Its good Enough!... Right??

Its good Enough!!!... Right?

One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is a dirty house, what if someone knocks on the door in the middle of day?? I can't really hide in the other room with a child making noise, the dog barking, music running, and my CAR in the driveway. Its a dead giveaway that your home, your just not coming to the door and I'll admit it.. I've told people "oh was that you, I just got out of the shower!"

When I first became a stay at home mom and my baby was a baby, it was easy to spend the day cleaning and keep it clean! Now that my baby is a running and exploring tot its not so easy (and I only have 1 so I can imagine you moms with 1+)

My house is generally clean, dishes, laundry, bathrooms clean (enough), but I have begun to purge! I think one of the hardest things to do is keep things clean when there isn't a space for everything. When its all a mess and cluttered its harder to clean.

Here's my rule, if you haven't used it... you won't miss it! Donate, sell it, purge it! I have along way to go before my home is perfectly organized but I am working on it! Here are some helpful ways to get organized!

 

And at some point I will be able to say Its good enough! :)

In the words of Henry David Thoreau, Simplify, Simplify. Here are the Get Organized Now! Top 10 ways to organize and simplify your life.

1. Find a place for every item. One reason things pile up on counters, tables, and floors is that they have no "home." "Make sure everything lives somewhere," says Sharon Lowenheim, a professional organizer in New York City.

2. Dump duplicates. Why have two nonstick spatulas when one is enough? Why have six hairbrushes or 17 coffee mugs? Lowenheim says that throwing out duplicates is one of the easiest ways to quell clutter. Her simple rule: One in, one out. "Anytime you get something new, get rid of something like it that is old," she says. Or, as Robertson puts it, "Before you bring home that big new flat-screen TV, figure out what you're going to do with the TV you already have."

3. Beware nostalgia. If you're a doting parent, it's not easy to discard a child's creation, whether it's pastel drawings from the second grade or that cooler-sized medieval castle

4. Stick to a schedule. Some spaces, like kitchen counters, need daily de-cluttering. Others can be tackled weekly or monthly

*For full article to go http://women.webmd.com/home-health-and-safety-9/10-ways-to-cut-clutter-in-your-home?page=3

Too Cute! Hair Accessories!

Check out this facebook page for some awesome homemade hair accessories!

Its called Tuesday's Child!

Tuesday's Child

www.tuesdays-child.com Hats, headbands and accessories for babies and girls...and expanding our line to include women's and boys' styles! Shop among our many designs, or contact us to custom order a design of your choosing. Here's just an example of the awesomeness!

http://www.facebook.com/messages/1457344119#!/pages/Tuesdays-Child/118547854869086

Hungry caterpillar - early literacy, sequencing, and math

The Hungry Caterpillar

This is such a cute story to read and there are so many fun activities that come along with it! I've done a lot with my students over the years and all the kids really do enjoy it.

With my students/daughter I spent a week reading the story with our other books during story time, than once they/she was familiar with it we began talking about the Caterpillar and what we already know about him such as his legs, what he eats, what he is born out of (now you may think you little one is too little to understand but I was doing this with 2 and 3 year old and they loved it). Than you are ready to make your caterpillars.

*Made from egg carton, paint it, glue eyes, put on antenna.

Next comes the chrysalis and cocoon, during this part of the book you can talk about the change the caterpillar is going to undergo, what else changes.. like seasons, trees, you!

*To make chrysalis and cocoon I folded to pieces of card stock into boxes and glued them together

Now the butterfly the best part! Children love when the butterfly comes. Now you can talk about colors, body shape and patterns. In addition to creating the butterfly you can have some printed out pictures of butterflies to decorate with different colors, patterns and such.

*To make butterfly take a piece of paper towel and paint with water colors, let dry. Color wooden cloths pins with different colors to make butterflies body. Pinch the paper towel in the middle and crunch it enough to allow it to fit into the opening on the clothes pin. Add eyes!

There are so many great ideas that go along with this book and many others that teach wonderful skills, also have you ever thought of using your child's favorite book as a birthday party theme!?

Here is a little game I like to play with students to get them into the book and learn through doing

1. Egg: Have children hold their ankles. bend down, and round their body like the shape of an egg.
2. Larva: Squirm like a worm.
3. Pupa: Crawl into a sleeping bag (large pillowcases, leap frog bags) with colorful kerchiefs inside.
4. Butterfly: Children pop out of the bag swaying their colorful kerchiefs behind them.





Homemade Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap...

  I found this site that says there are only 3 basic ingrediants...
1. the soap - can use any soap, it says the types shes tried are Ivory, Zote, or Fels Napatha.
2. Borac
3. Washing Soda (not to be confused backing soda)
4. Water its 4 cups to melt, 6 cups to intergrate, 1 gallon 6 cups to gel.

1/3 of the grated soap, added with 6 cups of water in sauce pan. 1/2cup washing soda, and 1/2 cup of the borax stir it all into the pan until everything is dissolved. remove from heat and pour it into bucket with 4cups of hot water. Stir it all together. than add 1 gallon and 6 cups. let it sit 24 hours its goign to make a light gel. use 1/2 per load. *dont worry if the final gel is not hard and has some extra water around it, still works great!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*I made it and used it in several loads of laundry it works great, smells good, actually gets stains and such out of clothes and its cheap!!