Tracking Medicine Doses

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Believe it or not, I actually put into practice something that I saw on Pinterest. Although I may wish it wasn’t this one in particular, it has been VERY handy since our youngest is on a 30 day run of antibiotics and I have to remember to give them to him twice a day and also call the pharmacy to check on refills since they are dispersed in 10 day supplies.

The concept is so amazingly simple…but has truly been a HUGE help to my tired brain every day. I used a Sharpie to draw a quick grid on the side of the bottle for the days and times that our son needed a dose of his medication. Each time I give him the meds, I check off the dose.

With one quick look at the bottle, I am able to see if the medicine was given that day. A star next to another day reminds me to call the pharmacy to ensure they have the medication in stock for the upcoming refill.

It’s been working like a charm – and will definitely be used again when needed!

Catching Fruit Flies ~ A Fun Fruit Fly Trap

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to methodically eliminate the fruit fly population in our house. Some methods that were effective for others, seemed to do little for us. I originally saw this post from Passionate Homemaking and

We’ve covered dishes with plastic wrap, filled dishes with vinegar, wine and more…but have one way that has been effective and fun {insert evil laugh here}.

Enter an old soda bottle.

I cut the top third off the bottle and inverted it back into the bottle to create a funnel. We’ve put a variety of things in the bottom of the bottle to draw the unsuspecting fruit flies in. Below you can see a mix of balsamic vinegar and old banana peel. Apple cores and slices have also been effective.

The PLUS is…they are literally dropping like flies. When we have a fair amount of flies in the bottle flying around, I pop the bottle in the freezer for a short amount of time to freeze them. When I pull the bottle out, the flies are dead, the fruit thaws and back on the counter it goes to pull more in thanks to Passionate Homemaking for the freezer tip!}.

We recently received a microscope and are now excited to have a few specimens to examine up close and personal…and a few less to annoy us around the house!

Printable Meal Planner & Planning Meals

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Pin It

 

This past week I sat down to redo our menu plan, weeding out some of the recipes that we think are ‘so-so’ and adding in ones that were newer. I had to make it pretty too ~ because cute and fun can make all the difference in meal planning, right?

Guess what? I figured out how to make a meal planner pdf that you can download, fill in with your own text and save on your own computer ~ go on and try!

Using the Meal Planner

To make my meal planning easier {and to try and remember all those little meals you tend to forget about making every once and awhile}, I made up a meal chart. Call me crazy. Call me over-organized.

Label me.

But I have a chart and it makes me happy. Oddly and pitifully so.

All of the recipes that we use often ~ recipe cards, favorites from different books, etc… are sorted out by category in my planner {beef, chicken, pork, pasta, soups/salads, and other}. I keep it in my planner so that when I plan meals I can just pull it out, go over the list and plug things into our meal calendar.

Since I sort the meals out the way I plan, I can essentially just drop and drag. Once I've laid the month out, I go back to my recipe book and write out my grocery list. I put notes to know where to find the recipe (what book, etc...). Also, if the meal is one that freezes well, I noted that too - in case I want to double up a meal or have a knack to go on a cooking spree if I have room in my freezer.

How I Plan

I use my own recipes that I've gathered over the years, our family favorites and go from there. We also have some "staples" in our family meals: Sunday night is family movie night and popcorn night {with other little treats too}; Friday night is pizza night {we make our own}; Thursdays are generally leftover nights; and Saturdays are meals that I can (hopefully) make with the kids helping.

{click on the image to get a peek at my meals}

I then look ahead at our month and try to plan based on things happening. Right now, the kids have Awana on Wednesdays and we have to be there early, so Wednesday is a crock pot meal or something simple.

Here’s a "sample" idea for how I start out:

Sunday: Popcorn
Monday: Pasta
Tuesday: Chicken/Pork
Wednesday: Beef / Crock Pot 
Thursday: Leftover
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Cook with kids

I pull out my planner, which has a month-at-a-glance page and use that for plugging in all my meals {you can also use a blank calendar that you print from Microsoft Word or whatever you have handy}. As I plug in the meals, I make sure to reference where I got the recipe from {my recipe book, or book and page number} - that way when it comes time to prepare the mail I know where to go looking for the recipe and don't have to dig around and wonder where my brain was while planning. After I plug in the meal names I go back over the list and then make my grocery list while looking at the recipes.

Essentially, is how I plan my meals monthly. I’m still working on posting more recipes to share with you all, but you can find all of the recipes I have posted in the Recipe Section of my blog.

Don’t miss my editable Monthly Menu Planner ~ another free download to help you plan your meals! You can add in the month and dates for each month you create a meal plan for and save it to use again in the future.

   

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me and have fun using the meal planner!

Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Stop by and visit our sponsors...

Tell Your Time What to Do ~ Manage your schedule so you can live life fulfilled.

Stop by and visit these great companies...

E-Mealz ~ Easy meals for busy people!

Homemade Laundry Soap

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

I’ve been thinking about making my own detergent for some time, and this past summer I finally took the big plunge and did it ~ and haven’t gone back since! My fears of it being time-consuming and hard were so completely wrong. It seriously took me about 20 minutes from start to finish, and that includes the time it took me to walk downstairs and grab the boxes I needed as well as grate the soap.

These are the few simple ingredients I needed to make the soap and 9 oz {$3.95} cleaning bar will make two batches of detergent, enough for 128 loads of laundry. After figuring out the cost of the detergent, it works out to about 5 cents a load of laundry, and you'll have plenty of Borax and washing soda for future batches.

• Arm & Hammer Washing Soda {in the cleaning aisle}
• Borax {cleaning aisle}
• Laundry bar ~ I buy mine from Virginia Soaps and Scents
• Water

Pretty basic and simple to make too!

The recipe that I use comes from the Virginia Soaps and Scents website and you can download a 4x6 folded recipe card here.

Ingredients:

~ 4½ ounces of “Virginia Soaps & Scents” Cleaning Soap
~ ½ cup washing soda
~ ½ cup borax powder ~ grater
~ You will also need a bucket, 3-5 gallon size

Directions:

1. Grate the soap and put it into a large sauce pan. Add 6 cups of water and heat until the Cleaning soap melts.
2. Add the washing soda and the borax. Stir until the mixture is dissolved. Remove from heat.
3. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir.
4. Add 22 cups of water and stir (22 cups = 1 gallon plus 6 cups).
5. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Note: The finished soap will be in a gel form. It is a low-sudsing soap, so is great for front-loading washers as well as the top-load variety.

Our kids love it too, since they can easily scoop the detergent out themselves and help with the laundry {Mommy loves this part too!}.  Others have asked if we've noticed any change in our laundry ~ is it getting clean? Absolutely yes!  The bars are also unscented, so the detergent doesn't have any overwhelming smell either. Just 'clean'.

If you aren't sure that you want to make your own detergent and want to 'test the waters' to see if it would work for you, Virginia Soaps and Scents offers a Laundry Soap Kit for $4.95 that includes everything you need to make a batch of detergent ~ all you need to do is add water!

Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Take Them a Meal ~ Meal Organization

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

I want to share a site with you all that I’ve been using over the last few days that is wonderfully AMAZING!! If you’ve ever put together meal lists for someone that has just had a baby or been in the hospital, you know how crazy it can be with all the emails, phone calls…and overabundance of lasagna deliveries.

Takethemameal.com is a FREE site that helps you organize meal deliveries to the family with just a few clicks of a button.  As the meal coordinator you can quickly create an online schedule sheet providing directions to the home along with other important information.

Once you create the schedule and set up the dates you would like the meals delivered to the family, all you have to do is share the password with the families that would like to help and they can add their name to the online list. The person receiving the meals can also access the page to see who is delivering a meal, their phone number, the meal they are bringing ~ and they can print off a schedule of meals to stick on their fridge for future reference.

You can view a sample schedule here.

I started using it a few days ago to set up meals for a family in our church and it has taken a HUGE stress off. There are no emails flying back and forth or people accidentally doubling up on dates. AND it will even email a reminder to the meal provider when their delivery date is close! For those who aren’t comfortable using the computer, they just call me and I can quickly access the page and plug in their information.

Did I mention it is all FREE?? Really, you can go wrong with that! This is one of those sites that I wish had been around years ago ~ it’s definitely one that I will use over and over again in the future!

Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

</P=ALIGN="RIGHT">

Homeopathic Remedies & Options

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Once I started having kids, I really began to pay attention to the medicines that we were using to help fight different things: colds, ear infections, teething pain, and even bumps and bruises. I had some great friends who suggested various homeopathic remedies for me to try with our kids ~ things that were natural and safe to use on both ourselves and them. Basically, homeopathic medicines are made from botanical, mineral, or natural substances.

I'll admit that I was a little bit skeptical at first, but over the years there have been more products added to my list {and medicine cupboard} that I would prefer to use. One of my favorite products has been Arnica Gel from Boiron, which helps lessen bruising and other 'trauma' ~ perfect for a family of over-active kids who bruise easily! It has really made a difference in the healing time of bruises ~ I'm serious!

With cold and flu season coming up, I want to have things on hand to use if our kids start getting sick. Last year I was so frustrated with the confusion on what could/couldn't be used for kids, especially since we had two that were younger than age 4. Boiron has a line of new homeopathic children's products ~ just in time for the cold/flu season.

• Children's Oscillococcinum ~ for flu-like symptoms
• Children's Coldcalm Pellets - multi-symptom cold reliever
• Children's Chestal ~ for all types of coughs
  

We're fortunate to have a great health food store that carries a wide variety of homeopathic remedies and I know that there are some other major chains that carry various products. There is also a coupon for $1.00 off any of the above homeopathic medicines if you are interested ~ I know it's something that I will be putting in our cabinet to have on hand this fall and winter!

Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Hiding all Their Stuff {aka 'Organizing'}

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Laurianna and McKenna love to draw. And by love, I mean 'use half a ream of paper in one sitting' kind of love.

And then it all gets 'gifted' to me. Or we can't throw it out because they want to give it to {blank}, or they drew it with their left hand, or it was the best story they have EVER written.

What, praytell, is a mother to do with all this STUFF?? I discreetly push stuff into the trashcan when no one is looking, but if I don't hide it well enough the wailing can be heard for miles when their 'stuff' is discovered.

The girls and I took a little shopping trip together the other day and bought two large storage containers that can slide under their beds {not the huge ones, but decent sized}. When we got home, we pulled out all of the papers they have stuffed in their backpacks, special things they have saved that meander around the house, and we began weeding through it all.

The rule was - if it doesn't fit in the tub, it has to go.

Letting the girls sort through it all worked out well and the tubs both slid under their beds when they were full. Now this didn't include their toys and dolls, etc...just all those 'extras' like the notes from friends, their special diary or the five purses that they've managed to collect {and Mommy wishes would 'magically' disappear}. They understand that when that tub is full - they have to sort through it and the top is the limit!

All that said - Mommy is happy now and all that 'stuff' is organized and out of sight! Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Gutter Bookshelves

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

I can't take credit for this cute idea, because I saw it on my friend Julie's blog and then quickly ran to Lowes to get everything I needed to duplicate it!

The gutter bookshelves were so easy to put together! I bought a 10' length of plastic gutter {you can also use metal guttering} and had Lowes cut it for me into 3 foot pieces. My husband helped me screw the guttering onto the wall and we added gutter end caps so that the books won't fall off the shelves.

These shelves are in our dining room/homeschool area and are great for 'showcasing' our current special reads. They are at a great level for the kids and we love them!

Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Painless Splinter Removal

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Even though your kids may be done teething, hang onto that little tube of Orajel! Our kids are a little skittish when it comes to having me remove splinters, and the Orajel has come in handy on many occasions lately.

Put a little bit around the area where the splinter is and it will help 'numb' the area so you can work on getting the splinter out with minimal pain for your kids!


Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

I Color Code My Kids

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Before you begin envisioning my kids looking like Violet from Willie Wonka, I should probably clarify that title.

Our kids have a specific color assigned to them. Does that sound a bit over the top? Maybe, but I can tell you it has helped SO much over the years having four little ones!

It all started out innocently enough with sippy cups ~ Laurianna had a purple lid and McKenna had a pink one. We always knew whose cup was missing and which one belonged to which kiddo.

When we added Zachary and Kaleb we added blue and green.

The coding has now spread throughout the house to include backpacks, pencil boxes, notebooks....but all for the sake of knowing who is missing what {and who needs to pick up what too!}. This year I bought colored Sharpies and added a color mark to the top of all the kids markers to help us sort them out a little easier too ~ because being able to stop one minor fight a day is worth it!

It might seem a bit over the top, but it is definitely something that is Working for Me!

My Favorite iTouch & iPhone Apps

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

Scribbit recently received an iTouch for her birthday and posted about some fun apps she found...which reminded me that I had a half-written post back when I first started accumulating apps for my iTouch.

I figured that it was about time I finished that post up and shared some of the fun and free apps that I've been using. Not that I'm opposed to paying for an app...but really, I'm opposed to paying for an app. Even 99 cents {cause I'm cheap like that}.

And if you're thinking "Well, an iTouch isn't cheap!"~ you're right. Except I managed to get it for roughly $16 brand-spankin-new via WeightWatchers Incredible Rewards.

But that is a story for another day. Meanwhile, here are some of my most frequently used apps:

App Miner

This is a lovely little app that helps you find other apps - specifically ones that have gone on sale or are now free. It updates constantly helping you find great deals. You can also create 'watch lists' for apps that you are interested in, but perhaps not willing to pay what they are asking for quite yet. I've found several fun apps through using App Miner ~ and the cute little guy as the mascot doesn't hurt either!

Catcha Mouse

Completely mindless. Very fun. You need to set traps so that the mouse can't escape through one of the holes. The game gets more challenging as you progress, but very cute! No mice will be harmed in the playing of this game...it just might get you motivated to set a few traps of your own.

Purex Laundry Help

I finally have something in one place that can answer my laundry stain questions. This app gives you advice on how to treat stain based on the type of fabric, type of stain, and also helps interpret all those laundry care symbols on clothing.

Gift Planner

Plan gifts for family, friends and business contacts and keep track of your budget too. You create groups and set budgets for each member in the group and can create gifts along with photos of the gifts. Fortunately you can also 'lock' this app with a passcode just so little sneaky children don't get into it.

Suduko

Really, Suduko doesn't need any introduction. It's something that makes me feel that I have a wee bit of brain power residing in my body and it's also free. That should be enough said.

Sprout Player

PBS Kids offers the Sprout player that has podcasts for your preschooler. You can flip through the show until you find an episode to watch. New podcasts are added frequently ~ very handy for waiting time at the doctor's office! {fyi - Sprout needs internet access - we are fortunate to pick up wifi at our doctor's office!}

Olive Tree Bible Reader

The free version has the KJV and ASV versions of the Bible as well as a search feature. Find passages quickly by choosing book, chapter and then verse. You scroll through the passages quickly and can bookmark verses. Handy if you happen to forget to bring your Bible to church {ahem}.

Amazon Mobile

This app lets me check and compare prices on products. I have access to my 'cart' and the app also helps me remember items for later that I want to look into more. Very handy if I want to do price checks on items while out and about. {also requires wifi}

Waterslide Extreme

Another mindless game to play, but rather fun. You race down a waterslide trying to collect point and avoid crabs without falling off the slide to a certain death. There are nine levels and you can keep track of your time when playing against other.

TweetDeck

I use TweetDeck on my laptop for Twitter and they now have an app to go along with it that is set up very similar to the computer version. It will even import your groups you've created on your computer and sort tweets for you that way. {wifi access needed}


Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Drippy Swim Suit Solution

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

With summer in full swing and swim team practice every.single.night we seem to be accumulating a LOT of wet swim gear. I was starting to go a little nutso finding wet suits dripping all over the floor or stepping on one that was wadded up in a ball on the floor.

And WHY I didn't think of this before is beyond me.

I already have a little love affair going on with the 3M removable adhesive hooks and now there are 4 hooks hanging ever-so-nicely in a row at the back of our shower. The kids can reach them and quickly hang up their suits to drip dry and I don't find a soggy mess somewhere around my house.

Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Emergency Binder: Household Information

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

The 'Household Information' is another document for our Emergency Binder. After our recent need for a plumber {due to a certain 2-year-old} this would have been handy to have on hand a few weeks ago. This document will help you keep track of important numbers for your household: plumber, electrician, heating/cooling, etc... Just print it off and fill it in! This is the sixth document available for the Emergency Binder.

Click on graphic to print

What is an Emergency Binder? Simply put, it's a binder that stores all the important information in one central place so it can be grabbed quickly in any emergency {i.e. fire, flood, accident, etc...}. Something to flip through and have everything handy that might be needed: life insurance contact information, bank contacts, monthly bills/addresses, work information, etc...all organized and put together to help save time in the event of an emergency.

The information you choose to keep track of is entirely up to you ~ if you don't feel it's safe/essential to keep track of certain things, just leave that area blank. There are also blank areas provided to keep track of other important information that might not be on forms. These were created and are relevant for our family, so it might not all apply to your family.

If this is the first you are reading of my Emergency Binder documents, you can find any other ones that I've currently posted here ~ but stay tuned, there are more coming in the upcoming weeks too!

Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me! Hope it helps you out!

My New 'To Do' List

This post may contain affiliate or advertiser links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

My new planner just came in the mail recently {love Amy Knapp's Family Organizer!} and then Carissa posted her Daily Docket ... and well, I had to revamp my whole system.

It was just begging to be done ~ really, it was.

Keeping it all to myself just seems a shame too, especially if someone else will actually use it. What good are cute graphics and nice little 'to-do' lists if there isn't anyone to share them with?

I'm rather over-ambitious, so I have plenty of room on my list to add things throughout the day. I take sheer joy in putting something on my list that wasn't there to begin with and then crossing it off {ahem}. It's that sense of accomplishment, I suppose.

My version of the to-do list might have some things that you wouldn't use {like blog post and review ideas}, so I edited my form a few different ways {three more to be specific} and hopefully one of the forms will work for you! I included a small area to remind myself of that evening's meal plan, a space to record any exercise I complete {haha}, and also space to keep track of my water intake. The top part is for things to do/appointments, and the bottom area is for household tasks and blog ideas.

If you click on the to-do list graphic above it will take you to my website where you can download your own pdf copy. Each page in the document has two identical sheets/forms so you can print them off and cut the page in half and have two lists. You can print off all four or just the page that works for you! {NOTE: If you are having trouble downloading the file or printing it off, leave a comment or contact me directly and I can email it to you!}.

I've been printing mine front to back so I can just flip it over when I'm done. The sheets clip nicely into my everyday calendar/planner and I transfer anything that didn't get done that day to the next day's sheet. Just wanted to pass along a little something that is Working for Me!

Updated:

http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2015/03/daily-to-do-list-daily-docket-printable/

To go along with the yearly personal planner I created, I updated my to-do list! You can download a copy of it here.