A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Teacher Gift: Customized Soap Bottles

Here’s another teacher gift idea for you. I first saw these customized hand-soap bottles on Design Mom (go figure!) last year and liked how they turned out so much, we’re doing them again this year. I like how they have that “how did you do that?” feel to them.

I’m giving you links to two different websites that have slightly different takes on how to make these. Design Mom’s link has downloadable PDF templates you can use―you just have to add your own artwork. We used silhouettes of the kids from when they were each two years old by local treasure Patti Pate. The other site, The Giver’s Log, walks you through the project using artwork made by you or your kids. Both are great!

Here are some notes from my experience in case you give these a try:

  • SoftSoap works great. I bought a bunch of bottles on sale at Target this week.
  • I bought the transparencies at Office Max. I nearly choked when I saw that a box of transparencies costs $40. But a kind clerk said I could buy individual sheets at the copy center. If you’re going to make a lot of these buying a box might be worth it.
  • Using a laser printer does not work. The ink smudges. So I made photocopies and they turned out great.
  • Goo Gone was recommended for removing the sticky label residue. I don’t have Goo Gone, but my Melaleuca Sol-U-Mel worked just fine.

So there you have it. Please let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

15-Minute Timer Motivation Method

That title’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it? I don’t know about you, but when I’ve been going nonstop for days and days and then finally get a day where I don’t have to be anywhere it can be really hard to motivate myself to get moving. Would the world end if I surfed the ‘net and played piano all day? Probably not, but there are things that need to get done around here and I’ll be bummed later if I don’t use this time productively. This is clearly a day to bring out The Timer.

FlyLady has a saying, “If it isn’t fun, it won’t get done.” I don’t know that setting a timer makes mindless/tedious chores more fun, but it does make it all seem more like a game. I actually do jobs as fast as I can so I can beat the timer. Plus, we can do anything for 15 minutes, right?

I assign myself a wide range of activities so I can get make some headway in as many areas as possible. There are jobs I have to do every day like laundry, cleaning up the kitchen, and exercise. I also include things like organizing my closet or doing paperwork. Even if I’m not done with a specific task, I stop when the timer goes off and move on to the next thing. Sometimes I stick some fun things on the list, too, so I can get that piano playing in.

Here’s two hours’ worth of 15-minute sessions to get me moving today:

1. Write this blog post.
2: Throw laundry in washing machine and fold load of clothes from yesterday. Put away if there’s time.
3: Unload dishwasher and clean kitchen counters; sweep
4: Work on in-box
5: Keep going on laundry
6: Prepare for 4:00 meeting
7: Organize closet and wardrobe
8: Intervals

And that should do it. This “game” helps me a lot because instead of feeling overwhelmed by everything I could get done, I focus on specific tasks that I’ve assigned myself. And after an hour or two using the timer, I look around and feel pretty good about what I’ve actually managed to get done (instead of fretting about what I should have done).

Do you have days when you need something to get you moving? Would the 15-minute timer method work for you?

Our Favorite Lullabyes

My little man had a rough night. He woke up around 11 p.m. and came looking for me, tearful and bleary-eyed. I tucked him back into bed and closed the window on the yowling cat that had disturbed his sleep.

Now. More often than not, when a child wakes up during the night, I snuggle him or her back into bed with a kiss and an “I love you” and return to doing my thing (which is usually folding clothes and watching “Friends” re-runs), secure in the knowledge that the child is just fine. Because frankly I’ve already given about all I have to give during the day.

But the sight of his sweaty little brow moved me to settle on the bed beside him and start singing. As miserable as he was, a little smile formed at the corner of his mouth when I launched into “Mairzy Doats.” This has always been his favorite. I learned it from my Grandpa Tony, who sang it to me when I was small in his wonderfully rich baritone, and I love that my children love it, too.

I moved on to “Hushaby Mountain” from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And then “The Gartan Mother’s Lullaby.” Do you know this song? Meryl Streep recorded it on the “For Our Children” album to raise money for pediatric AIDS research years ago. I heard it long before I had children, in fact, but tucked it away for some day.

I was on a roll, so I broke into “Stay Awake” from Mary Poppins. Will opened one eye in disbelief and said, “What’s that supposed to mean?” I decided to explain irony another night.

At this point I realized I was really just keeping him awake, so I finished up with the “I L.O.V.E. Y.O.U. Lullaby” from A Child’s Gift of Lullabyes. One of my oldest and dearests, Patti, gave this CD to us when Andrew was born. It is a treasure.

I will not tell you to make every moment as a parent count. I would love to give a stern lecture to whoever came up with the phrase “teachable moment.” I will not be like the famous pediatrician’s wife who wrote, in an attachment-parenting sort of book I once read, that “a need that’s not met will never go away.” She later mentioned, almost in passing, her nervous breakdown. No wonder, poor thing. Imagine trying to meet every single need of seven children because you’re afraid they’ll be scarred for life if you don’t.

So. If your child wakes up during the night and you’ve given all you can for the day, tuck her back into bed, smooth her hair, kiss her on the cheek, tell her she’ll be just fine, and go in peace. But if you have it in you, scoop her up, sing a song or two, breathe in the smell of her hair, and imprint the moment on your heart. “This is all I need. I will remember this forever.”

“You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip.”  Sir James M. Barrie

How about you? Do you have favorite lullabyes you sing to your children? Do you remember the ones from your childhood?

Speckles and Weeds Cards

I was at Target the other day and came across a new card series by Speckles and Weeds. Usually I just buy a card and that’s that, but I liked all of the cards so much (most were for Father’s Day) that I had to go home and look for more. Jane Desilets, creator of the Canadian-based company, really gets and celebrates the tender indignities of adulthood, couplehood, and parenthood. When you’re wearing so many “hoods” you have to be able to laugh.

By the way, I have a photo of Tim just like the one above, but I’m saving it for when I really need it.

Yep. Hits the nail right on the head, doesn’t it?

And don’t forget the girlfriends. What would we do and who would we be without them?