Preschool Prep, Week 2

Well, we've got another week of lists and stickers under our belt. As much as I want to just wing it as we go, I find that our days go so much more smoothly when I pre-plan the night before.

For Monday, I looked up what the Storytime book would be about and then planned our activities around that. The book was "The Red Boat" by Hannah Cumming. So when we got home I folded a red origami canoe for Rosemary and let her paint a lake for the boat to float on with some of her toys inside.



On Tuesday, we voted! I carried Poppy on my back and pushed Rosemary in the stroller to our polling place. Rosemary got a sticker, seen on her hand below. A fire truck was in the parking lot and Rosemary talked to a fireman and sat in his seat in the fire truck. She declined putting his helmet on her head. We then went home and voted on what we would eat for lunch. I voted for leftover hamburgers, but Rosemary and Poppy won the vote for PB&J sandwiches.

Decorating the voting box.

Tallying votes.


We also played Chutes & Ladders. Rosemary won!


On Wednesday we went to the craft store to pick up supplies to make a "calm down jar." I call it a Sparkle Jar. I had seen the tutorial on Pinterest and wanted to give it a go.

Making the jar.

Giving it a good shake!

This is what it looks like at rest.

Falling stars.

I won't lie; we made this jar for me. I'll often shake it up when I'm stressed and then instantly feel my blood pressure drop along with the sparkles.


Poppy wanted to get in on the tong transfer activity that day.

We also went outside. Man, Wednesday was a great day!


Thursday wasn't as productive. It was obviously a "let's not plan ahead the night before and see what happens" day. Well, nothing much happened. It was also too cold to play outside. Fail. Too be fair, we were in the basement for an hour waiting out a tornado warning on Wednesday evening, so that got in the way of planning time. That's my story.

I at least have some cute pics from Storytime.



Today, Friday, I started the morning by testing Rosemary's knowledge of the alphabet. She can recognize 9 capital letters!

I also decided to try a sensory bin. It's like an indoor sandbox! It kept Rosemary entertained for at least 20 minutes, which Mommy really needed. It was a rough day.

Sensory bin with white rice, barley, chickpeas, and measuring cups.


Poppy is enjoying her new-found mobility. Here she is exploring the toy area.


That's it for this week. Tune in next Friday to see what else we put on our lists!

Crossing Things off the To-Do List

The Blogosphere and Pinterest really get a girl wanting to try new things! Here, in no particular order, are some of my recent accomplishments.


Vegetable Broth
I've been wanting to get away from using boxed side dishes, plus, I use vegetable broth quite often anyway, so I went ahead and made a big batch to freeze. It's nothing adventurous: just onion, celery, carrots, water, two bay leaves, a handful of black peppercorns, and a pinch of salt. Next time I'd like to try this recipe. Doesn't that look delicious?


Laundry Detergent
This has been on my list of things to do since early last year, but I kept encountering roadblocks. First I couldn't find washing soda. Then I couldn't find the right bar soap. Not finding the bar soap had me vascilating between making powdered or liquid detergent. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of grating soap, but I also didn't want to stand over a hot stove cooking large quantities of liquid detergent. You can imagine my glee when I finally found two bars of Fels-Naptha.

Yup, I grated soap. I used a 1:1:1 ratio, btw. 1 bar of soap to 1 cup of washing soda and 1 cup of borax.


Granola Bars
We're trying to do away with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in this house. There are some good non-HFCS bars on the market, but I found a recipe in Sarah Matheny's Peas & Thank You book that I figured I'd try. The resulting bars are delicious and feel more rewarding to eat than something one would pull out of a cardboard box.


Coffee Creamer
Talk about a glutton for punishment, manufactured coffee creamers are full of HFCS. We go through a lot of creamer, like two bottles a week. It was actually Senpai's idea to go on this non-HFCS crusade (which nicely complements my desire to eat more "real food"), so he was the one who found this homemade creamer recipe. I made a double batch of the vanilla flavor, and all I can say is YUM.


Play Dough

Last, but not least, homemade play dough! I got the recipe out of The Toddler's Busy Book. Talk about a Mom's best friend. The book, not the play dough. Just because you have a kid doesn't mean you know any fun, creative, hands-on learning type things to DO with the kid, and this book has got so many ideas. I made the play dough because I don't like buying tubs of questionable ingredients when I know I can make something similar in my kitchen. The dough has a great consistency, but so far, the Cupcake refuses to touch it. She likes to sit and watch Mommy make shapes and animals (do you like my duck?), and she'll point at them, but her fingers will not make contact. Hopefully she'll come around to it eventually.


Well, there you have it. I've been a busy Momma. It feels good to do these things, yet I still have a long wish-list to tackle. Senpai's been busy with house projects, too: Jelly Bean's room has been emptied of clutter, concrete has been poured in the basement, and the kitchen is in the process of being painted. More things off the lists!

Living Smarter: Homemade Deodorant Q&A

Yes, yes I did make my own deodorant. Does it work? You betcha'.

Let me preface this post by pointing out that I am a pitta dosha. What does that mean? It means my hair is red, my temperament is fiery, my skin is oily, and... my pits stink. ^_^ Senpai KNOWS when I forget deodorant, and so does everyone else. I used to keep a spare stick in my massage room (back when I had one) just in case I did forget to apply before leaving the house. I think you have an idea of what we're working with here.

Why in the world try making your own deodorant? Because I'm always up for improvement. Yes, store-bought anti-perspirants "control" sweat and make you smell like a field of jasmine or whatever, but they're also loaded with aluminum, leave greasy stains on my t-shirts, and I still smell rank at the end of the day, and certainly by the next morning. I've tried natural store-bought deoderants such as the crystal and other sticks to get away from the aluminum aspect, but they don't help the smell issue much if at all. So when I saw a fellow blogger make her own deoderant, I was thrilled to try it myself.

I found this post back in February. I had all of the necessary ingredients in the house already and made my deoderant stick in about 5 minutes while R napped. It was easy as pie. I wanted to first try the deoderant while the weather was still cool as, remember, it's not an anti-perspirant. I kept it hidden in the refrigerator and applied it every morning instead of my store-bought sticks. I didn't tell Senpai about it. He had no idea that I had read anything about homemade deoderants, had made some myself, or even that I was using it. Not a word until after a full month of me being pleased with the results, and then he was quite surprised to hear of the change. He hadn't noticed, nor could he tell a difference. I kept on using it, waiting for warmer weather to come around before really knowing how I felt about it. Well, the temperature has reached 85 degrees a couple of times and, you know what? I'm still in love with my deoderant.

But what about the fact that it's not an anti-perspirant? Aren't you sweating bullets? No. I'll tell you why. By the time my pits start to trickle, I hardly notice because the rest of me has already been drenched in sweat. It isn't until my whole body is glistening that my pits feel moist, too. And I smell a whole lot better now than I did before with my jasmine covered-up funk. The baking soda, coconut oil, and essential oils really do REMOVE the smells as opposed to covering them up. My brand new t-shirts are not getting greasy pit stains like my older shirts that have been exposed to store-bought anti-perspirants, and I still smell pleasant the next morning.

What essential oils did you add? I threw in a couple of drops of lavender, tea tree, and rosemary for pretty smells and anti-bacterial properties. I forget about how many drops it ended up being. I just remember that I kept adding more until I could smell the oil without having to take too deep a whiff.

What's the downside? There has to be a downside, right? Get ready for it, here it is: I have to wipe off the excess deoderant clumps that stick to my pits with a dry washcloth. Tadaa! That's it. I apply the deoderant after I get out of the shower. By the time I'm ready to get dressed, some clumps may have appeared based on how much deoderant I slathered on. I usually do have clumps more often than not if you're wondering about a ratio. But it's such an easy fix: I just keep a dry washcloth on my dresser-- wipe, wipe-- then get back to picking out clothes.


I looooooooove my homemade deoderant. I hope I've inspired you to try it, too! If you're on the fence, start in the winter like I did when there's less risk. Good luck! Let me know if you have other questions I didn't cover!

Borax, and Baking Soda, and Vinegar, Oh My!

Browsing through blogland today (I won't lie, it was Barefoot Childhood), I learned all at once that there are people out there who make their own laundry detergent? And dishwasher detergent?? And shampoo??? Apparently, these enlightened folk are in the borax/baking soda/vinegar brigade. And, wouldn't you know, I'm about to run out of both laundry detergent and shampoo? I think I need to hop on this diy bandwagon. ;-)

Links... mostly for my future reference when I try to actually make this stuff and wonder, "What were the ratios again?"

75 Extraordinary Uses for Baking Soda

Shampoo free

Laundry Recipes
Powdered Detergent
Liquid Detergent
Liquid Detergent Video