Fridge Envelopes

For my daughters party some years ago I made this craft. I thought it would be great for the kids lockers, but they wanted to play more then they cared about the crafts. Since then I have had them on the side of my fridge and find them very useful. The one on the left is full and disorganized but I use it for small papers I don't  want to lose such as business and appointment cards, receipts, small photos etc. The one on the right holds my box tops for education and if we collected pop tabs for Ronald McDonald (if we drank pop out if cans) then I would have collect them in here. One day I will be super organized, but in the mean time this is what works for me.

Random Sites I Have Texted To Myself

When I am on my phone I will take picutres or text myself to remind myself to check it out later. I have yet to really go back to look at these things, so I thought why not today. Here we go:

• Apparently this day I was on a kick for Paleo resources. I just wish I could stick with this diet but being gluten free is expensive and I like bread. I still try my best to stay away from anything non-Paleo as much as possible.

Robbwolf.com

Biscuits and Gravy 

Super Bowl Party

• I did try this recipe and it was good. The kids weren't too excited about the crushed ritz crackers, but they could be left out.

VELVEETA Down-Home Macaroni & Cheese

• The next link led me to a dead end, but The Polka Dot Patch is a great site for a kids learning resource.

• This next link is an information face book post about various topic including the meaning of bread tags: Lynne Franks is on Facebook

• 50 tools to better your blog. I'm too disorganized to have a great blog so I've been mainly just blog when I feel like it and if people read it great, if not, oh well.

• Pork Tenderloin in Phyllo Recipe looks great, but I'm not sure if I could pull it off. I'm not much for a recipe that take that much time and effort. 

• A Beautiful Mess is a great design and craft blog. I can get lost in this site for hours.

• From Cube to Farm.....not sure why I was sending myself this link. It has a broken link for a Paleo story and I do like the story about the Mom support group, but it seems she hasn't been keeping up with her blog lately.

• I have just this past year started to eat brussel sprouts. I don't remember my mom ever serving them so I have had to find my own recipes. I have yet to try The Southern Lady Cook: Ritzy Brussel Sprouts. This also looks like a good recipe blog.

• The Krazy coupon lady has a list about every week for free Kindle books. Now that my kids have a Kindle I need to be checking this every week so they use the Kindle for more than games!

•  This last one is a Facebook post for KFC coleslaw, which I have always liked. I'm sure there are better recipes to copy out there but I would like to try this one some day.

Texting myself is an OK way to remember websites as long as I'm going to use my phone to re-look at the link, otherwise I email the link from my phone to my email address. Then I just open the link in my email. This can also be done on most browser if you are not using your own computer. Just open a new email and copy and paste the link and email it to yourself since you are not able to bookmark it. Discovering new websites it my favorite past time!

Night Light

My kids have always been afraid of the dark. I have tried night lights that plug in to the wall but they find them too dim, small table lamps are too bright but worked for awhile. Then when I was up at the Chicago Ikea with my Sister In Law I found some great night lights for $12.99. A heart shaped one for my daughter and a star shaped one for my son. They also have a moon , a bug and a flower. They do have a cord and the switch is a turn switch, but that doesn't bother me. I wouldn't want these to be battery powered with how often we use them. They still use a small bulb which are sold separately  I knew my husband was on board with these since as soon as we got home he bought the bulbs and hung them up in their rooms. It create greats ambiance and now I don't have bright lights coming from the hallway at night.

Household Coordinator

Source: someecards.com

(I decided I need fancy names for my household projects. So for my post on improving my money will be called Financial Expeditions, Organizing will be Household Coordinator, and Health will be Well-conditioned.)

As my husband was commenting on how he has been working 60 hour work weeks, I thought to myself "big deal." I bust my butt every week to keep this household together. He gets to come home, leave his job and doesn't have to answer the phone. I work 40 hours outside of the home, then I come home to do 80% or more of the household and child rearing. I make the appointments, buy clothes, co-ordinate schedules, make list of list, and entertain kids. So sorry if I'm not sympathetic. I think I did my wifely duty by just writing this on my blog and not telling him to his face.

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As household coordinator, I have already developed a weekly list of chores, which I haphazardly follow. Now I need to come up with back up plans for when I'm out of town on the weekend or when I'm not able to clean during the week.:

Gone For the Weekend Chore List
Monday- living room dining room tidy up, dust, vacuum furniture and sweep floors
Tuesday- clean both bathrooms
Wednesday- clean kitchen, sweep floors
Thursday- tidy up basement, laundry clean and put away, balance checkbook, and plan meals

Weekend Power Clean
1. place all laundry downstairs and start a load
2. assist kids with cleaning bathrooms
3. run load of dishes
4. tidy up dining room and living room, dust, vacuum furniture, sweep floors
5. move laundry to dryer and add another load if necessary
6. kids clean their rooms, while I clean kitchen
7. laundry to dryer
8. kids move to tidy up basement, I mop floors
9. work on my bedroom
10. everyone puts laundry away

Another thing I would like to do is to make a more detailed list of cleaning rooms to follow, and to teach my kids more about what a clean room entails. My daughter can work two hours on her room and it will look like she has done nothing because she still have a mess all over the floor. I gave them list to check off the other day and it worked great so I would like to make more list for their chores so they have clear expectations.


Money report: $8.82 on lunch,bought Chinese at Hy-vee with a pop
Chore Report: swept floor made bed, ran dishwasher cleaned up living room/dining room, laundry down stairs
Health report: ran/walked tonight, drank pop :0C , and I am tired since I didn't get to bed by 10 because I stayed up to watch movies and woke up with a stuffy nose.

Stencil Your Way to Happiness

http://www.cuttingedgestencils.com/cool-modern-stencil.html?category_id=1008

Thanks to Absolute Mommy I found The Letter 4 blog who posted about cutting edge stencils.  This website has reusable stencils for the wall or for crafts.  I can't wait till I get more organized to be able to reach the walls to paint.

My sister recently refreshed her bathroom by adding stencils to the wall:

This shot gives the color the most justice.

She was able to find the stencil at Michael's craft stores and I have heard that Hobby Lobby also has some as well.  Both these stores often have coupons to enhance your savings.