Domestic Tremblings

We got a new vacuum yesterday evening. Our old one died. Yes, the one with the retractable cord. Hold on, let me go get a tissue.

It’s so hard to let go.

So my wonderful husband did some research. Don’t know why he’d think me busy at home. And came upon a great find – of course it came with a coupon and rave reviews. After a second search he found the store with the lowest price and thus sealed our evening plans.

We loaded the masses for the high-profile outing. Yes, it was the first place I had gone all day. Yes, I had to change out of pajamas and shower for the day. Don’t judge me. It was a cleaning day. I promise.

Fine, so it became a cleaning day.

Once I decided I didn’t want to change out of pajamas and my showering window would have to reopen at nap time.

Anyway, so we stepped into the store, corralling the masses. “Don’t touch anything” came out of my mouth a bit quickly before the older three’s impulses even turned heads. “Put that back” was said a few times. I confess! My children are sinners. And Bed Bath and Beyond has WAY too many brightly colored things in kid reach. It’s a crime really. They’re just inviting reshelving needs.

With a few “mom tones” my crew returned to the double stroller like a boomerang – one of those good ones that actually responds to the circular return pattern. So much to see. Impulses firing. Salivation.

“There ya go, honey,” Matt grinned as he handed the plastic to the cashier.

“Yeah, just what you wanted!” Came the cashier’s sarcasm.

She must not have know how much mess those innocent looking smiles before her can make. She must not have seen the absent toddler climbing between the patio furniture.

I promise we don’t always act like this. … most of the time.

She should have guessed as they practiced their frozen dance moves on our way out of the store.

Things get knocked over. Things spill. Things get crushed into the carpet. And I find little “contributions” and science experiments….

Little did she know when she made her comment. Oh, little did she know…

Shhhhh! Quiet everyone. (Bends down) Look at my new baby:

…She’s beautiful…

Crushed cereal and dust bunny communities are shivering.

FEEL THE POWER!!!!

April 23, 2013 0

For the Experienced

I wanted to take a moment to brag on my Aunt. My Aunt Greer runs a little Etsy Shop and enjoys making things with her hands and selling them at craft shops. One of her little lovelies is making these wonderful dish scrubbies and crocheting these lovely “wash cloths”. While these wash cloths are actually dish cloths, they work wonders on a smiling pudding or pizza face post “experiencing” dinner.

Love the pot scrubbers that she uses a rough fiber knit into the center. And I love that you can just throw them through the wash and reuse them when they get really oogie.

So thank you for being wonderful you, Aunt Greer, and blessing our little household so with your wonderful talents.

– Love you.

April 15, 2013 0

Baby Goop Cheers!

So with “twins” and especially “twins who eat” we could easily be drowning in a baby food bill. So instead of starving our children 😉 I decided to be a bit financially savvy and make a boatload of baby food. I could have been more financially savvy by actually buying stuff on sale or better yet… having children who will reach baby food eating age when fruit is in season. But since I’m not that good (or whatever). I spend $35 on fresh fruit/veggies and cooked/pureed those boogers. We’ve been eating baby food for weeks (well, the babes, not me) and I don’t even think we’ve made a dent into the overloaded basket of food in the freezer. I don’t think I’ll need to make any more baby food until they hit “table scraps” age.

Various apple kinds

Thanks again Mommy for the awesome handmixer thingy!

(Yay for awesome Christmas presents!!!)

A “family size” jar.

Sweet taters!

Babyfied! (Hannah’s favorite)

Mmm, pea glop!

I also made carrots, bought and fed Hannah avocados (fork squished), some green beans (ran out of freezer space to do them all) and accidentally forgot about a bag of pears in the bottom of the fridge that’s now living in Mr. Trashcan (can’t expect perfection here people. HA!).

I froze them in breastmilk storage bags by type so I knew how many ounces were in each bag (4 oz and 6 oz quantities). I just grab a baggie out and serve it straight or mix it with other stuff for variety.

The twins? Oh they give it two “helping, I promise” spoon-grabbing thumbs up! =D

– Baby goop cheers!

April 5, 2013 0

Vibrant

Another simple gift I made for the girls this Christmas was watercolor paints. Since it was a gift, I got a set of 19 assorted paint cups with lids (since I figured we’d be making more paint before it’s all said and done). For our back-up stash and the stash I made for a friend, I just used old babyfood containers.

First I used these ingredients:

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Once the chemical reaction part of the baking soda/white vinegar was done (I’ll have to do this another time with the girls so they can squeal), I added in the food coloring.

I used 8-10 drops of food coloring instead of food coloring gel since I had the food coloring. I found that if you let the paints dry for 4 days instead of the 24 hours the recipe said, then the colors that separate a little (8 drops didn’t separate) settle back in and dry out completely.

And the finished product was also quite fun and has provided hours of vibrant painting.

* this is a pic of the colors before they dried. Now image those colors, but dried and that’s the end product. 😉

January 1, 2013 0

Hung with Care

It came to my attention to years ago when picking out Abi’s stocking that stockings just aren’t made like they used to be. They seem to be made of more flimsy material that sure doesn’t look like it’ll last more than a Christmas or two of jubilant dumping.

So this year I saw a pinterest idea that I ran with to create a little more Christmas cuteness hanging from our mantel.

I spent a whoppin $6 at the thrift store to purchase all five of our stockings in cute sweaters. (Rachael’s sweater cost nine cents… yes, people: $0.09!)

Then I laid an old stocking on the sweaters, chalked the outline, cut them out and sewed them up.

And thus I give you our stockings:

Abi’s stocking

Rachael’s stocking (sorry, it’s a little blurry)

Matt’s stocking.

Hannah’s stocking

And my stocking.

Next year I think I’ll add embroidery to them to personalize them, but for this year, our stockings worked out great. I also really like that we can easily add a stocking to the mix for a buck or less for whatever foster kids come through our house while still hanging onto the homemade love.

Time cost: 10-15 min per stocking.

Financial cost: $0.09 to $1.00 per sweater (stocking) unless you want to make more than 1 stocking per sweater.

December 29, 2012 0

Playing in the City

This Christmas I decided to make the girls (and anyone else who may join our household) a “city”. I saw the idea on pinterest and thought I’d run with it/adapt it based on what I have available. After sorting through my wardrobe and getting rid of the tight and the “in a fright”, I had a few pairs of unraveling maternity jeans to kiss goodbye. So I recycled them into roads, naturally.

I made my roads double-wide of a standard ruler.

I used a protractor to make my 1/2 curves.

I also put a small piece of the sticky side of velcro on the backs of some of the pieces to aid them in sticking to carpet and not shifting as much.

Our roads

You could use a seam sealer to do all your edges, but I chose not to in the interest of time. I can slowly pick at it if they unravel too much, but we haven’t had any issues thus far. Maybe if my girls were rougher with them then I’d seal the edges.

Our helicopter pad (made from an old shirt and a zig-zag stitch with various thread.

Let the play begin. =)

(nice Christmas Jammies, eh?)

Our city fits conveniently stowed away and hung up. =)

[I used old clothing scraps to make the bags, a spare piece of wood, three nearby hooks, and the lovely preschool tempera paint.]

Also accompanies our new train tracks (thanks Goga) quite nicely.

Total cost of the project:

FREE + 3.5 hours of creation

December 28, 2012 0

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