I’m off today and tomorrow and the next day…. Well, actually, I’m going out of town and will not have internet access for a few days, so I’m leaving you with some great links to keep you busy while I’m away. Enjoy!

• Cake Stand Greenhouse - Small Notebook
• Thanks You’re Sweet Free Printable - Living Locurto
• Family Traditions: 10 Ideas to Get You Started - Simple Mom (Guest post by Sherri at Serene Journey)
• Crisis Management: When You Just Need to Hang On for Dear Life - Hearth Management
• How to Keep Cool When It’s Hot Outside - Being Frugal
• My Top Ten Tips for Making the Perfect Cookie - A High & Noble Calling
• Choosing Good Books for Your Children - Steady Mom

I should be back on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

Related posts:

1. Playday Thursday: Mommy Links I’m off today, but you are welcome to browse my site and check out these links for moms I've found...
2. Playday Thursday: Favorite Finds I’m off today, but you are welcome to browse my site and check out these links I’ve found for you...
3. Playday Thursday: Love I'm off today, but you are welcome to browse my site. On Thursday's, I'm giving myself a little break and...

Posted on May 21st, 2009 in Miscellaneous | One Comment

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Do you ever get ideas or thoughts you don’t want to forget at times when you are least likely to have a pen and paper handy? Okay, well I do sometimes.

It really irritates me when I tell myself, “I’ll remember that,” and soon after I’m asking myself, “what was I going to remember.” Then I waste two hours of my already busy day trying to recall whatever it was, only to come back to square one - I just plain don’t remember.

For some reason, I tend to have good ideas come to me at three inconvenient times during my day:

• while I’m trying to sleep in the middle of the night
• while I’m in the shower
• while I’m driving down the road

Now, those are not situations for which I normally would have a notepad and pen around. Therefore, most of those ideas or thoughts would just end up going down the drain, if I didn’t happen to remember them.

I decided there had to be a solution to these forgetful occasions. So, hold on to your chair because I have a rocket science solution to each of these situations. Here it goes:

• Place a notepad and pen by the bed at night. This way if I wake up in the middle of the night with an awesome idea or even a dream I want to remember, I can jot it down quickly and then go back to sleep. I don’t lay there worrying about whether I will forget it by morning and I don’t have to drag myself out of the bed to go write it down.
• Put a notepad and pen in the bathroom drawer. If I think of something I want to make a note of while in the shower, as soon as I get out, I can write it down. I’ve noticed that if I try to wait until I get dressed, brush my hair and put in my contacts, etc, the thing I wanted to remember has flown right out the door.
• Keep a pen and paper in the car or within easy reach in your purse. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped at a stop light or stop sign and jotted an idea down. In addition, since I keep mine in my purse, I have it wherever I go. I use it many times in stores for writing down product numbers, descriptions and prices I need to remember when I’m doing comparison shopping.

I know this is probably not my most mind blowing post, but I feel it has saved me some frustrations that come along with forgetfulness. Do you think I’m just getting old? Okay, don’t answer that.

Do you find that you come up with ideas at odd times? What do you do to make sure you don’t forget them?

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

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Posted on May 19th, 2009 in Home and Organization | 12 Comments

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Yesterday, I told you about the Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual cookbook I found for cooking with my son. I thought I could also share with you a few tips I’ve learned from our cooking times together.

Here are a few things I think make our kitchen time run more smoothly:

1. Discuss safety issues - Make sure your child understands safety issues, such as knife and other sharp utensils safety, as well as oven and stovetop safety.
2. Use plastic or stainless containers instead of glass - If the containers get knocked over, you may have a mess, but at least there will be no broken glass, which could be a safety hazard, especially when working with younger children.
3. Have everything out and ready before you start - I find it much easier to go ahead and get all my ingredients laid out on the counter and ready to go before I bring my son into the kitchen.
4. Make foods visually appealing - Kids love to create fun foods. They are also much more likely to eat them if they think the foods are fun to look at.
5. Start with simple recipes - You don’t want to start out baking homemade bread or preparing a half-day meal when kids are involved. Most kids have a short attention span and the less involved your recipe the easier it will be on you and your child.
6. Plan for clean up time and let kids help - The kitchen is going to be a bigger mess when kids are helping you cook. It’s important for them to learn cleaning is a part of the cooking process. Cooking is fun but with it comes clean up responsibilities also.
7. Get them their own apron and/or chef’s hat - As you can see from the above picture, my son has his own little apron and chef’s hat. We call him Chef David and he loves it.
8. Compliment your child’s progress - Even if things don’t turn out the way you planned, it’s okay. Remember, this is a learning experience for your child, and it’s suppose to be fun most of all.
9. Don’t try to cook when the kids are hungry - Believe me, I’ve tried this and it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
10. Be patient - It’s going to take longer with kids in the kitchen, so be sure to allow plenty of time and be patient with your child as you proceed through each step of the recipe.
11. Have fun - If you can’t have fun, you might as well get out of the kitchen.

As I promised yesterday, here is a picture of one of the other recipes my son and I tried from the Kids Cooking recipe book.

These are called Disgustingly Rich Brownies, and believe me, they were nothing less than disgustingly delicious.

This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesday.

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Posted on May 19th, 2009 in Kids and Family | 6 Comments

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