Looking For a Good Book?

My 3 boys who are in elementary school are running out of good books to read. Ok, maybe they aren't looking, but I am not very impressed with the "comic book" style of books they keep bringing home. I keep wondering how in the heck they are "allowed" to even check out a book that is or at least seems so far below their grade level!
I have been scouring the internet, looking for a place to find books that can be recommended. I am also looking for an age or reading level way to look for books as well.
I know our local library has some, scholastic.com has some and we'll see if Goodreads.com has any.
I just signed up for free on Goodreads.com

Feel free to join me on my (and my children's) literary journey as we read our way through our libraries, hopefully leaving no book unturned...ok, that was my pity attempt at wittiness, which I rarely, yes, rarely possess.

Read on! Oh wait...that would mean I have more to say...nope, read on in your choice of literature provided by your local libraries.

Design a Room (2)

As I wrote my previous post about designing or arranging a room, I noted that there were sites on which you could design a room.
I came across one today.
I fiddled around with it and approve!
You can find your style and create a room at Icovia Room Planner
Be sure to have measurements for your room and everything you want in it!
Have fun, get creative and just like my tip of taking pictures of each arrangement so you can compare later, take a SCREEN SHOT of the plans you create. This allows you to view different plans before settling on one.
Have fun!

Design a Room

Sometimes a room just needs to be rearranged.
Many times we feel like tackling it will be daunting.

I know I am not the first to do this, because I remember arranging rooms in my interior design class clear back in high school. 

First things first. 

Measure your space. 

Measure your furniture and any items you want in your space/room. 

Make sure that you make room for items that increase or decrease in size as they get taller.

If you need, you can color the space over the heater vents, walkways from the door, closet, etc to make sure you can see (without forgetting) where you CAN'T put furniture.

I did this with our living room a year ago and tried to plant a piece of furniture right in front of the front door. Brilliant!

I think there are online programs that allow for this pre-arranging. I don't know if they are free or cost $. This is what you may use and it is nearly free!

You can purchase a package of graph paper for under $5, in fact it is probably even under $3.
You only need one sheet...ok, maybe 2 or 3, but not the entire package.

 Pencil or Pen. Colored markers, crayons or pencils.
Tape or sticky stuff if desired.

I have each graph square = 6 real inches squared.

Draw your space.

Draw your furniture. Remember to make sure your scale for the furniture is the same as the scale for the space! 

I like to color them in so they contrast against the space. 

Cut them out and arrange on graph to your heart's content.

I usually use my camera phone or camera and take snapshots of the arrangements I like. 

I can then go through them later and decide which one I want for sure before I tear the room apart. 

I would recommend little pieces of something sticky that can be peeled up and moved. If you get the slightest breeze it can knock an item off your grid.

Have fun!

Space Savvy Mom...? 

Ha Ha.

Got My Craft On!

Hello out there! Last night I got my craft going and was thinking of ways to paint all these 3/4" hearts. I figured it out! Maybe I'm not the first one to think of it, but for me it was a big idea because who likes to sit there for hours painting itty bitty pieces and making a huge mess on your thumbs? Not I!
I used my hot glue gun on a manila (mine is red) file folder. I glued thin strips down in a line and quickly placed the wood hearts on the strip of glue.
I painted them all in one shot.
I was worried they would stick to the folder with the wet paint, so picked up the folder and as the paint was drying, I bent the folder to release the backs and edges of the hearts. I did this about 3 times to make sure they weren't sticking because of the paint.

As I began gathering my supplies to paint, I realized I didn't have a paint tray (paper plate in my case) right next to me and I really didn't want to get up again to get one. I had a sandwich ziploc baggie that was holding some craft ribbon for my project. So I opened it and squirted the paint into it. Perfect! 

 Once I was done, I closed the baggie up and it will still be fresh (hopefully) for anything I need in the near future. I could have snipped the corner and squirted it back into the bottle, but I figure I will be using it soon enough, so not going to bother.

The End!

Happy Crafting!
"Mom"
--And by the way, is there a better name I could be using besides/instead of "Mom"?

The Buck Stops Here!

I have a love/hate relationship with the Lysol automatic soap dispensers. 

Did you know you can refill the soap bottles? 

You will need (L-R) Lysol dispenser bottles, Lysol Dispenser, Butter Knife, and soap(s) for your dispensers. I use Dawn for the kitchen and hand soap for the bathroom and kitchen. 

Check your dispenser's motion sensor. A lot of the time I find this to be the cause of wasted soap.

 Clean off the dispenser's motion sensor with a damp cloth and nail brush or old tooth brush.

In the bottom of the dispenser I found there was a bit of soap. I don't know if it impedes functionality, but I cleaned it out anyway.

 Here they are, all in a row. Lid side up.

 You will start by popping the top off in the front or back center, as shown. The first few times you do this on a new bottle, it will be a bit difficult. You also may have lids pop off and fly across the room, so try to reign them in ;-)

 All off. Start filling them up.

 I had a little fun doing half and half. I squeezed two bottles in at the same time. The orange was thought to have been antibacterial, but I realized today it isn't. Oops.

 It gave a cool effect though. In my view, this allows you to get some antibacterial and some good feeling milk and honey or aloe soap. Depending on the mixture. I also like how it looks. Unfortunately, it does blend over time.

For the kitchen, I used Dawn. Gotta love Dawn.

Put the lids back on and return to the dispenser or put in your soap storage for when you need it.

I have a "ghost" in my house lately though, so I have been losing soap onto the dirty laundry pile below the dispenser. I have cleaned off the sensor, so it may also be the batteries tripping it.

I am debating on going back to traditional pump bottles.

So I suppose it is up to you which you refill, the Lysol bottles or the traditional pump bottles.
Either way, they are refillable.

Til Next Time,

"Mom"

Subzero Chillabrator (Grinch)

Lou Lou Who:"Hello? Is my Subzero Chillibrator running? I suppose. "The Grinch:"Well then you better go catch it."

My freezers are luckily running, but they are running out of room it seems!
I mentioned the other day that in order to know what you have available you can complete an inventory.
I found this difficult to do as my freezers were full and very disorganized.  

On the surface it doesn't look too bad, right? I have no idea what carnage lies in this subzero tomb.

 A long time ago, I remember my mom using old milk crates in the freezer. I did it after I 

married, but for some reason didn't have any for a long time.
Right now at Walmart (and I am sure at many other stores) there are organization crates for just under $4.

I bought 6. I didn't measure, but you can, to see how many will fit best in your freezer(s).

You can also look on craigslist or other site (we have KSL.com) that sells used items.

Unfortunately I could not find any used.

I began by putting all meat in one basket. In the tragic event of the power going out for hours at a time, I put the meat on the bottom, this way you don't have any potential meat juice leaking onto your fruit, bread, veggies, etc. YUCK! Granted, if it is thawed, you may not want to eat some, but if you can salvage it and it still is within the safety guidelines, you don't want to toss it. If you have blood all over your bread, you're not going to want to save the bread.
Sorry, OCD a bit.

 I got all my baskets full, then realized I had this bucket of ice cream to put away. I don't know about you, but wasting almost 2 1/2 gallons of mint chocolate chip ice cream is a sin. I luckily got it to fit beside the basket on the bottom of the freezer. Yay!

 I then put my vegetable basket on top. I have a few odds and ends that will get moved to our other freezer.
I used to have all the meat (only meat) in the small freezer and all bread, veggies, fruit, etc in the larger freezer. I will be doing that later, but with everything being in baskets, it will make it a lot easier to do.

 This is the outside freezer. I was able to fit 4 crates in there. I found that I have a lot of those big bags of shredded cheese. We use a lot, so I am not worried about it, I just have to remember (inventory) to not buy any more for a while. We also found that I have a lot of strawberries. I make a really yummy strawberry jam, so again, I am not worried, just aware of how many I have.

In the space between the baskets and sides of freezer I put the cheese or bigger items.

 I have baskets in this freezer for:
Meat
Fruit
Vegetables 

Bread

The cheese, freezer jam and extra bread products were put on top and to the sides.

Now, Go catch YOUR subzero chillabrator!

Til Next time,
"Mom"