Sanctuary for Mom and Dad

There have been many books, articles and seminars that teach how to keep your marriage alive. Let’s face it, when you throw children into the mix, putting time into the marriage, often goes on the back burner. I recently read an article that talked about the importance of turning your bedroom into a sanctuary; in other words, a “kid-free zone”. The benefits of creating boundaries for the bedroom, are not only just for the marriage, but can also offer a place of escape for a stressed out mom who just needs a short time to rejuvenate and rest.

Rules for Turning Your Bedroom Into a Sanctuary.

1. No one enters without an invite, of course after a knock first.

2. No Legos, dolls, forts, bed jumping allowed.

3. If the phone rings and the door is shut, take a message.

June 3, 2010 | Filed Under Homemaking | Leave a Comment

Make Your Own Upside Down Tomato Planter

Upside down tomato planters are definitely a hot gardening item this year. The average price runs between $10-$20. In my opinion, this is just a plain rip off!! I mean, it’s basically a pot with a large hole in the bottom. So in the vein of frugal living, I decided to make my own, for just the cost of a hanging pot.

How to make your own upside tomato planter:

#1 Cut a large hole in the bottom. I did this with a power drill. The hole has to be large enough to “thread” the tomato plant through, but not too big as the dirt will spill out.

#2. Carefully wrap the leaves in saran wrap to get them bunched together. This will make threading easier. Next, pull a mesh barrier (with a hole in the middle) carefully over the leaves and down to the dirt. I used a piece of landscaping fabric. This will help keep the dirt from falling out of the hole.

Once your meshing is pulled over the plant, you are ready to carefully thread the entire plant through the hole. This takes some time and has to be done very delicately so you don’t tear any of the stems. The best way is to slowly wiggle and pull.

#3. At this point you will have to either hang the planter or have someone hold it (if you put it down, you will smash the tomato plant!). Fill the rest up with dirt. I decided to add flowers to the top, just for fun.

Here it is right after I finished. You can see the leaves are in shock, so they are a bit droopy. By the the next day, they perked right up! I will post some more pictures when it really gets going.

Saving money doing it myself really works for me! To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.

siggy-jennie

June 1, 2010 | Filed Under Homemaking, Uncategorized | 1 Comment