Apple donuts

It always amazes me when something so simple, like cutting food into shapes, can get my kids to eat food without fussing. Not that my kids don’t like apples, but ever since my husband came up with “apple donuts,” the fruit has been requested daily. It’s really easy and I’m wondering if I can apply it to other fruits and vegetables as well. I think it would work on pears and watermelon and, if you baked them, perhaps sweet potatoes. All you do is run your apple through a mandoline (or thinly slice one up by hand) so you have a stack of slices. I improved on the recipe a tad by using a miniature cookie cutter in the shape of an apple, but my husband used a bottle cap to make his holes. Voila! Apple donuts. I think the key here is to actually call them “apple donuts.” My kids have never actually had a donut, but they know donuts are a treat so the whole idea was a novelty. The kids can even help punch out the donut holes.

A miniature cookie cutter gets out all the seeds while making fun shapes. The pieces that don’t have seeds are fun to eat too!

The finished product! A stack of delicious apple donuts. If you’re really adventageous (or if your kids are really picky!), peel the apples prior to slicing.

Procrasti- ooh, something shiny!

Ah, spring cleaning. The time of year when, after months of being cooped up due to bad weather and family gatherings, our bodies start to crave a good domestic purge. Some people love throwing stuff out and do it on a daily basis while others hold on to every scrap of paper they might need over the next 5-50 years. Unfortunately, I’m the latter. I’m not quite “Hoarders” material, but sometimes I look around at all the junk I’ve been holding onto and think “WHY??” Logically I know it’s unnecessary crap. But there’s a tiny part of my brain that thinks “this little plastic box your Venus razor head came in would make an excellent container for odds and ends!” or “what if I need to have my German phone number from 4 years ago for records of some kind??” Really? REALLY??

I’ve been slowly feeling the need to purge creep up (mostly because the piles of crap are starting to have babies all over my house) but I keep putting it off. Why? Well duh. It’s snowing outside right now! It’s still winter. Spring isn’t here, therefore I can’t do spring cleaning. That’s just logic.

… or laziness. So starting this weekend (not procrastinating, really! I’m just thinking my husband, who has contributed vastly to the copulating paper skyscrapers should help out) I will be busting out the huge black trash bags and getting rid of anything and everything I can before my neighbors glance in my window and turn me in to a self-help television show. It’s time.

So if you’re like me and putting off the inevitable, join me. It’s time. The kids will be out of school soon and you don’t want their messes mixing with your messes and producing mutant mess babies. Your home might never recover. If it seems overwhelming, set a timer for 10 minutes. That’s all I’m asking, just 10 short minutes of your 525,600 minutes this year to make yourself a nice spot on your kitchen counter (or wherever you pile your mail, bills, kids schoolwork, receipts, etc) so that you can breathe a little easier this spring. After all, you’ll probably be using that breath to sing RENT songs now that I have it stuck in your head. “Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes! How do you measure, measure a year…?”

Craft time

This Valentine’s Day my daughter and I decided we wanted to make valentines for her preschool class rather than buy them. I busted out my 500 lbs of scrapbooking paper, some glue and a few googly eyes and this is what we came up with:

The prep work (AKA, “mommy work”) was kind of a pain- I had to cut out 36 large hearts and 18 small ones by hand- but the actual crafting (AKA, “kid work”) was easy and my preschooler had a blast. You start by cutting out your hearts (you’ll need two large and one small for each fish). I used two heart-shaped cookie cutters as templates. Then you glue the two large hearts tops together to form the fish body. You want it to form a sort of eye shape. Then you glue the small heart on, point in, to form the tail. Draw a smiley face and paste on a googly eye and voila! A fish! I think these would also be really cute invitations for an Under the Sea themed birthday or even a pool party.

Feeling crafty but already have your omega 3s for the day? Check out my friend Kim’s blog, learn.create.love

The clean (or not so clean) you don’t see

The other day I noticed my living room was in desperate need of some dusting. We’ve recently had a bout of illness so I decided to clean with my Clorox wipes to disinfect everything at the same time. I came upstairs to grab my can and realized that my computer desk was almost dust-free. Interesting, seeing as how I couldn’t even remember the last time I had wiped it down. Then I realized- it’s maybe three feet from my air purifier. Cool, I thought. My air purifier keeps my desk dust-free! But then I started to think about it- air purifier cleans dust from air before it lands on desk. Dust in air. We breathe air. We breathe dust. Gross.

According to the EPA, indoor air can be as much as 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. The easiest way to improve it is to ventilate by opening a window or door. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do when it’s -18 outside is crack a few windows. They also recommend using vents (like from a stove or bathroom) and to change the filters on your air conditioners (remember to sprinkle a few drops of essential oil on the filter to make your house smell good!) but I barely remember to clean the lint from my dryer and I use that every day. Air purifiers like mine are an easy way to clean up- just press a button and forget it. I have a Honeywell with a lifetime HEPA filter that cost about $140 that actually had good ratings but only for smaller areas. Hello, people- just pick it up and move it around. It weighs like 8 pounds. A few hours in each room and you’re golden. No need for a $1000 Trane system. And like I said before, it practically dusts for me. Clean air, clean house. It’s like a small maid you don’t have to worry about rifling through your underwear drawer.

Did you know?

When my daughter was about two years old she got ahold of a red smiley face stamp and decided to redo my beige microsuede couch. After laughing so hard I cried (or maybe I cried so hard I laughed?) I attacked the thing with a bottle of fabric cleaner and paper towels and managed to get it all out after about an hour of scrubbing. Apparently, I could’ve saved myself a lot of trouble by using clear hand sanitizer. According to my friend Tara (another military wife and mother of two brilliant and apparently artistic kids), Purell isn’t just good after disposing of zombie corpses (or Bill Murray, for that matter- name the movie and you earn a cookie!)- it can also get pen out of furniture and clothes. I like to bathe in Purell, so I happen to have a bit sitting around. I’m tempted to give my kids some pens and say “go to town.”

Gimme a break!

I’m one of those people who have a hard time asking for help, even if I really need it. I guess I’m afraid I’m putting the other person out and they’ll secretly resent me, which is stupid because I rarely feel that when the situation is reversed and I’m helping other people. In fact, I felt BAD when I offered to pick up some stuff at the grocery store for a friend who recently had twins and she said she didn’t need anything, that she had just gone the day before. I also think another small (okay… or not so small) part of me wants to prove that I can do it all. I can keep it together while my GI Joe is gone for a few months, raising the kids alone and keeping the house in order all by myself. After all, many women have it a lot worse than I do and get by just fine.

A month into the hubby being gone, of driving the Princess to preschool in the mornings and Monkey Boy to preschool in the afternoons, of lugging 50 pounds of groceries across an icy parking lot while holding a newborn in his carseat and the wiggly hands of two young kids, of 102 degree fevers and countless temper tantrums and meltdowns, of cleaning a room and walking into it five minutes later to find it covered in toys and cheerios, I’ve officially proven that YES, I CAN DO IT!

…however, that doesn’t mean I WANT to. Luckily my mom and grandma flew up to visit. It was their first time meeting our newest addition (I think he needs a cute nickname… Sir Chunksalot? The Beefinator?) and my mom’s first time to Alaska. I told them before they left that I fully expected them to come up, wreck my house, spoil my children and leave me to deal with the mess and that this was (sort of) okay- as long as they helped while they were here.

So far my grandma has a new nickname- the Baby Whisperer- and my mom has proven her mad organization skillz by helping me clear out our large walk-in hall closet and transform it into my new craft room. Do they make messes? Oh God, yes! Are they spoiling my children? Duh, they’re grandmas. But I cannot tell you how nice it’s been to have someone else calm my crying baby or have someone else read the 5th bedtime story. I forgot what it’s like to have 5 minutes to myself! They keep asking if I want them to spend a night or two at a hotel to give me a break and I tell them that while their almost constant bickering makes me a little batty, I am just so grateful to have them here that I could cry. Just this last week and a half I:
left the house BY MYSELF
went to the store with NO KIDS
took a NAP!
got my hair done (for the first time in TWO YEARS!)
didn’t have to make a meal
shoveled the whole driveway and walk without having to check on my kids every 30 seconds

It’s been…. well, beautiful. But it’s also made me realize that despite my unwillingness to ask for or accept help, I REALLY need it sometimes. I know this about other people. I yell at friends who don’t ask for help as much as I think they should. But when it comes to myself I seem to think I have to suck it up and deal or else I’m a failure. I’ll have another couple of weeks after my family leaves where it’s back to just me and this kiddos before my husband gets home, but at least I’ll have had this little break, a time to take a deep breath and relax before the weight of my little world is back on my shoulders. So my advice is this- take a break. Whether it’s a trip to the spa or five minutes of sitting on your bed with loud music playing to drown out the happy screams of your toddler playing in the next room, make sure you get some you time. No one can do it all but somehow most of us do, or at least manage some semblance of pulling “it all” off. It’s only going to be that much harder if you’re running on empty, so recharge and get some energy for the next big, awesome thing you do.

Having fun when it’s freezing

Since moving to Alaska it’s become clear that finding winter activities for kids is a must. Not only is it snowy and cold for around 7 months out of the year here, but it’s also dark for as much as 21 hours a day. Cabin Fever takes on a whole new meaning! Since my son started preschool I’ve learned that the school district continues recess down to -20 degrees fahrenheit! It sounds almost cruel, but there’s a good reason- if they didn’t, kids just wouldn’t get recess for most of the school year. Our first year here it was in the -20 in September and held steady through February. March “warmed up” into the zero range and by April it was pratically sweltering hanging in the teens. It would be cruel to NOT let your kids play outside here.

First thing you need to do is invest in good cold weather gear if you haven’t already. Start with a good first layer- thermals are awesome and I highly recommend spending a little more and getting silk if you live somewhere really cold. For kids, two pairs of socks keeps those little toes toasty. The second layer can either be your normal clothes or specialized winter clothes; we have fleece lined jeans and sweaters from Old Navy and LL Bean. The third layer is your waterproof layer- snowpants, thick jacket, mittens or gloves and a hat to cover your ears. If you’re living somewhere frigid like us, add a scarf (or a neck gaiter) to cover the neck and lower face and some glove liners. Also, make sure your shoes or boots are rated for the correct temperature. Mine are good to -60.

Now that you’re dressed and ready to brave the cold, check the thermometer. This is where I’ll tell you to use you’re own discretion. I’m not about to take my newborn out in anything under 0 and even then it’s only for a few minutes at a time. My older kids can handle it a little better, we’ve played in the snow down to -22. That being said, you need to be extremely careful and make sure they take a break every 15-30 minutes, depending on how cold it is and watch for signs of frostnip, frostbite and hypothermia. Things to watch out for: white, blue or bright red skin, waxy looking skin, excessive shivering in older kids and difficulty breathing. Anyone out in the snow is going to get a little blush, but you know your kids best. This last December it was in the -40s and I ran my son from the car to a building. He almost immediately started saying his hands hurt and in that short amount of time he got frostnip. He’s not a big complainer, so I knew something was wrong. My daughter went out to play in the snow yesterday for about 30 minutes and was laughing and screeching with delight the whole time- a sure sign that she’s okay, since she’ll complain at the slightest discomfort.

So now you’re all dressed and ready to go and it’s not too cold for your family to play. What are you going to do? There’s always the go-to snowman building, snowball fights and snowforts. But have you ever tried snowshoeing? Ice skating? Dog sledding? Before you roll your eyes, Alaska is NOT the only state with dog sledding, so do a Google search for your area! Can’t find anything? Grab your own dog and a pair of skis or a sled and make your own mush team (again, use your own discretion- if you have a chihuahua this might not be the best idea). A fun idea for smaller kids is to fill a few squirt bottles with water and food coloring and go out and paint the snow. Yellow not recommended.

I’m a little embarrassed.

I just realized my last blog post was from JUNE. That’s pretty bad, but one could say I was a little busy. Between a trip home to California to visit family, the holidays, welcoming our third Perfect Child to the world, Monkey Boy starting preschool and my GI Joe leaving for a few months, I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. All that running around, you’d think I’d be in great shape. HA! I managed to gain a respectable 70 pounds this pregnancy, apparently most of it in my ass. Not only did I outgrow my maternity jeans not once but TWICE, but it was a few weeks before I could fit into the largest pair AFTER I had my son. Pretty sad. Usually losing 30 lbs in 3 weeks would be a spectacular accomplishment, but when you still have 40 lbs to go before you fit into your regular clothes, it starts to seem hopeless.

And so, at 4 weeks post partum, I purchased a treadmill and got to work. I was told I could walk if I felt well enough, so that’s what I did. Of course, with two energetic preschoolers and a newborn who eats constantly, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Thirty minutes of walking turned into an hour of running between the treadmill and the baby swing to stick the pacifier back in while he smiled and giggled his evil baby giggles. I guess he wants momma to be nice and soft.

The following week we had a bit of luck- a friend of a friend happened to be selling their spin bike so we snatched it up. My GI Joe had been wanting one for a while but they were so expensive that he just couldn’t do it (he has a phobia of spending money). It seemed so perfect until they brought it over and I realized that not only does half my living room now look like a gym, but there really wasn’t even room for the treadmill and now we’re adding a spin bike? I have to say, though- getting up and seeing all that equipment staring you in the face makes it hard to “forget” to exercise.

So now, two weeks into getting back in shape and I’m down a whopping 1.5 lbs. Really?! Two weeks of working out 6 days a week and that’s all I lost?? Now I’m starting to remember why I hate this whole weight loss thing. I suppose I figured that if breastfeeding burns 300 calories a day PLUS I’m working out 20-50 minutes a day I really should be able to not worry about what I’m eating. Not the case. So while it was fun to eat whatever I wanted while pregnant, it’s back to watching those calories and giving up my weekly package of Hostess SnoBalls. *Sigh*

Of course, it’s not all about seeing those magic numbers on the scale. I really want to be healthy. We ran a 5k two years ago and actually had fun (I know! “Running” and “fun” in the same sentence!) and I’d love to do it again. In fact, what I’d really love is to do the Midnight Sun Fun Run, a 10k that happens at night during the summer solstice when it’s light out pretty much all the time. I want my kids to see that BOTH their parents are in shape and healthy and that exercise isn’t a four letter word. I know that the Princess had a blast running that 5k and she’s already excited about doing it again this year.

When I first sat down a few minutes ago to start typing this out, she came up to me and asked if we could all go for a walk tomorrow. I started to make up some excuse- it’s too cold (well, it’s actually unseasonably warm at 7 degrees with a forcast of- GASP!- a POSITIVE 14 tomorrow), Monkey Man is getting over a cold, the baby has been fussy- but then I realized that I really don’t want to set an example of making up excuses not to exercise. So I said sure and I’m actually kind of excited about it! Yes, I’ll have to bundle us all up which will probably take a good hour of searching for lost mittens, chasing after kids, zipping zippers that have been zipped and subsequently unzipped by little fingers and I’ll be fried before I even step foot out the door, but they say exercise is a good stress reliever. We’ll see about that.

Fake it til you make it?

According to Wikipedia (the final say on EVERYTHING), “‘Fake it till you make it’ (also called “act as if”) is a common catchphrase that means to imitate confidence so that as the confidence produces success, it will generate real confidence[1]. The purpose is to avoid getting stuck in a self fulfilling prophecy related to one’s fear of not being confident.”

Let’s put this in the perspective of being the Perfect Housewife. According to the “fake it til you make it” theory, if you act like a Perfect Housewife, you will start believing you are a Perfect Housewife and will eventually BECOME a Perfect Housewife. I dig. But how do you pretend to be a Perfect Housewife? I’m not encouraging you to become a total snot and go bragging to anyone who will listen about how awesome you are (although I’m sure you are). Being a Perfect Housewife isn’t about keeping up with the Joneses. It’s about making your life and your families life better by being the best you can be. Who cares what your neighbor thinks, as long as you husband and kids think you’re the best thing since apple pie and you happen to agree.

I think the easiest way to “fake it til you make it” is to make yourself feel like you’re doing a good job. This doesn’t mean you have to do things the hard way. Let’s take house cleaning. You don’t need to get down on your hands and knees and scrub your kitchen floor every night. My little cheat is to vacuum. I put it on the bare floor setting and go to town. So much easier than sweeping! Then I take my Swiffer wet, do a good once over and throw out the manky cloth. Granted, every once in a while you still need to get down and dirty and do a good job, but a vacuum and a Swiffer can make your kitchen look so much better, which will make you feel better.

Tonight I did a Google search for cleaning cheats and was appalled at what I read. While I support doing things the easy way, I do NOT support some of the disgusting things going on in some people’s homes. Blowing dust off surfaces with a hair dryer? Good way to put dust, dust mites and allergens into the air, people. Grabbing all your clutter and shoving it into a closet? That’s an easy way to forget about it, but it doesn’t help. Eventually your closet’s going to explode. Using the blue tablets in your toilets- at least people will think that they’re clean! Gross. I’m sorry, but you need to actually CLEAN your toilet. You poo in there. Not to say the drop-ins aren’t worth it (heck, I use them!) but they are NOT a cure all! And my all-time favorite: spray yourself with detergent and turn on dishwasher and clothes washer and dryer right before your husband gets home so he thinks you’ve been working all day. That’s just deceitful and lazy.

So here’s my list of ways to make your house look better without killing yourself in the process- NO CHEATING INVOLVED!

1. Wash the bathroom mirrors and wipe up the faucets with the paper towel when you’re done.
2. Have your kids help you pick up. This isn’t child labor, they are learning life skills.
3. Vacuum. In order to vacuum you have to pick up first. You’ll kill two birds with one stone… ish.
4. Do your dishes, or at least put them in the dishwasher. This one chore will make your kitchen look 500% better.
5. Add a few drops of essential oil to your vacuum’s filters. This will make your house smell nice while you vacuum.
6. Take 5, 10, or 15 minutes (depending on if company is coming or if you’re running behind) and run around the house with a trashbag, throwing out as much as you can. This will make cleaning later a lot easier.
7. Buy a bunch of hangars. Hanging clothes up is a lot easier than folding them! Plus then you don’t get creases.
8. Baby wipes do a lot more than clean baby butts. They’re good at getting smudges off walls, dust of end tables and handprints off the fridge.
9. Close your shower curtain. Not only does this hide all the ugly shampoo bottles and kids toys, it keeps mold from growing in the curtain folds.
10. Clean top to bottom. For example, clean your counters and then your floor. Otherwise when those inevitable crumbs fall, you won’t have to worry about them falling on your freshly swept (er, vacuumed!) floor.

Have any more tips or tricks you’d like to share? I’d love to hear them!

My newest obsession

I’ve always had a thing for ribbon. I must have caught the fever from my mom- she still has ribbon we used at my wedding over 6 years ago. Recently I was going through a box of sewing paraphernalia and came across 6 or 7 rolls of gorgeous ribbon I had purchased (and never used) about 2 years ago. I immediately got on the computer and googled “ribbon crafts” and was struck by the gorgeous girls’ hairbows that I saw. I don’t know why it never occured to me before; we had just moved from Alabama, where you can see little girls with ginormous ribbon bows on a daily basis. My Princess has super long blonde hair that tends to curl into little ringlets at the end. It’s so pretty and she gets a lot of compliments, but I think she’d get more if she let me actually brush it or pull it out of her face every once in a while. I figured a gorgeous bow might be the perfect bribe: “if you let me brush your hair, you can wear this pretty princess bow!” It totally worked. I’m a genius.

So I got to work and quickly realized that this would be my new obsession. It’s fun, fairly easy and you need to have a little creativity to do it, which I like. I can only make 2 or 3 in one sitting before my fingers start to cramp up, but that’s usually all the time I have anyway. It’s the perfect craft for me! So without further ado, pictures!

Fourth of July bow (she also wore this on Flag Day/the Army’s birthday last week)

Fishing bow, for trips to the lake with Daddy

Blue and yellow bow

Pink and green bow (which perfectly matches the ButterflyBabyPlace dress the Princess picked out)

Orange stripes and polka dots (orange is the Princess’s favorite color)

Blue and green loopy bow

Dainty lavender and antique white bow

Funky green and brown mini bow

Crazy bow (this has so many layers! It took a while to figure out, but it was fun!)

I’m going to have to come up with a better way to store these. Keeping them in a box squishes all the little loops down. Not to mention I’m totally running out of room to store these things. Maybe I’ll sell them?? They’ll be hard to give up!