we've been running!

I got tired of not exercising.  I couldn't find time or a reasonable way to regularly exercise without my children so I have been taking them running with me.  Now it is true that I could probably go faster if I want pushing 65 pounds of child, stroller, and water.  It is also true that pushing the stroller has strengthened my upper body.  I guess it all works out.  Here are a few reasons to take your children running.

1.  You all get in better shape.
2.  You get to spend time together.
3.  If you do it right and for long enough their whining will stop and then they will be proud because they did it.
4.  They get tired.  This is good for their school work.
5.  You get to see interesting things outside of your house.

So go run!  As I tell them, run for fun in the hot hot sun!  Yes I totally stole that from a certain Doctor.  But he's a doctor so he knows what's best.

A week of Crock Pot Soup

On Saturday we had a light dinner of sandwiches and potato soup.
Recipe for soup:
about 2 cups carrots thinned from the garden
15 medium size potatoes (I use Yukon gold and cut them in bites size pieces)
1 cup fresh basil chopped
1 cup fresh parsley chopped
3 cups of water
1/2 cup of olive oil
Put it in the crock pot until the carrots are soft and the potatoes are cooked.  It took about 2 hours in mine.

Sunday I was tired and didn't want to cook so I took out the leftover potato soup and added 1 cup of  navy beans and 1 cup of white beans.  Then I cooked it for another 3 hours to cook the beans.   I added 1 cup of heavy cream right before serving and it was delicious again.

Monday I was also tired so I added some purple onions from the garden and some fenugreek seeds for flavor.  I heated it in the crock pot again and made some dumplings to go with it.  It was a great dinner again.

Tuesday I decided to eat the leftovers so I added some chicken and put it in a pie.  Now it's all gone.  But I will be making more.  I like the idea of changing leftovers so that people actually eat them! 

So, it didn't quite last a week, but next time I might start with more and then it will.

Anyway, just thought I would share.

one comment can change the world

OK, maybe world here is a bit drastic, but one comment has led to several discussions that have changed how my husband and I see our world.
I said that bribery works.  The comment was that it works for some children.  Initially I thought that it works for all children if the right bribe can be discovered.  Now I know I am wrong.  It doesn't work for all children in the strictest definition of bribery.  My husband pointed out that some children just cannot overcome the idea of doing what is desired.  Either they just don't want to do it and nothing you can give them will change their mind, or they want to prove some point of independence and be different from someone else.  I've seen this with our second many times and he is right, she cannot usually be bribed in the way I bribe the others.  She can however be convinced by consequences.  Which I've come to see as not bribery.  Let me explain, in the case of potty training.  With our oldest we gave her chocolate chips when she used the potty.  She didn't get chocolate chips unless she used the potty, she got them every time she used the potty.  If she wanted chocolate chips she used the potty, we were all happy and she used the potty probably more than she had to.  With our second this method didn't work.  Partly because her sister would steal the chocolate chips from the cabinet and give them to her and partly because she didn't want to do what we wanted.  Direct consequences worked well though.  She wanted to wear pretty underwear.  If she dirtied her underwear she had to wear a diaper until her underwear was clean because she only had one pair of underwear.  She used the potty lots and lots because she wanted to keep her underwear clean.  Is this bribery?  No, I now do not think it is.  I used to think it was, but it isn't because bribery gives me, the briber, the control.  If she does x, I do y.  This does not work with our second child.  So yes bribery only works with some children.  However as my husband pointed out consequences can be ensured and do work well for almost every situation.  If the girls leave their headbands on the floor they get broken.  Sometimes Daddy ensures that this breakage occurs.  Hence, there are no headbands out of place because headbands that break are not replaceable.  He calls this consequences.  He says that sometimes good parenting involves controlling consequences.  I think he is right.  So see, my world changed a little bit and my husband and I had a wonderful discussion about parenting.  Comments are great!  Thank you for changing the world.

You might be a father...

Father's day is almost upon us.  In light of my recent (not so recent because I've been lazy busy) post about being a Mom, here's my take on being a Dad.

My husband is amazingly patient with our children and is an excellent father, I've been watching and here are some things I've seen him do. 

You might be a Dad if.

1. It takes you an hour and a half longer to fix the broken door because you are letting your son use the screwdriver to "help".

2. You go fishing knowing that the chances of catching a fish will be severely diminished by giving your son the rod and you give it to him anyway.

3.  Even though you are still hungry, you don't ask for seconds because you are waiting until the children are full so you can finish what they left on their plates.
 3a.You try to convince your children to order what you want to eat, because you know they won't finish their own meal.

4.  You happily go to the store with a princess, spiderman, or a blue monster.

5.  When someone screams your name in the middle of the night you grab a shoe, because you know the only time they scream for you, there is an insect of some sort.

I'm sure I'm missing something, but there's a short list.  Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.

Potty Training is Like Reading

I currently have a two year old learning to use the potty and a five year old learning to read.  I've discovered that there are many similarities to teaching the two skills.

1.  There is no magic age.  I used to think that there was an age at which a child should do something.  Ha!

2.  I can't do it for them.  I wish I could, it would be so much easier.

3.  If they really want to learn something, they will. The converse is also true, if they don't want to learn something they will fight you the entire time!

4.  Bribery works.

5.  So does patient consistency.

6.  #5 is the hardest thing to do, especially when you are tired.

7.  Children will eventually learn both, especially if you can accomplish #5.

8.  It's ok to take a break.

9.  Slow deep breaths help to focus on the bigger picture.  Deep breaths can be taken by the student and the teacher, doing it together can be very helpful.

10.  When in doubt, feed someone chocolate.

There are probably many other things I will teach my children that apply here, but I am having trouble seeing beyond the diapers and letters. Hopefully I can remember this list for my next teaching challenge.

Bathroom

There is also a bathroom in the house we bought, gee imagine that.  This bathroom needed a little love.  Here's what it looked like when we bought the house.

 

Not bad, but the big cabinet made it feel smaller than it was and the wood from the eighties was making me sad.   Also, the sink and cabinet were newer (sorry didn't get a good view but you'll see it later) and the medicine cabinet really didn't match.  Also, the tub was damaged from the apparent removal of a shower door.  

First, I removed the medicine cabinet and stained it to match the sink vanity, which happened to be the same stain from the kitchen, so that was basically free as I had some left from the kitchen cabinets. I replaced the brass handle on the medicine cabinet with a $1.90 brushed nickle one.  I removed the large cabinet from the wall.  Then, I removed the wood light bar.  Finally,

I painted that wall to cover all the removed areas.

It was looking much better, and except for a hole caused when the cabinet came down, which I patched and painted and put a picture over it for good measure.

Now for the bathtub, this was a bit more challenging.  The tube was filthy and chipped.  I first cleaned it with a scrubber, then I bought some magical stuff called Porc-a-Fix.  http://www.fixture-fix.com/ Call this lady and she will help you match the color of your tub.  I had to use the filler and the glaze, but it worked very well.  I'm extremely happy with how it turned out.  It took about two days because you have to apply, let cure, sand, and repeat.  It was worth it though because I spent $21.50 and a few minutes a day for two days.

Then I added some rugs I found at a thrift store for $4, shower curtain rings at the same thrift store for $1.  A picture from a different thrift store for $3, and a new shower curtain and rod, total of  $32 completed the look.  Here's my bathroom. I bought a brushed nickle light bar for $30 and attached that over the hole in the wall left by the ugly one.  I got LED light bulbs for that.  Those were expensive but I'm very happy with how they look.  There were six of those at $8 each.  I got new towel hooks, TP holder and a new towel bar.  Total $38 for the set that matched the brushed nickle.  For those who don't want to do the math, total cost of renovation $179.40.  Here's the completed view.  I also bought new towels for $50 for 4 bath towels, two hand towels, and four wash cloths at the JC Penney Home Store sale.  That was optional.  Then the total is $229.40 for a new bathroom.

A new kitchen

So we recently bought a new rental, well, not new, it was built in 1980, but new to us.  If you've been thinking "Gee, I wonder where they've been?"  Now you know.  We remodeled the kitchen, on a pretty tight budget because I wanted to get new appliances.  Here's what we did and how it turned out.

Before:

As you can see the cabinets needed help, the lighting was awful, the appliances had to go and the counter top was not good.  Here's what we did.
First we stained the cabinets with a all on one, stain and polyurethane.  I got a reddish stain, and I spent about $13.  This is after we finished the cabinets.

Then, we painted the counters with a special paint.  I'm not impressed with it.  I looks great, but I don't think it will be very durable, so I will likely have to come up with a new solution in a couple years, but for $20 for the whole kitchen it's hard to beat.  Here's the counters after.

Then we replaced the lights.  The one over the sink made the biggest difference, the one in the middle of the kitchen matches it.

We got new appliances, I like white and we got the dishwasher for $399 because it had been returned to Lowe's because the lady didn't like how her dishes fit in it!  It's a $600 Bosch dishwasher and it's nice a quiet with low water usage.  Here's the finished kitchen.

 

You might be a mom...

So for a while now my husband has been saying things that end with "you might be a mom." in his best Jeff Foxworthy impression.  Here are some of my favorites.



1.  If your idea of peace and quiet is to go to the bathroom with the door closed, you might be a mom.

2.  If you "take a break" by taking the trash out, you might be a mom.

3.  If you are cleaning up at 2 am after someone else was sick and there was no alcohol involved, you might be a mom.


4.  If you spent the night with two guys, and are thankful that you spent the whole night sleeping, you might be a mom.

5.  If you shower with two guys, who are not your husband, and just wish you could shower by yourself, you might be a mom.

I probably should have saved this for Mother's Day, but here it is.  Enjoy!

SPRING

Some people, probably most people (no I do not have statistical data to reference) like spring.  In fact I know many people that eagerly await the arrival of spring every year. I am not one of these people.  I have many reasons that I don't like spring, I am not going to lie, they vary from really good reasons, to lame selfish reasons.  They exist and they are valid, but I'm trying.  So, as I enter the worst time of year, to be followed by the second worst time of year, or what other people call summer, I am trying to be happy.  Here are some reasons that I found to help me try to like spring.

1.  I now have a metal roof.  This means that when the winds hit 90 plus miles per hour (I wish I were exaggerating) I don't have to worry about shingles blowing off of my house.

2.  My son and I planted heirloom carrots.  We are actually excited to grow them, eat them, and make carrot cake.

3.  There is a bird nest, with eggs, in the broken part of the trim on my house.  This means that I can't fix it right now!

4.  I'm already done with the girls' Easter dresses for the year.  This means that I might have time to make myself a new dress.  I haven't done this in over three years and I'm getting excited.

5.  The main reason that I'm enjoying spring is that my youngest is now two and he's starting to really get this potty thing.  I'm actually seeing the possibility of a future without diapers.  That's probably another entry altogether.

I hope this helps the one other person in the world that doesn't like spring.  For those of you who do like spring, enjoy it while it lasts.  It will be winter again in about seven months.  I will be counting down the days...

Great Crock-Pot Almost Italian Wedding Soup

My eight year old made this mostly by herself so it's not too hard.

about 1/2 cup olive oil
about 1/2 cup chopped basil
about 1 1/2 pounds of sausage removed from casing (I used mild Italian Chicken sausage)
about 1/2 cup of fresh parsley
2-3 large potatoes (I used left over oven potatoes and added them a bit later)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cream

Put the olive oil, basil, and sausage in the crock pot for about half an hour, or until the sausage is a little cooked, but don't let it stick.  Put the potatoes and parsley in with 1/2 cup of milk.  Let it cook for a while on low, I left it for about 4 hours, but my potatoes were already mostly softened.  About fifteen minutes before you serve it add the other 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of cream.  Let it cook for about fifteen minutes and serve.

Why I Quit Working

I used to get paid real money to go to a building and be an engineer.  I decided not to do that anymore.  That decision probably shocked everyone who ever knew me, including myself.  That was almost four years ago but lately a few people have been asking me why I did it.  I guess they finally decided it wasn't just a phase I was going through.  I sat down then and made a pro/con list because I was well, an engineer.  Lately though I've been thinking about how to best answer the question truthfully and hopefully helpfully.  The strangest thing happened about the time I turned 30, I grew up.  I don't mean this in any earth shattering way, and I still like to color, but I mean that I decided to be myself.  One day the idea hit me that I shouldn't live my life as someone else, worrying about whether I am doing things "right" but I should do things the way they make sense for me.  When I was growing up I compared my Mom to other moms and to my grandmothers and I decided I liked the way my Mom did most things, so I tried to copy her. When I thought about staying home with my children I always thought about doing it in a way I had seen other people to it.  I never thought about it as something I could totally personalize.  I thought I would be expected to do things certain ways and I just couldn't imagine myself doing things that way.  I'm sure this is what other people thought too when I told them I was going to stop going to work every day and stay home and work.  You know June Cleaver I am not.  This likely caused the shock.  In trying to answer the question about why I quit my job it came to me that the main reason is that I finally saw myself staying home with my children my way, not as June Cleaver, or some other unattainable for me method.  Here is a list of things I do my own way, which may or may not be your way, but will hopefully help you see why I can stay home to work.

1.  I do not always have dinner on the table when my husband gets home.  He likes cereal.

2.  I do not worry about keeping the house clean all the time (that's a whole different post).

3.  I don't fold socks.

4.  I let my children play, a lot, with the clean sheets.  We may or may not make forts and castles in the living room on a regular basis.  It may or may not be required to do reading lesson in a castle.

5.  I may or may not make my children get dressed every day, sometimes it really doesn't matter.

Once I starting living life my way, I made a new pro/con list.

Reasons for me to stay home:

1. I have really comfortable pjs and I like my yoga pants.

2. Homeschooling my children allows for more ski days.

3.  I really enjoy doing laundry every day, not just all evening and all weekend.

4.  I love teaching my children sarcasm.  They use it well.

5.  Teaching my children gives me a unique insight into how they think and what they need from me on a daily basis.

6.  I get paid in hugs.

7.  I choose what I do and when.  This is especially important when I feel like scrambled eggs and bacon for lunch.

8.  I have more time to exercise, and yes, that means chasing my children, dancing with my children, and playing silly games in the kitchen.

9.  I like to have plans that I throw out the window when they don't work.  I like throwing plans that don't work out the window without having a planning meeting with other people who think the plans still work.

10.  Watching my children understand new things is more fun than anything else I've ever done.  Being the reason for the understanding is like winning a gold medal.

Reasons to go to work:

1.  I get to close the door to the bathroom, while I 'm using it and not worry about anyone needing stitches.

2.  Fewer dishes.

3.  More travel for work.

4.  Meeting doughnuts.

5.  Snazzy work clothes, and cute shoes.

6.  Holiday potlucks

7.  Having conversations with adults.

8.  I apply fewer bandages.

9.  Solving more well defined problems.

10.  Time alone.


So, after looking at the lists I again decided that I like my pjs and chose to quit working, which is actually way more work, but also more fun, and the pay is much better.  Make your own list and make your own decisions, live life your way, because then it's more fun.

What I say, and what my children hear

I've had my children tested so I know they all have great hearing.  I think that their inability to hear me stems from a desire to not listen rather than a physical impairment, but I am constantly amazed at what they think I say.  There are definitely a few words they just flat out ignore, like "don't".  This word is apparently unheard at all times.  Examples include the famous, "don't run", "don't hit", "don't make a mess", and the less famous "don't bite your toenails", "don't write on the wall", and "don't burp so loudly".  They simply hear "run", "hit", "make a mess", "bite your toenails", "write on the wall", and "burp so loudly".  This is understandable, however, there are some things they just choose to hear differently.  Here are some examples I've noticed lately.

1.  I say, "Please clean your room, it is so messy that I can't even walk in there to turn off your light."

They hear, "Please walk in there and turn off your light."

2.   I say, "Put your shoes in the box in the closet so that when we need to go somewhere we can find them and we won't be late."

They hear, "Shoes go somewhere then we can be late."

3.  I say, "When you finish eating take your dishes to the sink, please."

They hear, "finish eating."

4.  I say, "Get dressed please so we can go soon."

They hear, "Go throw clothes on the floor in the closet."

5.  I say, "Please get in the car."

They hear, "Please run around outside."

Yep, now you know.

January

This is the month that many people don't like.  I have my birthday in January, so most of my life I've actually looked forward to it, but I understand how many people feel kind of blah about January.  So in order to make you all like my month, I am going to share some reasons why January is an awesome month.

1.  For those of you who like sun, the days are actually getting longer now.
2.  There are no stressful holidays to make you do things that you otherwise wouldn't do, like make green bean casserole or clean the toilet.
3.  The school semester just started, so mathematically you have yet to fail any course.
4.  It's the middle of ski season!
5.  Football actually matters now.
6.  After Christmas sales, so now you can go get whatever you really wanted for Christmas.  I bought myself new socks because no one thought to buy me socks for Christmas.  I know, poor me right?
7.  Pretty much nothing blooms in January, so if you have allergies, this is the month for you.
8.  There are still some pumpkin flavored things about town.
9.  You still have weeks before Valentine's day.  This is good for everyone, trust me.
10.  My Birthday.  You can all celebrate it, I don't mind.

Amazon subscribe and save again

I've been talking to many people lately about Amazon subscribe and save and what I've learned.  Here are some things to add to my previous post.

We started in October with Amazon subscribe and save and since then I've also joined Amazon Mom, it's free if you are already a prime member.  I don't know how much it would help if you weren't a Mom, but for me it's quite helpful.  There are extra coupons and savings on diapers and such.  I admit that I don't check the coupons as often as I should but I have used a few of them.
In the few months we've been subscribing we have saved quite a bit of money.  Our savings have averaged about  $150 per month, depending on what we purchased each month and whether I usually purchased those items at Cost-Co or Target.  Also, I haven't been driving to the store as much.  That also doesn't count the "Mom, can I please?" stuff I didn't buy because I didn't go to the store with my children.
We do still buy a few things at Cost-Co, and I need to figure out if that justifies our membership, but I will likely wait until August when our current membership expires.  I however have not gone to Cost-Co because we just buy milk, eggs, butter, and vinegar so I don't feel bad asking my husband or Mom to pick those up for me when they drive by Cost-Co anyway.  Other "intangible" benefits to the new shopping method are things I hadn't thought about before.

1. We are learning to wait.  I think this is good for all of us.  When we run out of something on subscribe and it will arrive in a few days I wait for it.  When we used to run out of something that we ate or used often I would make sure we went to the store for it the next day, now we live without it for a bit.  It turns out that we can live without quite a few things for a few days.  Also, we end up eating up the stuff we have but isn't our favorite.  It's been good for the whole family.

2. I am learning to watch what we really use and not just wait until we run out of stuff.  I'm actually aware of how often my children eat cereal, and when we are out of cereal they have to eat something else.  This leads to them learning that they actually like other foods.

3. I still go to the grocery store for perishables but now it's more fun because we don't shop as much and so I actually don't mind.

4. I have more time to do the stuff I want to do or need to do at home.  My house and car are staying cleaner.

5. We don't eat fast food as much.  One reason is because I'm not trying to go to three stores on a busy day and feeding the children drive-thru as a bribe to keep them from killing each other.  The other reason is because I actually have more time to make plans for dinner.  The third reason is because the macaroni and cheese that is healthy (ish) and the children like is cheaper on Amazon.

6.  My husband thinks I'm awesome.  I can actually shop for his stuff while I'm next to his sink so consequently I haven't bought the wrong brand of anything!  I got his toothpaste right, and the dental floss he likes.  I haven't wasted money buying stuff that's the wrong brand.  He noticed and that earned me a couple nights of dishes done by him without me asking.

7. I found a few brands that I like that I never tried before.  Amazon has reviews for every product, so instead of buying the store brand or the brand I know just because I don't want to waste money now I can read the reviews and decide.  If a certain brand is cheaper but I've never tried it I can find out what 1603 other people think before I purchase it.  I really like that, and I found an olive oil that's cheaper and actually quite yummy.

8. We have boxes.  My children, especially my youngest really like boxes.  Also, I used two to take stuff to the thrift store so now I have less stuff in my house!

I do recycle the boxes, but usually after they've been used as forts, train cars, or rockets.