A Letter to a Sippy Cup

Oh sippy cup,

I found you today

 

Your contents are no longer an ingredient in my fridge

I contemplate tossing you into the garbage

 

I know that rancid, once a liquid, substance all too well

That un-forgettable lost but now found sippy cup smell

 

Why were you there, sippy cup?

The window sill, Under the couch

In the hot car or under the bed

I need to know sippy

Because when I ask your carrier why, they simply say "It Wasn't me"

 

I grasp your ever tightened lid and begin to twist

with much regret, I hear a hiss

How long were you there all alone?

Considering the smell I would say too long

 

Oh sippy cup,

I managed to save you today

But next time I may have to throw you away

 

Sincerely,

Disgusted Mother

 

 

 

 

 



There's a New Planner In Town

 I finally did it. I decided it's time to try a planner out and see how I like it. Normally, my planning and list making consists of jotting down quick notes onto whatever paper happens to be close by. Envelopes, scraps of newspaper, and the backs of old grocery lists....pretty much anything. I have a problem with that though. When I leave these lists and notes lying around and they just look like a used up newspaper or an old envelope, they tend to be colored on by toddlers, or used to start the wood burning stove. Then I end up having to make new lists, on other random paper scraps.
 Another problem I was having was keeping track of appointments. I put them in my phone calendar which, for some reason, decides to clear all saved appointments whenever it chooses.

 "It's Time"

Time For a planner! I started browsing pre-made planners online. Filofax, Erin Condren...There are so many to choose from. I just couldn't bring myself to pay for a fancy planner like those before knowing for sure if I am a real deal planner user. So, I decided to just compile a bunch of different free printables I like and print them out. I found a cute binder on clearance at Target for just $3 and rounded up some cute pens in the Target $1 section. Punched a few holes and I was set to go!
 So far...I'm LOVING it! I love having my lists, meal plans, and calendar all in ONE place. I was hoping to find a cute small binder that fits the A5 printables, but I settled with the bigger one. I really like it and think I may be one of those planner people after all. ;)

 

 I thought I would share where I found my free printables that are in my planner.
Here goes!

 Most of the pages in my planner(Most of the brightly colored pages) are from The Handmade Home.

There are some good printables Here too. I didn't print these yet, but I plan to. :)

I got my free tabs from Here. I saved the picture to my computer, then opened it in paint. Then wrote whatever I wanted on them and printed. :)

I found these names of the month tabs on Pinterest, and couldn't find where they were originally made.

The rest of my planner pages are from Here. I used the Notes, To-Do, Family Budget and Meal Plan pages from there.

I hope ya'll can use these! I'm enjoying mine! Oh, and most of them can be printed in 2 sizes in case you have a Filofax type planner. :)

Enjoy!

Making a "Day Off"

 11 pm...The house is quiet. Both kids sleeping, TV is off and all there is to here is the sound of my washer and dryer running and the sound of dishes stacking..
  Oh, you mean you don't clean the house and get things ready for the next day while the kids sleep when you want a "day off"? ;)
 I don't do this all the time but I love it when I have an extra spark of motivation to do so. 
 As I'm going over the mundane motions of washing dishes I know so well, I have a feeling of Deja vu. "When is the last time I washed the dishes at 11pm?"

"Oh Wait. Homeschool. "
 When I was a kid, we had a certain amount of school work that needed to be done each day. On my easier days, I would finish my school work early. I then had two choices: I could 1. have the rest of the day to play, or 2. start the next days work so I could have and entire day to play. I usually chose to do the extra work and have a day off.
 Of course when I would wake up late and stride into the kitchen with pride on my "day off" my siblings would just assume my mom was favoring me and let me have the day off. Little did they know I was in my room working hard while they played the day before. Boy, did I soak it up! I always offered to show them how my hard work had paid off... "See, you just do MORE work today and then have a WHOLE day to play tomorrow". Apparently, I was not good at selling more work.
 Anyhow. I'm looking forward to my "Day Off" tomorrow.
If you see me meandering through the house with a large coffee in hand, I'm not lazy, I was just extra productive yesterday.      ;)

Is this something most moms do? Or am I a crazy person? Or maybe I just gave you an awesome idea and you're running to wash the dishes now for a day off tomorrow? ;)

Happy Saturday! :)

Mom Life

 Today I woke up feeling overwhelmed. As I lay in bed nursing Mason back to sleep at 5am I could see the towering baskets of laundry I didn't have time to fold yesterday staring back at me. Peeking behind the bedroom door is another heaping basket of laundry to be washed. 7am comes around and I decide to start the day. I lumbered into the kitchen behind Lilly who requested "Cinmon Toas" for breakfast. I was starting a pot of coffee when I let out a long sigh to the dishes in the sink that I thought I had washed last night. Kitty knocked over a glass of water during the night. I knew this because I stepped in it. Socks and all. Mornings like these happen often, but it's not every day  it has such an ill effect on me. I know my lack of sleep due to a teething toddler and a 3 year old who has her nights mixed up with days has a lot to do with it. "How will I get it all done?"

I didn't.

 What did I do today?

 I played catch with Lilly and Mason. We all danced in the kitchen listening to old time blue grass. We had hot cocoa with breakfast instead of milk. We all picked a hot wheel and drove them on the tile floor, making sure not to drive over any lines. Play Dough castles and tickle fights galore. It was a fun day.

 Of course the mountains of laundry were sticking out like a sore thumb. The dishes were calling my name and ideas for dinner were all spinning in my head, but I let it go.
There is always tomorrow.

 My point is, just LET IT GO sometimes. I woke up this morning feeling so heavy with tasks that need to be done. Then the guilt of not really wanting to do them. I realized it's not the end of the world to just let things go some days and just let loose and have fun. Let the kids plan the day and just follow their lead. I'm sure they hope I have days like these more often!

 This parenting/homemaker/housewife thing is a job that I love, but I'm learning to accept the fact that everyone needs a day off. Take a break and don't feel guilty about it. Have an extra cup of coffee and put your feet up.


Seriously though maybe skip the hot cocoa for breakfast next time.....

 Hope you all have an awesome week! :)
 

Easy Copper Cleaning Trick

I was scrolling through Pinterest and Google a few weeks ago and wasn't having much luck on my search for a chemical free copper cleaning recipe. I love my copper pots, and from time to time I like to do sort of a "cleanse" on them to brighten them up and make them new again.
Here is what I found to work wonders. It's only one ingredient!
 Ketchup.
I can't remember where I read that ketchup cleans copper. I believe it may have been on YouTube.

Anyway, Here is what you do:)
Take your Clean pot(or any other copper item)

Spread ketchup on all copper parts.(It doesn't have to be very thick)
Let set for about 5-10 minutes.(you will see the change almost immediately

Rinse.

Admire.

Simple as that.
Thanks for reading! 

Simpler Is Better

Slowly but surely our microwave has been dying on us. It doesn't heat food evenly anymore and makes strange noises. I've been putting off buying a new one for a while. I didn't really want one for myself, but more for the convenience of everyone else that uses it. That's really all a microwave is for, right? Saving time?

  Is it really worth it? I know there's debate on how much harm microwaves can cause us. Does the small amount of radiation leaked from microwaves hurt us? Can the food cooked in microwaves make us sick? I don't know. There are opinions that say it does and some say it doesn't. It's an easy answer for me. I don't want to find out the hard way. Food tastes better when its re-heated on the stove or in the oven anyway. Here's to no microwaves for us! We are living just a little bit simpler.

When doing my own reading up on the subject, I really liked this post. It's very informative. What do you think about microwaves?

It's been a long time!

It has been way too long since my last post. Sorry about that! We've had a ton of new things going on. From getting settled into our new place to having a new baby( yep, now we have 2 under 2!) We have been so busy. Also, my laptop died on me so I am working from a tablet nowadays.

Let me catch you all up:
Mason is our newest addition. He is 6 weeks old now. We are so blessed! We have two sweet little farm helpers. (:

We just finished planting our fall/winter garden. I'm hoping it provides plenty of veggies for us. We planted kale, garlic, arugula,  lettuce,spinach,  mustard and collard greens, raddishes, cabbage and a few other things.  I'm really excited about this garden!

Recently, Gunner lost his job(he is working part time for now) so we have been trying to save money where we can. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to save money. Making changes to save money requires alot more time and work. For example: cooking from scratch, cloth diapering, homemade cleaners. Although it is more time consuming, we really actually enjoy simple things like that. Not only will it save us money, but we feel so much better about the things we use or eat when it's something we grew, raised, or made ourselves.

So, with a new baby around, I think my next few posts will be baby or mommy related. Maybe even a few tutorials... (: