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YUM!

This is a super yummy, super simple last minute Christmas treat. Package it up pretty and give it to friends or neighbors. You only use a microwave so it’s a great recipe for the kids to do. You’ll find the recipe for Popcorn Delight HERE.

siggy

December 23, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Homemaking | Leave a Comment

Molly’s Money-Saving December Deal

If you haven’t checked out Molly’s Money-Saving Digests before, you really should. Their December Digest is great and comes with two freebies! You get a 200+ page Homemade Gifts in a Jar from Sherri Graham (perfect timing for Christmas!) and Holiday Open House: Open Your Heart and Home from Marilyn Moll, the Urban Homemaker. All this AND the December Digest is only $4.95. What a great deal! Click the graphics to read all about the December Digest.

Gifts in a jar are a great project to do with the kids. I like to have my kiddos make list of folks that they are especially fond of that they’d like to thank. This usually includes the neighbor lady, our postmaster, paper delivery boy, etc. Homemade goodies are a fun, simple and inexpensive way to let them know you care.

December 4, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Homemaking | Leave a Comment

Inflationary Language - Victor Borge

This is really great! Victor Borge has some fun with “inflationary language”. Gather the kids around and enjoy!

Threedleoo!

siggy

October 9, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Homemaking | Leave a Comment

WFMW: Clean N’ Flips

Now, since our company created and published Clean N’ Flips, I realize this post could be considered a “plug”. However, our Zone Cleaning Flip was created out of necessity and truly is a great cleaning tip. Jennie was taking care of Marillee’s kids for a week (eight children, total) and created a plan to help stave off the chaos. The result was a system that the kids had fun with and left the house in better shape than it was before the added kiddos! By dividing the house into “zones” and assigning specific daily tasks, the kids were able to whip the place into shape in short order, leaving Jennie free to plan fun projects. (Or put them to work remodeling!) lol

Training the kids and making it easy for the to help work for me! To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.

siggy

October 7, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Quiet Please

summer200920056

I try to read my Bible every morning. Ideally I would like to get up EARLY, before the children are up, and have my quiet time with God. Unfortunately, I stay up too late working on projects and housework that an early “rise and shine” is only a dream. So what happens is I end up reading while everyone is awake. Of course it takes twice as long to read with all the interruptions even though my children are fully aware they should not interrupt mama unless I need to take them to the emergency room or the house is on fire. I was so frustrated the other day that one of my children had some compassion on me and wrote this sign for all to see. Not that it really helped, but it did cause quite a discussion among the children and a few laughs from adults. Someday the house will be too quiet and I will miss all those interruptions.

siggy-marilee

October 1, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Homemaking, Homeschooling | 2 Comments

Locked Out of Your Car? No Worries.

616444_car_keys When my husband told me he could unlock our car from half way around the world, I thought he was joking. But guess what? He was right! This is nifty little trick you may want to try with your kids– not to mention keep in the back of your mind, just in case you find you’ve locked your keys in the car.

You can try this right from your house. Go out to your locked car with a cellphone in hand. Have someone in as either NDTV or IBN) where this gentleman demonstrated how to unlock the door of your car using just a mobile phone and a spare set of car keys that are lying at your home.

Here’s what they did to unlock the car with a cell phone and the remote key:

1. Man gets out of the car, closes the door but then realizes that he left the keys inside.

2. He calls his wife at home using a cell phone and asks her to hold that duplicate set of car keys near her cell phone.

3. He then held his own cell phone near the car door while her wife pressed the unlock button at home. The car door gets unlocked immediately.

I may have treated this as a hoax had I read this trick on some web forum but since this procedure was shown on national TV by a reputed channel (with a real video), it may not be completely baseless.

Did you ever try this? Does it work.

siggy-jennie

Added by Dena:

Yes, this does work! We learned the hard way.

After locking my keys in the car I called my husband who, being a mechanic, was not happy that the van was running. He was worried that it would run out of gas, which is not good for a fuel injected engine. So….he hurried home from work (20 miles away), to unlock the van with his keys. Unfortunately, he hurried too quickly and got a ticket!

He eventually made it here and we unlocked the van. The next day, he told someone the story and they shared the above tip. We tried it and it definitely worked. At that point, I almost wished I didn’t know! We could have saved all that time and money.

Saving time, aggravation and money works for me, how about you? For more Works for me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.

siggy

September 23, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Homemaking | 4 Comments

Homeschool Harvest

diploma

Last Tuesday was a milestone in my family’s homeschool adventure. It was the day my husband and I signed our eldest son up for community college. It came quicker than I imagined…especially since he only turned 15 four months ago. It really hit me that my work, at least with schooling, is done with him. The program he is in is called All Prep Early College. It is a dual credit program which enables students to take college and get their high school diploma at the same time. If he follows the three year program, he will graduate with an associate’s degree and a HS diploma at the age of 18. The best part? It’s almost $10,000 of FREE college!! My husband has also agreed to take over from here…meaning, he will orchestrate him through this program. This means my work is done. I am a little nervous for him as this will be his first official step into a classroom setting. Not to mention his classes are all college level. But this opportunity is just too good to pass up.

siggy-jennie

September 17, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Homeschooling | 1 Comment

President Obama’s Speech

Are you concerned about the speech the President will give, addressing the nation’s school children tomorrow? If so, you can read it here to get a better idea of what will be said. I think we will make a point of watching from home and discussing after.

This is also a good opportunity to talk with your children about WHY people might be upset/concerned/scared about the President addressing school children. Ask your children their thoughts and share yours.

September 7, 2009 by admin | Filed Under Homeschooling | Leave a Comment

WFMW: The Steak Test

This is a nifty way to see how well done your steak is. As you change the position of your fingers, feel for the “give” on the soft part of your hand. When your steak has a similar feel, that tells you how well done it is.