I received an amazing gift this week! Our dryer has been doing strange things to our clothes, and when a large brown slash mark appeared on the leg of my brand new khaki pedal pushers, I was fit to be tied. We had been talking about replacing our old dryer for a while, but with this latest casualty it was definitely the right time. After some careful research we chose the model we wanted and scheduled the delivery.

I watched the deliverymen unload our new dryer from the back of their van, and as they lowered it to the ground I saw one of the most marvelous things I could have ever imagined. Struck breathless, I ran to the stairs as they began hauling the heavy appliance to our door, and I asked, with a little too much excitement on my face and in my voice, “Can I keep the box????”

If you have tried to find appliance boxes lately, you understand my enthusiasm. When I called local stores that sell large things, I was generally greeted with the same answers: “We shred the boxes as soon as they come in,” and “Companies don’t use boxes to pack large appliances much anymore—they shrink wrap them.” My favorite, of course, is the proverbial, “Call back and talk to [the appliance guy] on [insert day of week here]—maybe he can help you.” Of course, [the appliance guy] was never there, or if he was, he had no idea what I was talking about. I soon gave up my crusade to find the Holy Grail of pre-schooldom, the multi-purpose appliance box.

If I had known that I was going to get the box with my dryer, I probably would have sprung for the dryer a lot sooner, like at the beginning of summer when I really needed the box for my toddler French class. That would have saved my new pants from their disfigurement, too. But, as they say, hindsight is 20/20, and I have the box now, so I plan to cherish it and use it for all it’s worth—we’ll start by spray-painting it red so that we can pretend it’s a barn. Then what? Maybe it will be a school bus or a post office—it could even be a cave. Then, when the time comes that our dear box cannot hold another coat of paint and it is too feeble to stand, we will use it to cover the ground so that we may spray paint the next box, if we are so blessed as to need a new washing machine.

OAMC: What IS that?

OAMC = Over-Achievers Meet to Cook? Outlandish Activities Moms Create? Optimistic Adventurous Motley Chefs? I like that one!

I am in the throes of planning for a Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) day. This is a biggie, since we have eight families participating and we will all go home with twelve family-size meals...that's 96 meals that will feed four people each...that's 384 individual servings...which means we'll need 17 1/2 cups of chopped onion, 96 boneless, skinless chicken breasts...32 cups of cooked, chopped chicken, 64 pork chops...40 baked potatoes...16 cups shredded cheddar...8 cups of diced ham...13 cups olive oil...and so on, and so on...

It's a bit overwhelming, but once the shopping and prep work is done, my job gets easier (we have eight women assigned to different prep-ahead jobs such as washing and baking 40 potatoes, chopping all those onions, trimming the fat from the fresh chicken breasts, cooking the chicken for the recipes that require cooked chicken, boiling the pasta, boiling, peeling and chopping the eggs, grating fresh ginger...you get the idea).

With all this prep work, our cooking day will consist mostly of assembling our ingredients, bagging and labeling, and cleaning. We'll still have a bit of cooking to do the day of, but we'll have two woks, two electric skillets, four stove top burners, one oven, and several prep stations. Thankfully, we'll be working in a nice, big kitchen (my in-laws' kitchen, currently unoccupied!)...so we won't be interrupting any naptimes or bedtimes on cooking day...yea! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Here is a list of our 12 Meals:

1. Loaded Stuffed Spuds
2. Apple Pork Chops
3. Teriyaki Pork Chops
4. Chicken Carbonara
5. Oven Sandwiches
6. Beef Stroganoff
7. Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
8. Sausage-Stuffed Shells
9. Red River Chicken
10. Moroccan Chicken
11. Chicken Tostados
12. Panko Parmesan Oven-Fried Chicken

Total cost per family: Between $60-$70 (I'll post the total next week when all is said and done, and some pics from OAMC-Day...we cook tomorrow!)

Half of the recipes we chose are chicken recipes, so we wouldn't have to deal with too many different ingredients. In my family, we like to intersperse our OAMC meals with lighter, veggie-bean meals--we don't like meat every night.

The best thing about OAMC is getting all that cooking done in one day in the company of seven other fabulous women! It's actually quite fun! Oh, and not having to stand at the stove every afternoon while my kids destroy the house like a couple of tornadoes...yeah, that rates pretty high for me!

See the post-cooking day follow-up here!

You Do What?

When child number two came around, a dear friend of mine brought out her cloth diaper stash to show me how easy it was.

Cloth diaper? No way? People really still do that?

I was not going to cloth diaper. Nope. Not even interested.

Well, seventeen months later, we are a cloth diapering family (for over a year)....and truly it is easy. Not just easy, but simple and very inexpensive!

Our water bill has not gone up since cloth diapering. Since we hang our diapers on the line, our electric bill has stayed the same. The only difference is the small amount of time I put into washing the diapers and hanging them outside!

Truly, it is easy. People really still do it. And, yes we have saved a ton of money cloth diapering!

New Doggies!

Well, today is day three of our new adventure with these two new dogs we picked up at the pound. Things are actually going pretty well considering...




Pre-dog days


Ever since our two dogs Cotton and Frosty met untimely deaths a few years ago, I've been pining for a furry friend to join our family. Having small children has made the idea of having pets again kind of unsavory so I had to tread lightly and plan things out carefully.




Step one. Make sure kids are toilet trained themselves. There's only so much poop and pee I can deal with at one time.


Step two. Find a breed as close to a stuffed animal as possible, ie., Not too big, not too small, not too old, not too young, hardly sheds, doesn't bark too much, isn't too excitable, won't bite the kids or eat their toys, completely house and crate trained, good with strangers yet barks at someone at the door, totally healthy, parasite-free, incapable of giving us lots of puppies, and lastly, cute as anything. Oh, and did I mention free or at least inexpensive? Simple, right? That's only 18 parameters that had to be met. Well....



I think we may have found TWO dogs that fit the bill. I told my reluctant hubby that God not only helped us find one dog, but two great dogs. Others have mentioned that maybe I'm just a sucker, but I would rather think this is providence.



So far, they're perfect. Except for... the fleas and caked poop they both had when we transported them to our home, the poop, pee and puke (sounds like a rock band) I've cleaned up, the snapping between the dogs over an belatedly eaten dog biscuit, and let me mention, all the piggy-back rides the male is getting all the time. Oh, yeah. He's getting it more than the adults in this home. It's always business-time at our house these days (that's for you Karly :) ). It's a good thing they're spayed and neutered. That's all I've got to say about that.



We have fallen in love with these two furry creatures. My continuous fear is that one will bite the kids. I can deal with anything but this. The understanding between all of us is that if we get bitten, then that doggy will need to go to another home where he/she will be happier. I hope it'll never come to this. That will be a sad day for sure.


We'll see what this week brings. We're hoping for the best!

Tutorial Tuesday, Today! Freezer Paper Stencils

Upon request, I have finally completed the tutorial for Freezer Paper Stencils. This is something that everyone can do and all the members of your family can help with (including the kids).

I picked up a few canvas totes at a discount store (I think they were 3 for $4). I thought they would make great gifts, since more people are using totes to carry their groceries in. Right? But I don't want to give a plain old tote. That's not special or interesting. Or especially interesting.

Here is our cast of characters. The canvas totes in cream, khaki, and walnut. (I'm going to use the walnut colored one for this project.) Freezer paper (you can find it at the grocery store), acrylic paint, sponge brush, sharp exacto knife, and cutting surface (a regular old cutting board will work). You'll also want pull out your iron and some thick paper to put inside whatever you paint, to keep the paint from bleeding through.

The first thing you are going to do is to draw what you want to stencil on the matte side of the freezer paper (it has a shiny plastic side and a matte paper side). I looked at a picture and kind of free-handed the drawing below. But, often I trace pictures.

This is an intricate design and I recommend starting off with a simple design like this. Then, as you get some technique going, go for something harder.

Next, start cutting. Remember to cut out the reverse, of your picture so that you create a stencil. (I often do this in the early morning hours, before my kids rise, so that we are ready do work on an art project and I don't have sharp tools around.) I like to cut on a glass cutting board, it makes nice smooth curves.

I find the cutting to be the most tedious part. However, when you are done, it's so totally worth it! It goes quickly from here, I promise!

So, here is the completed stencil on freezer paper, cut and ready to go. I try to cut 4 or 5 at a time so we can paint several things at once. Put some heavy paper, in this case old pieces of manila folders, inside what your working on to keep the paint from bleeding through.

You are going to need your iron now. I like to iron (on high heat) before I put the stencil down so that I have a nice smooth place for the design. Place your design on the fabric shiny plastic side down and move it around where you want it. Then iron it in place. I recommend doing about 1/3 at a time. That way you can move your stencil if necessary. You can peel it up and re-iron if necessary.

Now that your design is ironed in place, you are ready to paint. This is the part I let THE Princess do. We use a sponge brush with regular acrylic paint. Make make sure you tap the brush (instead of wiping paint back and forth). This will insure that the paint does not soak underneath the stencil.

Cover everything with a thick coat of paint. I went behind THE Princess and added some yellow for contrast.

The great part is, that you don't have to wait to see your design. Start to peel off the freezer paper. I use tweezers to get any small areas that stick.

There it is! Just let it dry and iron over the dried acrylic paint to set it. It will wash well after that.

I added another stencil to this one and now I have a nice little gift tote! Awesome, I love the freezer paper stencil!

To see other projects with Freezer Paper stencils, look here. I have lots of ideas for this fun project!

Dry dog food -- the next Tickle Me Elmo?

Do any of you remember a movie from the 80's starring Tom Hanks entitled Big? He's a tween boy who wishes to become "big" and ends up in an adult body with the mind and experiences of his real age? Anyway, in his "big" body he ends up working in New York City in market research and development for a toy company. Sound vaguely familiar?

I've decided, based on my limited experience as a first-time parent, which gives me great credibility (grin), that I should try to market dry dog food as the next must have toy for toddlers. Seriously!! We have been given some great, fancy, battery-requiring toys for our toddler, but few have kept her occupied as long and with such great concentration and interest as our dog's dry kibble.

Here's how it works: the child removes the lid from the 5 gallon bucket containing the dry dog food, reaches inside and removes the premeasured scooping cup (I got ours from the dog's vet to be sure I fed him less, so the dog would lose weight) setting it several feet from the original container. Next, the child returns to the bucket, reaches in and grabs a fistful of food, and carefully places it into the scooping cup.

Fun ensues when the household dog decides to join in the game. The toddler scrambles to pick up any dropped pieces of kibble and place it into the small scooping cup before the pampered pooch can scarf it up into his mouth.

I have it from a reliable source (a mom of two preschoolers with more experience than I) that transferring objects is a major milestone for tots this age. So, this could be marketed as an educational toy that teaches fine motor skills (picking up individual pieces dropped during the transfer), gross motor skills (walking from bucket to cup), problem solving skills (how to remove the lid from the 5 gallon bucket), math skills (you could have child count the pieces once the cup is full), and advanced skills like evasive manuevering (keeping the food away from the dog).

The advanced model could be sold the following year with a bungee cord included to increase the difficulty of removing the bucket's lid and a decorating kit for sprucing up the 5 gallon bucket so it will fit in with any decor.

Sounds like a winner to me -- and -- as an added bonus, this toy requires no batteries and no assembly.

Bad Karma Lipstick: A Good Mom Gone Bad

My children are skilled shoplifters. Untrained, but skilled, nonetheless, and I have now become an accomplice.

I once had to shamefacedly return a shoe my kid snagged in a Payless. We got all the way to the other end of the mall before I realized my one-year-old was gnawing happily on a size 12 leopard stiletto...nice.

When KID 1 was 2 1/2 years old, we went to Vermont on vacation. I was six months pregnant with KID 2 at the time, our little girl. We found this neat little town (I conveniently forget the name of the town) with a cool historic district...lots of little shops, boutiques, and interesting places to eat. Just our kind of place.

The highlight of our walking tour was a little drugstore/gift shop with an amazing toy shop in its basement. We had a hard time pulling ourselves away from this store. I mean, my husband and I are really two little kids when it comes to great toys, and we're suckers for well-made wooden toys.

As Paul stood in line to pay, I pushed the stroller over to browse the biggest display of Burt's Bees products I had ever seen, including silver tubes of actual lipstick. And it was minty, just like the gloss I already liked so much.

But I resisted the temptation to buy lipstick, since we were already spending over $100 on toys...a completely and totally necessary expense--we really needed that nesting cube of building blocks and tray of wooden beads with posts and pattern cards (also wood). Priorities, you know?

Anyway, we had a great day exploring the town, but by the end, we were exhausted and bedraggled. So, in a late afternoon thunderstorm, swaddled with packages, diaper bag, and toddler, we ran with the stroller (I did that weird pregnant waddle/run/support the underbelly gracefully move) to the outskirts of town where we parked the car that morning.

We got the baby strapped into his car seat and hauled the stroller into the back. Something fell out and rolled under the car. It was a silver tube.

Apparently, our son really liked that Burt's Bees lipstick, too. Fig...that's the name of this awesome lipstick color.

I felt so guilty, but I was NOT going to walk all the way back to the other side of town in the rain to bring back the lifted lipstick. I justified this decision by pointing out 1) how swollen my feet were, and 2) how much we spent in that particular store. They should have thrown in two or three tubes of lipstick! We headed out of town.

For the last two years, I'm ashamed to admit, this lipstick has been my guilty pleasure. I'm complimented almost every time I wear this beautiful shade, plus my husband loves the minty flavor it leaves behind when he kisses me.

The irony of this situation is that I always pride myself on doing the right thing. Especially as a mom, I hold myself to a very high standard. I go to church every Sunday and teach Sunday school once a month. And now, in a moment of pregnancy-induced weakness, motherhood has turned me into a petty thief!

A few days ago, as I got ready to leave the house, I twisted up my favorite lipstick and found it bitten down to a stub. KID 2 had indulged in a little snackie while she perused the contents of my purse. I should have known that lipstick had bad karma.

And if I ever get back to that quaint little Vermont town and find that shop, I swear I'll do the right thing. But in the meantime, God, forgive me, I'm gonna keep digging my pinkie into the tube and smudging it across my lips until every minty bit of color is gone...as my punishment, of course.