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The Best Way to Start Your Day

I’m a firm believer that the best way to start your day out is by getting up, making your bed first thing, and then going to the bathroom. In your first few moments you’ve already accomplished something. I hate making my bed, so I always make it first thing in the morning so it’s done for the rest of the day and I don’t have to look at a messy bed as I walk past it.

Taking a shower is a nice way to wake your body up as well. I like to take a warm shower so I’m not shocked awake with cool water. I let the water give me a big giant wake up hug. After I get out I feel nice and refreshed and ready to start my day.

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The Wizard of Oz, An Old Favorite

The Wizard Of Oz is a classic in my book. I remember watching it on television as a child with my parents in our living room. I thought it was completely amazing when I saw Dorothy walk out of her house into Oz when it was all in color. It seemed like magic to me.

I loved the Lollipop Kids too! I thought they were adorable and I asked my mom if I could visit them and play at their house. I saw their giant lollipops and fell in love.

The movie had its scary parts too. The flying monkeys creeped me out. I hid my face in my daddy’s chest and asked when they disappeared. I wasn’t only afraid of the monkeys; the talking trees also gave me the heebie jeebies. I could handle talking scarecrows but when the trees started talking I thought they were nuts.

Every time I see this movie on television now, I always stop changing the channel and enjoy the rest of the movie. It’s a wonderful movie to share with your family.

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Technological Advantages of Children Today

Kids growing up now live in a world where everything is instant or pretty close to it. No longer do they have to rely on things that take up a lot of time. The children of today have many advantages in technology that generations past did not have the benefit of. Microwaves have taken time out of cooking. The internet makes information accessible with the touch of a button. Telephones make communication with people across the world a snap.

Children today are growing up with everything around them happening soo fast.  It’s a wonder we can teach them to have patience at all.

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Children’s Literature Favorites

One of my most favorite books ever growing up as a kid was, Where The Wild Things Are. I remember Max tromping off into the scary woods and dancing with the wild things. I loved how he was dressed up and seemed to fit right in with the rest of the monsters.

I always wondered what had happened to him earlier in the day that led him to go to this far off place where the wild things lived. Did he get into trouble? Did he tell a lie? Was he trying to escape something he didn’t like? He sure had a gigantic imagination to dream up a place like that.

Every kid should have a chance to read that story. It would be a lot of fun to make up your own prequel or sequel to the story to explain what happened before or after to Max and his family. I might even do that with my own kids. I bet they would love to write and illustrate their own stories about Max.

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It’s Artichoke Time

It’s that time of year again. Time for artichokes! I get excited every year when artichokes are in season. I love to eat them with just melted butter to dip the tender leaves in.

I always buy a big bag full when they go on sale. I eat enough of them for an army every year. There really is nothing like a freshly steamed artichoke. My grandma introduced me to a mayonnaise-based dip. I never thought to try dipping them in anything other than butter. But boy was she right… they sure do taste delicious with a dollop of zesty mayonnaise dip.

I haven’t ever tried stuffing artichokes because I love to eat them one leaf at a time. I might venture out and try something different this year though. I bet they taste fantastic and I’ve been missing out all of these years.

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Best Way To Spend a Long Weekend

With Memorial Day coming up we have a long weekend ahead of us. On long weekends I like to relax with family and friends. We usually have a crock pot breakfast on Saturday morning and then just pass the day with family time. We like to play board and card games. If the weather is nice we’ll go to the park for a picnic or take everyone down to the pool for a nice refreshing swim.

This year we are going to go to the movies on Sunday and then to a barbeque on Monday. It’s a great way to catch up with friends. The barbeque is potluck style. We’re bringing my famous potato salad. The secret is to have one whole hard boiled egg for every potato you use. I never liked potato salad growing up until I had this recipe. Now I bring the potato salad to most every potluck we go to in the summer.

What do you like to do for long weekends? Do you go somewhere to get away from everything? Or, do you like to take it easy and everything at a slow and leisurely pace around home?

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Crafty Storage Idea

Storage for magazines and remote controls can be made easily with a few pieces of fabric.  Get yourself a table runner and then sew an extra piece of fabric at the end to create a pocket.  If you want to be really lazy you can skip the sewing altogether and just use fabric tape that you iron or even fabric glue.  Then you can add any embellishments you like.

This simple and crafty solution diminishes the clutter you have on your bedside table and add extra storage to a table that might not have had any to begin with. It would be a great way to store the book or kindle you read before going to bed.  I’m going to make a few of these and give them away as gifts.  I know everyone will love them

 

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Decorating With Candles

The perfect lighting makes a big difference in everything.  I’m working on redoing our home decor and want to add just the right touches of light with candles throughout our home.  We have two children so decorating with real candles can be very tricky.  We have to make sure the candles are not lit when the children are around for fear of burning.  If they are lit when the children are present, they need to be in tough to reach places.

In order to circumvent the dangers and hassles associated with traditional flame candles, I’ve decided to decorate our home with battery operated lights. I don’t just mean spot lights and such and dimmers, I mean flameless candles.  Flameless candles mean we don’t have to worry about one of the kids reaching up and grabbing a flame and getting burned.  They are much safer.  We don’t have to worry about remembering to blow the candles out before going to bed or leaving the house.  They really make me feel a lot safer than using traditional candles.

LED tea lights will make a nice addition to our living room and dining room.  I like how we can set them in any votive holder and they will flicker just like a normal candle would.  The soft candle light glow is what I’m after, not the danger of the flame. I also like the idea that I won’t have to have bags of tea lights on hand to replace all of the time once they burn out.  The only thing I’ll have to replace will be the occasional battery.  I’ve even seen the kind of tea lights that are rechargeable.  That sounds like my kind of candle.  I won’t have to store extra candles or extra batteries.

I enjoy the glow of candles when I want to relax, so may I’ll pick up some extra candles to use in my bathroom for when I want to take long,hot baths.  It wouldn’t hurt to add a few lighting touches to our master bedroom either.  For the bedroom though I think I will go with the kind of candles that look like real melting candles but are still battery operated.  I’ll get the look I still want and the peace of mind that flameless candles provide.

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Ideas for Re-purposing Pallets in Your Garden

As we enjoyed our fruit harvest this week from our upside down planters, I discussed with the kids and my husband what we wanted to plant next year.  I also looked into ideas about how we could implement them into our existing garden.  I found some neat ways to re-purpose pallets in our garden and grow our own food.

I found that I can stack some pallets together and make a vertical planter.  Vertical planters help to maximize space both vertically and horizontally, which would be great for people with limited space to plant a garden but still want to enjoy a bountiful harvest.  It’s important to plant shallow rooted veggies and herbs in these planters.  I think this solution could be great for us so we don’t lose too much room of the play space for the kids but still get to have a  nice sized garden.

I even found a creative solution to use the pallets to make a green house with sheets of glass layered on top of each section of the pallet.  This could be neat to grow different kinds of plants.  I’m really excited to try these ideas out in the garden.

 

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Harvesting Our Home Grown Fruit

Our upside down planters have really done wonders with the fruit plants we have.  I spent the afternoon harvesting our strawberries, tomatoes, and even a bunch of peppers.  We ended up getting a huge crop of peppers.  I’m excited to try all of the recipes I’ve collected for all of these peppers.  We do seem to have more than we need though so I plan to give some away to our neighbors and friends.

Our plants also produced a nice few baskets of tomatoes and strawberries.  Of course we’ll be gobbling most of the strawberries up before I have much time to do anything with them, but I told the kids and my husband that I really want to save some to make some jam and a nice strawberry rhubarb pie.  I know it will be hard for them to resist the temptation of eating the fresh and delicious berries but I promised them it would be worth their sacrifice.

I love seeing my family enjoy the work that I put into the garden.  I know exactly what they are eating when I grow it for them myself.  Next year I think I want plant more food for us to enjoy together.  I’m not sure if I want to do planter boxes or if I want to dig up some of the garden for vegetables.  Maybe I’ll have the kids help me pick out what we should grow together.