time. My kitchen and master bath take the longest so they were at the top of the list. Dusting takes 5 minutes, so that was at the bottom.
Step 3:
Group a hard task and an easy task together and assign those a day. Repeat. It may take some tweaking to get everything to fit evenly throughout the week. Adjust it according to obligations you know you have on certain days to avoid being overwhelmed. Remember, this is supposed to be easy :)
Here's an example of my list:
Monday: vacuum and dust the whole house. I vacuum everything from the stairs to my cosmetic drawer because sometimes hair gets in there. I hate hair. It takes about 30 minutes.
Tuesday: kitchen, living room, and front room. We hardly ever use our front room and I just vacuumed and dusted it on Monday so I just tidy up if needed and sweep and mop the entry way. In the kitchen I clean off the counters, wipe everything down, clean the stove, oven, and microwave, wipe off dirty handprints off the fridge and pantry door, sweep and mop, etc. you get it. I also tidy up the living room and pick up toys.
Wednesday: laundry and small bath. Clean laundry room, sweep and mop the floor, and clean the small guest bath. Easy.
Thursday: master bathroom and bedroom.
Friday: blinds and windows. I dust the blinds and clean the windows that need it. On this day I also organize anything that needs it.
You'll notice I didn't include laundry. Some people like having a laundry day but I just do it as needed. So that's up to you. Also our bedrooms don't get that messy ever so dusting and vacuuming and putting some random clothes away or arranging things on a shelf are all that's needed. I put that as part of the Monday dusting. If you have kids who need their rooms cleaned, assign them a day and make them help! Or even make them do the whole thing alone. That way you can make sure it gets done. Each house is different so arrange your list to fit you. This may seem like an obvious plan and I don't think I'm sharing some earth shattering secret with you, but I've been trying this for a couple weeks now and it's really helped de-stress the cleaning process in my home. I feel much more on top of things. Happy cleaning!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Quinoa Pancakes
I tried this recipe last week and I'm in love. They're nothing like amazing, buttermilk pancakes but they are very good for being healthy. I tried them with raspberries on top this morning. Yum! (Recipe found on Pinterest)
Ingredients
1 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet
1/4 cup low-fat milk
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus more for serving
Fresh fruit or fruit preserves (optional), for serving
Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together quinoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, egg white, butter, milk, and syrup until smooth. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and whisk to combine.
Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter and heat over medium-high. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into skillet. Cook until bubbles appear on top, 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter (reduce heat to medium if overbrowning). Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit or preserves if desired.
Ingredients
1 cup cooked quinoa or brown rice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus more for skillet
1/4 cup low-fat milk
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus more for serving
Fresh fruit or fruit preserves (optional), for serving
Directions
In a medium bowl, whisk together quinoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, egg white, butter, milk, and syrup until smooth. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and whisk to combine.
Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter and heat over medium-high. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into skillet. Cook until bubbles appear on top, 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter (reduce heat to medium if overbrowning). Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit or preserves if desired.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Say What?!
My life just got a million times easier. This may be old news to some of you but for me, it's not and it has saved the day!! I wanted to share this with fellow iPhone, iPad, and itouch users. (iOS 6 versions only, which is the newest update)
I let Kennedy play with my phone a lot, but since she's too young to do much with the apps, she just loves to push the home button over and over. This was fine until she figured out how to unlock my phone. I hated putting a pass code on it because it was a pain for me. But now there's an easier way!
You can enable what is essentially a "kid mode". Go to settings, general, accessibility, and then learning.
You want to activate guided access. Create a pass code, because that's how you will turn guided access off. I also enabled the screen sleep so my battery doesn't die when she's done playing with it.
So what guided access does is it allows your children to play in an app without accessing anything else. Open the app and click the home button three times in a row. This will start guided access. You can now lock certain parts of the screen and the home button will automatically be locked. Your child is free to play with the app and you don't have to worry about them exiting out of it!
Here's an example:
I have some Fisher Price apps that teach Kennedy animals and numbers and whatnot. The picture changes just by touching the screen. She never does though because she was always hitting the home button and exiting out of it. With guided access, I can now lock the home button and keep the screen accessible so she can tap to change the pictures and songs. It's genius!! You can even lock the whole screen so they don't touch anything they shouldn't. Another example is I have an app that plays children's songs and shows pictures. I can now essentially lock the screen and home button and she can hold the phone and watch and listen without her touch causing any effect. It's amazing!!
To exit guided access you tap the home button three times again and enter the pass code. If you want to change a locked area you can or you can end the whole feature in the upper left hand corner. Didn't this just makes like wonderful??
I let Kennedy play with my phone a lot, but since she's too young to do much with the apps, she just loves to push the home button over and over. This was fine until she figured out how to unlock my phone. I hated putting a pass code on it because it was a pain for me. But now there's an easier way!
You can enable what is essentially a "kid mode". Go to settings, general, accessibility, and then learning.
You want to activate guided access. Create a pass code, because that's how you will turn guided access off. I also enabled the screen sleep so my battery doesn't die when she's done playing with it.
So what guided access does is it allows your children to play in an app without accessing anything else. Open the app and click the home button three times in a row. This will start guided access. You can now lock certain parts of the screen and the home button will automatically be locked. Your child is free to play with the app and you don't have to worry about them exiting out of it!
Here's an example:
I have some Fisher Price apps that teach Kennedy animals and numbers and whatnot. The picture changes just by touching the screen. She never does though because she was always hitting the home button and exiting out of it. With guided access, I can now lock the home button and keep the screen accessible so she can tap to change the pictures and songs. It's genius!! You can even lock the whole screen so they don't touch anything they shouldn't. Another example is I have an app that plays children's songs and shows pictures. I can now essentially lock the screen and home button and she can hold the phone and watch and listen without her touch causing any effect. It's amazing!!
To exit guided access you tap the home button three times again and enter the pass code. If you want to change a locked area you can or you can end the whole feature in the upper left hand corner. Didn't this just makes like wonderful??
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