Scratch Off Valentines

Elly is supposed to bring Valentines for everyone in her preschool class this year.  I super want to do this idea because she only has 13 kids in her class.  Do you think this idea is beyond 4 year olds?  I love it.  Full tutorial here.

Update to the "Helping Chart"

So, that chart lasted about one week. I know. But then, I had a baby and Brandon graduated and we moved, etc., etc. But, I do have and awesome Find to share.

We found Saturday Jobs!

When I was growing up, we had very little routines in our house. My dad's job never was routine so if we wanted to spend time together as a family we had to be VERY flexible. Not having routines was nice sometimes, we got to eat out for dinner a lot which meant all of us learned to eat and like lots of different foods (i.e. we've all liked hummus, guacamole, and stir fry since we were kids, instead of your typical kid fare like chicken nuggets and hot dogs). I LOVED my childhood and I think my siblings would tell you the same.

But, I married a person who needs routine. And it turns out that I kind of like that. And I kind of like routines. Giving Elly sleeping routines when she was a baby saved my sanity. And it's saving me right now with Miles. Our family LOVES our pizza on Saturday night routine/tradition. Anyway...

Our new routine is Saturday Jobs. I have always shied away from "traditional/generic" household methods. Thanks Mom and Dad. But, recently I realized that in our family, it's a good way to get stuff done. We all wake up on Saturday and instead of jumping right into morning TV/computer time, we have breakfast and then start our Saturday Jobs. And you know what? Basically, our whole house gets cleaned once a week! It's kind of amazing to me. And this didn't just start last week. We've been doing this since the middle of June and it's working out just great! We mostly have the same jobs each week. That makes it easy and quick (once you get the hang of your job, you find ways to make it more efficient). Brandon is awesome and he vacuums the ENTIRE house with the central vacuum system. I alternate giving the kitchen or the three bathrooms a good scrub down. And Elly switches off each week either dusting the window sills with a duster that goes over her hand like a glove, cleaning all the door knobs with wipes, or helping me with the bathrooms (today she cleaned the whole toilet by herself...seriously).

I actually like cleaning the house and not only because afterward it's clean. I love looking back into the bathrooms after I've cleaned them to see how awesome they look and feel good that I did that.

Anyway, that's the deal with Saturday Jobs and I highly recommend it.

Personalized Gifts

I just found this adorable website that does personalized gifts for kids. It's called Frecklebox. I've been looking for something special to give to Elly when the new baby is born. I'm thinking about this adorable lunch box and maybe one of these placemats. The personalized story books are also cute!

Helping Chart

Because of my daughter's very telling quote the other day, I've decided to make a change.

I am now entering the world of "charts". I needed a way to help us organize what needs to be done around this house. But, instead of a "chore chart", I decided to make a "contributing to the family chart". I read an article about how children who are the most resilient are the ones who feel like they are contributing to something greater than themselves (like a family unit). I don't think the only way children (or adults) contribute to the family is by doing "chores", so I added some contributions I think family members make each day to the family. But, I am also super picky about the way things look, so I had to be choosy about what I put on the chart. I wanted each family member to have two things they were in charge of doing every day. Of course, there are tons of other things that we do (especially the parents) each day to contribute to the family, but I just couldn't fit everything. So, I decided to put the things I might not do otherwise without the chart that day.

To be honest, I created this chart for me. I have basically been an "as needed" housekeeper. This system pretty much sucks because you live in a mess until the last possible second you can't stand it anymore. I can't tell you how many times my husband has told me that he "needs whites", if you know what I mean. And then, I do a load of laundry, until the next time he says that. This must stop. So, I'm giving the chart a go. I spent a while creating it today (so it would be pretty), and I think I'm going to laminate it and use magnets to "check off" the completed items. Does that make any sense? I'm setting a goal for everyone to have their two items checked off by dinner time. Wish me luck!

Fashion Find: Christa Taylor

I faithfully read Tangled and True and when I came across this dress today, I fell in love. I love the color, style and all around adorableness. Too bad, I'm not a size S, because that's the biggest one they have on their website. But, maybe my little sister will buy it and let me envy her for a while. (It would look good with her eyes, I think.) I'm kind of loving this Christa Taylor stuff...and isn't she charitable? I also love the following:

Health Find: Nozin

Ok, so I'm kind of a germ-a-phobe (definitely not extreme, though). I just don't like introducing unnecessary germs to my body or the bodies of my family members. I came across this new product in my reading today on this blog. It's called Nozin (pronounced: nose-in) and it works as a defense against common germs found in public places like airplanes. It kills germs it comes in contact with and works for over 8 hours. They suggest that you apply it to your nose before you get on an airplane and you'll be protected through your flight. I'm thinking, why not use it before winter time playdates (why do our kids get sick for the entire winter time, anyway?), nursery, trips to McDonald's? I guess you'd have to pretty much apply it to your whole body though.

It sounds like a pretty good idea, though and it might just take one piece of my fear of flying out of the picture.

Tech Find: Picnik

Can you believe it's another Lacy Find after all this time? I think it was the out of state move that killed my desire to post on more than one blog. But, I just made a find that I could not pass up passing along. I found it on my friend, Olya's blog.

As you know, I have been a long time fan of Picasa (by Google) as my simple photo editing program. (I use photoshop for all my complicated stuff.) Well, I just found a free online program that does stuff that Picasa can't do. It's called Picnik, and it's amazing. I willl still use Picasa to store all my photos and actually it's a little easier to edit them because I don't have to upload them to a separate site. That's the only thing I don't love about Picnik. I have to upload photos I want to edit. But, it will pull photos from a bunch of different places like flikr, facebook, picasa web albums, photobucket, etc. if you want.

But, the editing it does is to fun! Check out what I did recently on Picnik: (I had not touched these photos up at all on Photoshop at all before uploading them to Picnik.)

BEFORE:


AFTER PICNIK:


BEFORE:


AFTER PICNIK:


BEFORE:




AFTER PICNIK:


Now, I have only used this a little bit, but so far I love it. It's just plain fun to make your photos look awesome. So, give it a try. You can also upload your finished photos to any number of printing sites like snapfish or even costco!

Deal Find: Jamba Coupon

Don't hate me because I was gone for like a month from this blog. It will probably happen again. But, here I am now, so just embrace it. Here is a little coupon for everyone who doesn't care about 'registering' their name and email. It's a two for one Jamba Coupon. You can try to print this image and take it in, but I think you might have to click this link and register to get the whole thing. OR try this: http://jambacentral.com/therealdeal/

Parent Find: Growth Chart

I have wanted a growth chart for a little while to put in Elly's room. But, I want a really, really cute one. I saw this one on Designmom today and I kind of like it. I like the idea, for sure, and I was thinking- could I make this? I definitely can't swing the $45 for it right now. I know a creative genius (like either of my two sisters) could make this. But, this seems like just a strip of natural canvas, some embroidery thread and a ribbon- am I wrong?

What kind of growth charts do you use for your kids or did you use when you were a kid? When I was growing up, we used the wall in my mom's closet. That was awesome, but I am much more transient than that and I need my growth chart to be able to come with me wherever I move without demolition of any kind.

Home Find: Baking Soda...seriously

I have recently found myself cleaning my entire house top to bottom due to the fact that we are trying to sell said house right now. I have found nothing so universally helpful in this task as good old baking soda. Yes, I have traditionally used the store bought, insanely specific, chemical-filled, potions. (Honestly, there are like six different kinds of toilet bowl cleaner...not brands, kinds, depending on how you want to clean your toilet: Power Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Power Toilet Bowl Cleaner with Bleach, Deep Reach Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Cling Toiliet Bowl Cleaner...etc.)

I have now (mostly) gone back to the old days of cleaning. Now I use baking soda, vinegar, lemon oil, rubbing alcohol, and ok, a little bleach and ammonia (but not together, don't worry). I got this new cleaning system from a PBS special I watched a few years ago called "Haley's Hints", which was this guy, Graham Haley, demonstrating some of his hints on cleaning from his book. So, being a poor, newlywed college student who had no inclination to clean her house at all, naturally, I bought the book. I looked at it a lot and read bits of it here and there. But, I didn't own any of the products he suggested using. Well, now I need them.

Anyway, long story short, here are a few hints for you:

*I use baking soda to buff up my stainless steel sink. It looks beautiful afterward. I love it. Then, I put lemon oil on it and the lemon oil smells yummy and repels all that yucky hard water, so cleaning the sink isn't so hard next time.

*I use baking soda in my shower to get rid of the soap build up.

*I use vinegar on my glass shower doors, and then buff them with lemon oil so that the water doesn't stick so much.

*I mix a paste of bleach and baking soda and put it on my white tile grout, let it dry and then scrub it off with a stiff brush and it looks amazing!

I've even read that you can mix a little baking soda in with your favorite face wash in your hand and it will act as a gentle exfoliant. Also, mix a little baking soda in your hand with your shampoo and it will help get rid of build up from your hair products.

Do you have any more helpful household hints?