ramblings of a reluctant homemaker
A diamond is a girl’s best friend… or is it? Engagement rings can be really expensive. You pay not only for the diamond itself, which is overpriced, but in many cases you pay a premium for the designer setting. If you want platinum, forget it. The cost is going to soar even more. Fortunately, there are some options that will allow you to save money on even cheap engagement rings, making the rings more affordable. Continue reading Save Money on Cheap Engagement Rings
I was reading an article today by Leslie Josel in Family Circle magazine about what happens when you stop telling your kids what to do. Ms. Josel had an interesting take on the way we run our lives and direct our children and I think she makes a very good point. I only wish I’d read this when my girls were growing up, but it’s never to late to start with the questions Josel outlined.
Her point was that she would run around in a rush and tell her kids to get the soccer ball, water bottle and snack. She never gave them a chance to think for themselves. Boy, was I guilty of this. I am so Type A that it isn’t funny. It was so much easier for me to pre-pack a bag for my kids and tell them to grab their backpack, grab their lunch, grab whatever. I could ensure that they never forgot anything and were always prepared. But were they?
No! My kids were never prepared. I was the one who was prepared and they had to take no responsibility for it at all. Why would they? I packed their lunches and told them not to forget them. I packed their backpacks and reminded them to grab them. I did everything.
Here is the thing, you should instead say, “What do you need to take to school tomorrow?” or “Do you have everything you need for soccer?”
If the child chooses to not be prepared he or she will learn. Yes, it might be uncomfortable to be the only parent whose child is doing without a water bottle for that practice, but your child will learn a valuable lesson that if you don’t take the time to prepare for practice you are going to be thirsty until you get home.
The point that Jolen makes is to ask your kids questions that make them think ahead. This teaches them to be forward thinkers. So, you can ask things like “How do you plan to achieve that?” or “What are the steps you’re going to take to meet your goal?”
You get the idea. Instead of doing everything for them, like I did, take the extra time and effort to let them do for themselves and think for themselves. It will take more time and effort now, but it will pay off in the future. Learn from my mistake on this one. It was very hard for my kids to start taking responsibility once grown. One is still working on it. I could have made it a lot easier on them by not making it easy on them.
Have you ever thought about starting a keepsake tablecloth for holidays? I just finished reading an article on ABC News about a family who started a tradition of having family members sign a tablecloth each year. What a beautiful idea. I am going to borrow from this idea and start a tradition of my own.
I noticed theirs was embroidered and knowing myself I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever (times a million) go back and embroider those signatures. I just won’t. So, I’m going to adapt the idea and have everyone use sharpies instead of trying to embroider, because what would happen is that I would SAY I was going to embroider and it would never get done.
After much reading and research, I’ve come to the conclusion that I have two options.
What a fun way to start a new tradition.
I love the smells and tastes of Christmas, don’t you? There is nothing quite like the smell of homemade cookies baking in the oven, a real Christmas tree, or cinnamon. It brings back so many happy memories. Who wouldn’t want their house to smell like Christmas?
Fortunately, there are some simple ways you can achieve this smell in your home for pennies.
Here are a few ideas to make your house smell like Christmas.
These are just a few ideas to bring the smell of Christmas into your home. With just a little effort, the scents of Christmas will help your own children and those who visit your home build happy memories that will come back each time they smell that scent.
Do you have so many tomatoes that you don’t know what to do with them all? This year, I planted some roma heirloom plants that my good friend Sally sent me a while back. They produced the most delicious roma tomatoes you’ve ever tried, but there were so many of them that we couldn’t keep up just eating them on salads and such. I decided to go ahead and try my hand at making salsa. We love salsa and eat it for snacks, on eggs, on Mexican dishes, etc.
Although the chopping was a little time intensive, if you have a food processor, you can speed this up. The recipe is simple, ingredients you likely have in your garden or on hand, and delicious. Salsa is pretty basic. Nearly every salsa out there has similar ingredients. The key to getting salsa you love is to tweak it until the flavor is perfect. This is my perfect flavor. You may want to play around with it a bit to get to yours.
Personally, I don't care for too much cilantro in my salsa and would probably just leave it out, but my family likes the taste. I think it makes the salsa taste a bit soapy. I usually compromise by adding it but only adding a little. You may want to especially experiment with this ingredient to see what tastes best to you.
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