Getting your husband to do more housework...

If you have a daughter and a husband and need help getting more things done around the house here is a great resource to keep in your back pocket....

New research finds that daughters of men who help out at home tend to select from a broader range of career options than the daughters of families in which chores are not equitably shared

Dads who want their daughters to aim for prestigious professions should start by doing the dishes or loading the washing machine, a new study suggests.

 

The study, to be published in the journal Psychological Science, found that fathers who perform household chores are more likely to bring up daughters who break out of the mold of traditionally female jobs and aspire to careers in business, legal and other professions, CTV reports.

Alyssa Croft, lead author of the study, and a doctoral candidate at the University of British Columbia, said the study suggested “girls grow up with broader career goals in households where domestic duties are shared more equitably by parents.”

The study involved a survey of 326 children, between 7 and 13 years old, and at least one of their parents.

See original link here: 

http://time.com/135157/dads-daughters-household-chores-career-ambitious/

Spring Cleaning

I am feeling the need to do some spring cleaning. Yes my house needs spring cleaning the house always needs cleaning but I'm talking about a little bit of spring cleaning in my life.

 Lately I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of activities that I'm helping with or lending a hand for participating in the number of emails and getting the sort through each day time to clean out. 

 

Do I really need all those emails from websites that show how to make cute cards and cute scrapbook pages? I can always search the web if I really need an idea and it will provide me with plenty of ideas...

Time to unsubscribe or block all those emails so that I'm not tempted to clutter up my life and eat up time going through them.

Ahhhhhhh! Feeling better already...
 

Now it's time to look at the committees I'm on and nicely resign from a few and bring it down to just one committee meeting once a month.....

I am feeling so much better! This is the way its supposed to be. I want to come home from work and be able to take of what needs to be done at home and then spend the rest of the time with my family. I don't want to be constantly burdened by the thought of what I need to do and where I need to go next.

 

There are all sorts of other spring cleaning tips out there, tips for home cleaning, fitness programs, healthy eating cleanse programs, and more. However, I need to be on my way. It is time to spring clean my life by listing out my priorities and cleaning out the rest of the "clutter"!


While in the midst of this "spring cleaning life" revelation I did a bit of web searching and found a few good links I thought I would share:

This website gives a few good tips on how to do a mental/spiritual spring cleaning:
http://www.beliefnet.com/Wellness/Personal-Growth/5-Ways-to-Spring-Clean-Your-Life.aspx

If you are looking for some tips on how to do a spring cleaning of your digital world take a glance at this story:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2014/04/5-quick-tips-to-spring-clean-your-digital-life/


 

Cleaning Crayon Off A Fireplace Hearthstone

It was bound to happen... My daughter colored on the hearth stone of the fireplace a.k.a. my husbands #1 pride and joy project of all time. 

What do I d!?!?! Well I don't tell him of course....Instead I run to the computer and Google how to "clean crayon off stone" and "how to clean a stone fireplace", etc... Search like mad to for a way to easily and quickly clean up the mess.

 



This is actually the after picture. I was so freaked out when it happened I didn't take time to do a 'before' picture.

Unfortunately the most popular solution to getting out wax is to use a paper bag and an iron. I was not doing to dare do that. I knew that it would just melt it into the stone and make it worse. (Although side note if you ever have candle wax or melted crayon on carpet or fabric, the iron and paper bag  method does work! I speak from experience.)

Other popular suggestions:

Scrape it off (-this was the first thing I tried and it didn't work!)

Soap and water (-not going to work, I don't even have to test this one)

WD40 (-eeehhhhh, I don't know if I should spray it on the porous stone.. might soak in and affect it)

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (-tried it, didn't work)

Various random chemicals (-same comment as WD40)

 

 

NONE of these were going to work....

 

Then I had an aha moment. Stone is rough, what if I found another rough yet gentle material to

"sand" off the crayon. I had some steel wool and I crossed my fingers and prayed.

 

As you can tell it leaves a bit of a mess. A gray dust on the edges of your 'sanding' area. But all the crayon came off!!!!! I used a dust pan to sweep up the gray dusty stuff and it was as good as new! Couldn't tell there had been a crayon anywhere near it!

 

So next time you child gets near a stone or brick surface with crayons try using steel wool.

 

It worked miracles for me!

 

Kid activity…Pintrest idea-Try and Fail.

I tried to make one of those cool layered density bottles with my daughter thinking it would be a cool way to teach about different substances and also just a really cool thing to look at….

The directions and other types of bottles can be found on http://familylicious.com/layered-density-discovery-bottle/. 

We did not have all the items so we opted to use only 

First pour in…
1. Corn Syrup
2. Dawn Dish Soap
4. Colored Water
5. Vegetable Oil

I wish I would have taken a before picture… the syrup and soap stayed separate, however, the colored water and oil were starting to mix. My daughter added some sparkly stars and little buttons. Then she had a blast shaking….

Here was the issue, after the fun was had she set it to the side to let it settle and separate.

36 hours later and we are still waiting for it to separate…..

Note: I threw away the bottle and accidentally deleted the picture from my phone before I posted this so unfortunately I can't show you what it looked like. But its not hard to picture,  just imagine a 1 liter bottle full of dark blue oil water and soap mixture... :-( 

Chalkboard Door

I decided to revamp my chalkboard door. 

Originally I had an art area on the bottom and 4 small sections on the top but it didn't seem to be efficient to me. 

So I taped it off and repainted the whole thing. This Rust-oleum paint is awesome. It goes on very nicely with a foam roller and works really well and cleans up nicely after using both white or colored chalk.  

Once my two coats were applied (with 24 hours between coats) and let 'cure' for 48 hours...

I now have a gigantic chalk board and I love it!

I love that the door is metal because I can use magnets on it. The magnets work through the chalk paint too.

I always have a "Grocery List" heading since I always seem to be running out of something and if I don't write it down I won't remember.

The base provides a great place for my daughter to draw and play teacher with her stuffed animals.