BPA (not in your kids sippy cup but in your coffee?)

How many of 'us moms' drink coffee everyday? I know its a necessity to get me going in the morning…. 

Also, how many of you are concerned about BPA in your children's containers? 

Then take a moment to read this:
http://themommyilluminati.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/how-k-cups-might-damage-your-metabolism-reproductive-health-and-cause-cancer/

Although the doctor who wrote this article doesn't cite any scientific tests to backup his ideas, it is an interesting theory. 

I do not use disposable Kcups (except on rare occasion). I choose to use a reusable Keurig filter and use my own grounds. Much less expensive and more eco friendly! I hope that makes me a bit safer than the average person.

What are your thoughts on this?

Laughter is the best medicine

Today I get I share something that has given me many grins, lots of giggles, and a few laugh out loud moments.

I LOVE to read the e-cards on Pinterest. 

Since my last post was about my dogs I'll start with one of my favorite all time e-cards:

Sometimes it is refreshing to read, in print, the thoughts that I have in my head but never want to say out loud.

Sometimes I read it, smile, and say "That is so true!"

Other times all I can do is laugh.

Occasionally they are a bit rude.

This card pretty much sums them up:

No matter how inappropriate they are I still read they whenever I see them because everyone knows "laughter is the best medicine" and if this is what is going to make me laugh today..…. 

Laugh on my friends!

Doc McStuffins Costume

Since my daughter received a Doc McStuffins  doctor to kit for Christmas she has been asking for a "doc costume". Here is the adventure that was "making the doc costume".

I started out with an old halloween costume of my husband that I thought would be easer to modify

than starting from scratch with material and a pattern.

I took of 1/2 the length of each sleeve, about 5 inches off the bottom and a 4 inch section of the back. 

I re-hemmed everything and it fit pretty good.

Next challenge, covering up the adult words on the costume. Not swear words, but adult humor using to create a Dr. Name that would not be so appropriate for a child.

As you can see by the picture on the left, the iron on idea didn't work so well….







After some brainstorming I decided to use 'patches' to cover up the wording and then put on a new Doc name tag. But while doing so i ended up accidentally swing the sleeve shut, so had to rip it out and resew it.

After some frustration I fixed it all and was on to the next thing. Iron on transfer decals.

Notice that these images are printed incorrectly.
They should look like a mirror image when printed
 so when they are ironed on they look correct. 

I love the Avery Inkjet printable transfer paper! Its a budget saver. A few clip art pictures from the internet, print, and iron on.




Remember to flip the image before you print! (Thankfully I realized this ahead of time.)

These images are ironed on upside down so if you don't flip the image before you print it you will end up reprinting the images a second time.

Here is the final image. My daughter was thrilled. Even though it was a bit of a challenge and took about 2 hours longer that I intended… I'm glad I did it.

My February Project

I found a project. Well, I found an idea and I am making it into a personal project for the month of February!

I was inspired by a Pintrest post that lead me to this website:

 http://www.iloveitallwithmonikawright.com/2010/06/happy-anniversary.html

On her blog Monika Wright created the most darling little book with all the letters of the alphabet and one each one wrote a message to her husband and presented the whole thing as an anniversary gift.

What a great way to express your love to a person.

My anniversary isn't until Nov and I'm sure I'll forget…


But the pin I took this from
suggested that this would be a
great activity for a dry erase board
in a home during the month of February.



26 letters… 28 days…
that give me 2 days leeway if I forget… 
gears turning…




I can do this!

 I have a newly painted chalkboard door (post coming soon) that I walk out of each day.

Why not challenge myself (and my family) to think of something positive each day based on a letter from the alphabet.

So during the cold month of February follow along with my and my ABC adventure.
Better yet, join in!

My goal is to post a blog (it may be short, but it will be there) and share the letter of the day and my word or phrase.

Share your ideas here on the blog or on my Facebook page.

I can't wait for the fun to start!

Thankful For The Teacher

I wanted to give my daughter preschool teachers something little and cute for thanksgiving to show them how thankful we are for all that they do. 

Start with cellophane wrapping, individual cups of carmel dip, a large apple, ribbon, and some paper. 

Cut some of the clear wrap and place the carmel cup and the apple on top. 

Pull up the wrapping all nice and pretty and tie it with a decorative ribbon.

Ahead of time I cut some coordinating pieces of card stock and then traced the letters out lightly in pencil so that my daughter could write the message for her teacher.

Punch a hole in the "card"

Tie the card to the package. 

I for one think this is such a cute take on the 'apple for a teacher' idea!

Do you have any fun teacher gifts you have made?

Great smelling' house!

Ever have your house smell funny....

 but you don't want to walk around with a can of air freshener....

(fearing you may suffocate your child with the chemical cloud it would require to rid the house of the smell...)

Here is an all natural, low cost, and very easy way to make your house smell like fall.

Grab a few cinnamon sticks*, a tablespoon of cloves*,  2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and an apple.

 *both available in bulk food area of grocery store for a reasonable price

Slice the apple into a few pieces and place them in a 2 quart sauce pan with the cinnamon sticks, lemon juice, and cloves. Add 3 cups of water and set to simmer.

Wait for a bit and soon you will notice warm scent of cinnamon filling your kitchen and seeping into the rest of your home.  Check every 20 minutes or so. As the water evaporates you can add water and let it continue to freshen your home.

SAFTY NOTE: Never leave anything on the stove unattended. 

In other words: Watch carefully so that the water doesn't boil off and create a burnt applesauce.

Freebies???

I tried signing up for a website that touted  free samples of all sorts. An acquaintance of mine swears by it but I found it wasn't nearly as easy as it claimed. (Is anything in life easy?) 

Maybe she has more time than I have. I found myself wasting precious time filling out form after form and being linked to page after page, just to get a measly little sample of something.

The few samples that I did manage to complete the forms for still haven't arrived. This fact doesn't surprise me because the sites say "wait 6-8 weeks for delivery."

I have see other site out there promoting free samples for moms, free makeup samples for women, etc. Has anyone found a site(s) that really do give samples without all of the forms and links and catches?