Garden Tips
If you are interested in starting your own little veggie garden plot, here are a few tips.
1. Find a spot that is suitable to your needs. For example: sunny, away from animals, etc.
2. Check the pH balance of your soil and compare it to the needs of your proposed veggies. Most seed packets have the necessary pH information. Add compost or potting soil to your growing area if needed.
3. Consider building a grow box lined with chicken wire. Especially if you live in gopher-prone areas.
4. Purchase seeds from a reliable source. Try to buy heirloom or non-genetically-modified seeds.
5. Set your seeds out in seedling trays. Grow veggies that are appropriate for your current climate/season.
6. Water your seed faithfully.
7. Transplant to your garden area when seedlings have at least two sets of leaves. Maybe more.
8. Continue to water and check for troublesome weeds daily if you can.
9. Harvest when ripe and enjoy!
Mend Your Own Jeans
I ripped my favorite pair of denim capris yesterday and it is definitely not in the budget to get a new pair right now. So, I pulled out my handy dandy textile adhesive and some denim fabric scraps. Voila, now my capris will last a few more months.
I use Aleene’s Super Fabric Textile Adhesive. It can be found at WalMart for about $3.00. This stuff is amazing. (It is also very toxic, so use it carefully.) Once the glue dries, you can machine wash the clothing and it should stay adhered. I’ve used the stuff to patch clothing, put a skirt together out of old jeans, adhere a button to a pillow and ‘decorate’ clothing with beads or other ‘flair.’
iPhones vs iamFrugal
Anya Kamenetz over at Yahoo Finance has a great article about staying frugal in the age of the iPhone. In addition to adding up the costs of an iPhone she lays out some great basic tips for keeping it frugal. One tip that I cannot recommend highly enough is:
2. Food: Cook It
Actually, I highly recommend all of her tips, also be sure to read her other articles, she has some good advice.
Enjoy the Simplest Things
I think the simplest things in life can be the sweetest.
Looking in the bedroom and seeing The Boy and His Dad laying on the bed reading together.
Eating cherry tomatoes right off the vine.
Finding the biggest or ‘coolest’ leaf.
Stopping to smell the flowers on a walk.
Eating homemade bread right out of the oven.
Getting to read (!) on the patio while The Boy is busy emptying the pool water into the sandbox.
Walking around, checking out the wares at the local Farmers’ Market.
And here’s the kicker. Most of these simple pleasures are free! Don’t forget to count your blessings as you encounter life on a single income.
Favorite Race Car Books
Currently, The Boy is into race cars. Every once in a while Daddy watches a little bit of Nascar and The Boy loves it when the cars go, “’round and ’round and ’round!” We’ve also started watching the movie ‘Cars.’ He doesn’t have the longest attention span, so we’ve only gotten about half-way through the movie so far. But he already loves Lightning McQueen.
Anyhow, we’ve checked out these books quite often in recent weeks. I’ve even gone so far as to purchase The Wheels on the Race Car for our nephew and The Boy for Christmas. Even though we might never get the tune (The Wheels on the Bus) out of our heads. The other two books in our top three: R Is for Race: A Stock Car Alphabet and The Racecar Alphabet.
Check out your local library, yard sales or used book venues for these fun books.
Riding the Rides at Mommytown
The Boy and his friend just spent the past 30 minutes sitting in Daddy’s desk chair, spinning around. I was the spinnee or sometimes The Boy would get down and spin said friend. I did not know that this could be so entertaining. Yesterday the fun was pushing the desk chair around the house.
So, if you have a chair at home that has wheels, consider making that the ‘toy of the day.’
Decorate it with streamers and have a chair parade.
Ride the spinny ride.
Push each other around the house.
Another free form of entertainment!
Ready, Set, Bumbo!
Although this would take quite a bit of time to replicate, it is free entertainment with your Bumbo!
Constructive Playthings
This online store is by no means cheap, but Constructive Playthings does have some really awesome toys for kids. You can search/sort by age, price or theme (trains, pretend play, holiday, etc.).
And, yes, there is an Under $10 section!
Emergency Contact Information
Even though we rarely leave The Boy with a sitter, I felt compelled to create an Emergency Information sheet for him soon after he was born. It’s actually nice to have on hand. I keep a couple of copies with the age and weight sections blank. Then I can just fill out a new one every few months or so. This is a handy, one-sheet to have for sitters or even for yourself.
I have emergency and non-emergency numbers for poison control, fire, police, and gas and electric. I have my home address and directions on how to get to my home. This might be especially helpful for a young babysitter who might need to tell an emergency service provider how to get to your home. I have The Boy’s name, birthplace, blood type, immunizations (I just pencil in “18 months immunizations complete” or something to that effect), age, weight and known allergies.
I have various family numbers listed, along with the names and numbers of our pediatrician, eye doctor, dentist and preferred hospital. At the bottom of the page, I’ve listed our medical insurance information and a brief, signed medical release statement in the event that The Boy needs medical attention and I cannot be reached. I’m happy to say (knocking on wood) that we’ve never had to use this information. It sure is nice to have all in one place though. I do leave a copy out when we have a sitter and I usually have a copy in the diaper bag for the rare occasion that I leave him at someone else’s house.
911
Poison Control
Fire Department Non-Emergency Number
Police Department Non-Emergency Number
PG&E Emergency Number
Home Address and Phone Number:
Directions :
Full Name:
Born at:
Blood Type:
Immunizations:
Age:
Weight:
Allergies to Food:
Allergies to Medicine:
Family Numbers:
Doctor:
Dentist:
Eye Doctor:
Preferred Hospital:
Medical Insurance Information:
Medical Release Information: I authorize any hospital or emergency facility to administer emergency medical treatment for my child, , in the event that I cannot be reached.
Pirate Parenting, Yar!
If there is one thing that is hot right now, it is pirates. Not the stealing, murdering, vile ones that are the true pirate, but the fun, talk kind of funny but still look good one in the movies ones. And no parent would turn down the chance to raise their kid to be the greatest pirate ever. Provided they don’t break any laws and pretty much just walk around in costume and talk like a pirate.
For the talking part, please remember that Sept 19th every year is the official Talk Like a Pirate Day all over the world. Rejoice in the complexities of the pirate language which has such sayings as “scruvy bilge rat”, “grog” and “land lubber.” Grog being another word for milk or juice of course.
The next thing you need is a guide on Pirate Parenting.
If you’re like most parents, you long to raise your children as pirates but just don’t know how. In “Guide to Pirate Parenting,” Cap’n Billy “The Butcher” MacDougall provides everything you need to know to turn your little powder monkeys into happy, healthy buccaneers. In Guide to Pirate Parenting you’ll learn: . Ten benefits of raising a pirate . At what age your child should be able to remove a bottle cap by taking out his glass eye and using his eye socket as an opener . Which offense requires administering The Flying Dutchman Wedgie . How to prevent sogging the quartermaster . The best place to maroon your disobedient child . How to remove chewing gum or a giant octopus from your child’s hair . The difference between plundering and pillaging . How to convert your minivan into a pirate schooner . When to smack your teenager in the side of the head with an oar Each information-packed section ends with “Your pirate’s progress,” a short quiz that shows whether your child is reaching his or her pirate development milestones.
With this book and an observance of talk like a pirate day, you too can be proud of your little pirates.
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