4 Ways To Stay Healthy On Vacation

Before the kids were born, I exercised pretty regularly, but once Johnny was born, it got a little harder. Still, I managed to squeeze it in, but once Maureen came along, all that went out the window. For almost a year after her birth, I had terrible pains in my joints that made it difficult to even walk through the neighborhood, much less try anything more intense. When the joint pain finally went away, I was really out of practice, plus it was winter and the weather kept us indoors a lot. Finally, after a year of sporadic workouts and a few injuries, we took the plunge and joined a gym. That was in April, and except for one week when I was horribly sick, we've been going 4 to 5 days a week.

I'm very pleased with my progress and getting in my exercise has become crucial to my day. So when we planned an 8 day vacation to North Carolina, I wondered how I would do away from the gym for that long.

It ended up working out great, and some pre-planning was essential to making sure it went well.

Here are 4 ways to maintain your healthy eating and exercise routines while on vacation.

**Make your own meals--We almost always rent a house when we go on vacation, and that makes it easy to cook many of our own meals. Last year, when we traveled to Mystic, CT, we stayed in a hotel that had a mini fridge, but no cooking facilities. The hotel had the usual eggs and bacon breakfast in the morning, but for other meals, we had to eat out. By the end of the vacation, I couldn't wait to get home and cook my own meals. For this trip, I split the cooking with my MIL, and we also ate out one night. I packed any spices or ingredients I already had at home, and shopped for the perishable items when we arrived. The menu looked like this:

Saturday--Spaghetti and meatballs (My MIL made the meatballs at home ahead of time and transported them in a cooler. Pasta cooks quickly, and we also had fresh bread.)
Sunday--I made Chicken with Quinoa, a recipe from Little Stomaks, and served it with extra steamed peas, salad and leftover bread.
Monday--leftovers
Tuesday--My MIL made roast beef with gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans.
Wednesday--Hot Chicken Salad, watermelon, steamed corn and side salads.
Thursday--We traveled to Beaufort, NC for the day and ate dinner there.
Friday--Beef and Spinach Lasagna, steamed corn, watermelon.

The key to doing this was some pre-planning. All these meals could be prepared either partially in advance or in a short amount of time. For lunches, we ate leftovers, or sandwiches made from either leftover roast beef or tuna fish. If you need ideas, check out Take 5, from Rachael Ray, which are all recipes that are made with 5 or less ingredients, or peruse Mommy, What's For Dinner? for no-cook recipes or those that can be made in less than 30 minutes.

**Sneak in exercise--Plan activity into your day! Swimming in the ocean and playing frisbee on the beach are great ways to get moving while also having fun.

**Indulge in vacation treats, but in moderation--It's vacation, go ahead and treat yourself, just watch your portion sizes. Get the small milkshake or split an order of fries with your kids.

**Bring your exercise routine along--I usually use the treadmill and elliptical machines at the gym, but for this trip, I strapped on my running shoes and iPod and headed out to run on the actual road. This was a new experience for me--when I run outside at home, there is always plenty of light. This time, I went running after the kids were in bed and it was DARK. The one night, there was a stretch of road where no cars drove by and I had to pay special attention to the shadows so I wouldn't accidentally step off the side of the road. I also had to dodge roadkill, which has never happened in Baltimore. In place of exercises that use bulky equipment, adapt a routine to lift body weight, practice some yoga, or use easy props in place of weights. For example, I love this arm workout from self.com. In place of weights, I used full bottles of water and increased the amount of reps I did. This butt and thigh workout was fun to do on the beach. And if you don't have a lot of room or you're not a runner, toss a jump rope into your luggage. It's a cheap and packable way to get some cardio in between fun activities.

I returned from vacation feeling refreshed and relaxed, but also like I did my best to keep up my healthy routine.

How about you, any tips to add?

Up A Tree

If Stay Home Moms Don't Work, Why Am I So Tired?

Thursday, August 20th was one of those days when, at the end of it, I felt like all I did was work. It went something like this.

The alarm went off at 8, I hit the snooze and rolled over for a few more minutes, but promptly heard Maureen awake in the kids room. I got her out of bed, but also accidentally woke up Johnny. Got them both a cup of milk and convinced Johnny to lie in his bed a little longer.

After 20 minutes, Maureen and I get up and she helps me make my bed. We go downstairs, where I feed the cat, drink a breakfast shake, pop a couple of waffles into the toaster and take my pills. When Johnny shows up a little later, I give him his waffle and run upstairs to make his bed and Maureen's, scoop the catbox and sort some laundry.

When breakfast is over, I put on PBS for the kids and go back upstairs to take a shower. Both kids show up halfway through Dragon Tales, so we brush their teeth, get them dressed and listen to Maureen cry while I comb her hair. After that, I scarf down a hardboiled egg and we go to the gym.

Halfway through my workout, I'm famished, so I take a break to eat a fruit bar. After my workout and shower, I collect the kids and go home. We stop at the bank on the way. At home, I fix the kids lunch and do the breakfast dishes while they eat. I run upstairs to throw my sweaty gym clothes into the washer, and vacuum up some litter that the cat tracked down the hall. Johnny knocks his milk over, so I wipe up the mess. As soon as lunch is over, Maureen goes down for a nap and Johnny and I go to the backyard. He plays with bubbles while I dig up stinkhorns and treat the areas with vinegar.

It's hot, so we come inside soon and he plays with his tractors while I check my email, throw the laundry into the dryer and start another load. He asks to watch a video, so I put in Cars, do the lunch dishes and make myself something to eat. While he is occupied with the video, I pay a bill, schedule guest bloggers for the following week, and sign up for a fall class at the gym. The video keeps freezing, so we turn it off and read books for awhile. Then I get him set up with some stickers and paper while I pack clothes and gear for our vacation.

When Maureen wakes up, I send Johnny back outside while I get her ready, and this is where the day pretty much falls apart. In the few minutes it takes me to change her diaper, check the dryer and put her skirt back on, he has decided to chop down the mammoth sunflowers and made a huge mess. Maureen and I go out and I end up weeding and cleaning up the mess. While they play in the sandbox, I pop inside to feed the cat and check the time. In the few minutes I am gone, both kids end up with buckets of sand on their heads and Maureen is screaming about her eyes. No way are they going in the house like that, so I strip them down and hose them off. Johnny thinks this is a blast and Maureen screams some more. Everything is soaked, including shoes, so I pile all the wet stuff inside the door, then sweep up all the spilled sand and put the cover on the box. The kitchen still smells like sour milk, so I collect the throw rugs.

Once inside, we go upstairs so Maureen can have a bath and Johnny can have a shower. I fold the dry laundry and toss the second load into the dryer and put the rugs into the wash. When the kids are clean, I get them into jammies, clean up the bathroom and take them downstairs for dinner with daddy, who is now home. While they eat, I pay another couple of bills.

When dinner is over, my husband takes the kids upstairs for books and bed, and I take the van to the gas station, going by the mailbox first. Once there, I unhook both carseats and thoroughly vacuum the whole van. It takes forever, because there are crumbs everywhere and it's hot as hell, so I'm sweating like crazy. After reinstalling both carseats, which requires sitting on them and pulling and yanking and more sweating, I fill the tank and go home.

At home, both kids are still awake, Johnny in his bed and Maureen in mine. My husband collects some stuff to take to his brother, then heads out to drop off the stuff and then go to the gym.

While he is gone, I add the bills to the spreadsheet we use to keep track on finances, do the dinner dishes and clean the kitchen, sweep some puddles out back from the hose, sweep and mop the floor (which I had just done the night before, but between the sand and the milk, it needed it again), folded more laundry and threw the rugs in the dryer, started another load, fed the cat and took out the trash.

At 930, I moved Maureen back into her crib and restarted the dryer. Then I checked all the doors and windows to make sure they were locked, straightened the couch cushions, checked my email again and spent some time petting the cat. After that, I grabbed the rugs out of the dryer and put them back, covered the grill, and cleaned the shower and floor in the bathroom. At 10PM, I realized I hadn't eaten dinner, and when I peeked in the fridge, I saw how much food we still had to get rid of before vacation. So I made myself a huge salad with all the odds and ends, ate it and did the dishes. When my husband got home, we talked about some details, then I folded the last load of laundry, changed the sheets, took a shower and collapsed into bed at something like 1AM.

I didn't spent my day saving the world or anything, and nothing that I did was particularly difficult, but I certainly spent my day working.

So what was that about stay home mom's not working again?

Make The Most Of The Market

We are lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with a year-round farmer's market. That being said, it's pretty slim pickins' in the winter months. Things start to pick up in the early spring and then all of a sudden it's strawberries and before you know it the whole market has exploded with summer's bounty.

Right now you can find almost anything. Beans, peppers, peaches, watermelons, you name it. Of course, the abundant produce available doesn't make me any less busy at work or with my family. The good news is great produce doesn't take much to make a fabulous lunch or dinner. I've figured out a few ways to make the most of what you can find at your local farmer's market that are both quick and easy.

Kayris does a fantastic job of planning meals for her family in advance and then shopping accordingly. In spite of my best efforts, I have failed miserably in that department. Our method of buying our meat in orders of over 100lbs at a time just doesn't lend itself to menu planning for me. It's just not intuitive.

My alternative theory involves planning around the produce I find. Knowing what simple sides I'm serving seems to make it easier to throw something on the bbq or to quickly pan roast some chicken.

On a typical trip to the market we come back, for a family of 3, with a watermelon, a quart of peaches, a quart of nectarines, a pint of plums, a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a quart of green beans, 5 or so tomatoes, several zucchini and a head of lettuce. I like to buy berries too when they're in season. We've had very little waste. Here are some of the ideas I've come up with.

1. On Saturday I make a batch of this crisp topping. Then every night after I put my daughter to bed I make myself an individual peach and nectarine crisp using one of each. I slice them skin on into an oven safe dish. If the fruit is very juicy I mix about a teaspoon of the topping in with the fruit to help thicken the juices. Then I put as much topping as I like over the top (usually 3 or 4 tablespoons) and bake it in the toaster oven at 375 for about 25 minutes or until browned on top and the fruit is bubbling. By the end of the week I've eaten my way through all of the fruit. We eat the plums out of hand.

2. Sandwiches! I was never a sandwich person but nice fresh bread lightly toasted and perfectly ripe tomatoes make an undeniably delicious sandwich for lunch or dinner. Serve sandwiches alongside slices of ripe, sweet watermelon and kettle chips, or crudite... if you must but there will be time for veg later. One of the best sandwiches I've made yet is a tomato, basil and bacon sandwich. This is a seriously, seriously delicious combination. I don't buy basil because I grow it in our small yard but basil is abundant at the market too and makes for another great meatless main dish, pesto! Make extra and freeze it for later.

3. "Chips" I was having a 'driveway' moment when I heard about this idea. To make squash appealing to, well everyone, try this preparation. The way I originally heard the recipe the rings of zucchini or summer squash were to by dipped in lightly beaten egg and then dredged in bread crumbs which I'm sure would also be perfectly delicious. To keep it simple I just sliced the squash, and sauteed them in a single layer in a hot pan. When they were browned on both sides I removed them to a plate and seasoned with kosher salt. They looked like chips and slipped by the critics! Success! You can listen to the podcast with the entire interview here.

4. I like to cook green beans until tender crisp and then serve them tossed with some roasted red peppers and a light vinaigrette. It's another quick and easy side that really maximizes the flavor of really fresh green beans. Last weekend I threw bell peppers on the grill, roasted them and then used them throughout the week tossed into salad, couscous, or in with the beans.

5. More tomatoes! Try this recipe for panzanella, a delicious bread salad with croutons and this one for a no-cook tomato sauce. Be sure to let it sit for a few minutes after combining with the pasta to allow the flavors to blend. This recipe for a grilled tomato with feta is also very good.

So there you have five ideas for cooking your way through a week's worth of farmer's market produce. When all else fails fresh eggs and bacon and perhaps some blueberry pancakes are perfectly acceptable at our house breakfast lunch or dinner. So get out there early to get your pick of the produce, and don't forget the corn!

By day, Stephanie is a lawyer and mother of one with another on the way. When the office is closed and the little one is asleep she dabbles in various crafty endeavors including children's clothing and toys. Her work is featured in an upcoming book, One Yard Wonders, scheduled to be released in October 2009. She writes about her projects, her family and cooking and eating locally on her blog neurosesgalore.com.

To Work Or Not To Work

I am a working Mom. I am insanely jealous of my friends who are not. There, I said it. I often find myself wishing that I could stay at home with my kids all day and do all the fun stuff that I don't have time to do because I work. As if I think my friends just get to stay home and have fun all day. Truth be told, their day is probably a lot harder than mine in many respects. I actually get a little peace and quiet and adult conversation during the day.

I struggle every day with whether or not I made the right decision when I decided to return to work. I made the decision mostly because, like a lot of other families, we really needed both incomes. There are places where we could cut back, and if we really wanted to make it work, I think we probably could. Therein lies the reason I struggle with my choice all the time. It is truly my choice to work. This is my story.

When I had my first son I took three months of maternity leave. The first 8 weeks were covered by short term disability but the last 4 were unpaid. I can't lie, they were definitely tight. I needed to go back at that point. Everything was in place. My sitter, who is absolutely wonderful, came recommended by a friend who is very particular about who watches her daughter and my husband and my parents were watching him the first week so that I could sort of ease into the transition from being a stay at home mom to a working mom.

My first day back, my husband brought my son in to see me and it made my whole day that much better! It was good to be back and see my co-workers and to be earning a little money again. It was challenging as well. I breastfed my son almost exclusively up until that point. About a month before I was due to start back I started using my pump to try to build up a supply of breast milk but it was exhausting and I got precious little for my efforts so I didn't really try as hard as I should have. I had my husband introduce a bottle with some breast milk so that my son would get used to it before beginning daycare. Once I realized that I would never be able to pump enough we gradually mixed breast milk and formula in his bottles until he would take either. We were lucky that he never had any trouble switching between the breast and the bottle or between breast milk and formula.

I remember vividly sitting in the rocker with him the night before I took him to daycare the first time. All I could think about was that I was going to be turning his little world upside down in the morning. I got very little sleep that night. In the morning I packed his diaper bag and some breast milk, dried my tears, and headed to the sitter. I handed her my beautiful boy, who could have cared less at that time, and sobbed the entire way to work.

For the next 6 months I tried every day to find a quiet place to pump somewhere around lunch time. Some days I could do it, some days it was very late in the afternoon before I got a chance to pump and I felt like my chest was going to explode. To add some levity to the situation I created a sign for the door with a farmer milking a cow so that people would know not to enter while I was pumping. On more than one occasion I sprang a leak and had to change. The whole experience left me feeling discouraged and questioning whether it was really worth it to go through all that trouble. I eventually quit pumping and he got just formula at daycare. It made me feel like a failure.

I kept thinking about all of the things I was missing out on. Was he smiling at the sitter? Did he roll over? Did he take steps without me seeing the first one? Was I going to miss out on his first words? For her part, his sitter would make sure that she told me when he was getting close to learning a new skill and would always spend a couple minutes in the morning with me trying to get him to finally accomplish it. I'm betting he'd probably done some of them before I got to see it but she didn't want me to miss out on seeing it for the first time and always acted like it really was his first time.

By the time my second son came along the decision to go back to work again was much easier. I didn't sob my whole way to work on his first day. I was confident that he was going to flourish the way his brother had under her care. What made the decision easier is knowing how well our sitter cares for our boys while we're at work. They are happy and they are learning lots of valuable skills such as manners and how to play well with others. There are kids ranging from infants to 5 years old at the sitter's and my kids have taken a turn at being both the baby and one of the older kids. They've learned how to share and how to deal with others when they don't share and how to be patient with younger children. This isn't a skill I would have been able to teach as easily at home. They have also learned to be responsible for their things and to clean up after themselves. It's easier to teach someone to put away their toys when their friends are busy cleaning up their toys as well. My oldest knows all of his letters and what sounds they make. He even tries to sound words out by himself and has a handful of words he can recognize on sight. I bring this up because he's at the age now where he should be entering pre-school and I have opted not to send him. After talking to some friends who are teachers, I feel like he's pretty well prepared academically. I wish he'd spent more time in an actual classroom but he does have instructional time at daycare and his social skills should put him right where he needs to be.

I didn't put him in pre-school for a couple of reasons. The all day programs are pretty expensive and the hours don't match my work schedule. The half day programs are no help because I have no way to get him to or from school and no idea what to do with him when he's not in school the rest of the time without spending a small fortune. If I didn't work, he would absolutely be in one of the programs that only meets a couple days a week.

That brings up another reason I'm jealous of my stay at home mom friends. Most of the activities available for kids in his age group happen at 10:30 on a Tuesday morning. They save the times after normal work hours and on weekends for school age children, which I do understand, but it does seem to leave out children whose parents work during the week.

There are many mornings when I get my children up to leave for the sitter's house by 6am and they aren't ready to get up and dissolve into temper tantrums. I question how fair it is to them to have to get up so early in the morning but I'm hoping that when it comes time to start getting up and going to school they will be at an advantage because they are used to doing that kind of a routine already. I'm also hoping that by working I'm demonstrating a strong work ethic and teaching them the value of an education and hard work. When I do get a day off during the week with them, I go out of my way to make sure we do something fun because we don't get the opportunity very often. Those days give us something to look forward to. They wouldn't be quite as special if I was home all the time.

Next fall, my son will go to kindergarten. I've floated the idea of not working after that year to my husband. His initial response was "you would never quit your job". He knows me pretty well and I can't help but wonder if he isn't right. I do love my job and the people I work with and it would be very hard for me to quit. Admittedly, being a stay at home mom is hard work. Being at home with small children is emotionally, and sometimes physically, draining. Its also incredibly rewarding. I don't know what the right answer is for me just yet.

For right now, I continue to be the working mom who longs to stay home with her kids. Maybe at some point I'll get to be the stay at home mom and find out what life is really like on the other side of the debate. I'll probably find myself wishing, at least once in a while, that I could go back to work.

I get really frustrated when I hear people saying that its better to be a stay at home mom or a working mom. I think each has its benefits and drawbacks and the grass is probably always greener on the other side. I'd love to hear from other moms; Do you stay home or work? What factors did you consider when you made that decision and do you have any regrets?

Erin is a married mother of two amazing, energetic little boys who never fail to entertain and delight her with their passion for life. She began blogging shortly before her second child was born as a way to share her children's milestones with friends and family. Now she blogs because it's a wonderful outlet. The blog remains true to its original format but occasionally Erin indulges herself and talks about whatever is on her mind, even if it isn't related to children. Erin hope someday her children will read her blog and realize just how much she loves them and what a joy it is to be their mother.

Sometimes GREAT things really are wrapped up in UGLY packages!

Recently my husband resigned from his job. He had worked for this company for six years and was a very dedicated employee. He believed in what he did and when a challenge presented itself, he met it head on. As the years progressed, he was met with more and more challenges as the job became more and more difficult and demanding of his time. Just as the old saying goes, “hHow do you cook a frog?...You put him in the pot with the cold water and slowly turn up the heat and he won’t realize it.” We were the proverbial frog.

I sat and watched my husband literally disappear before my very eyes. The stress of the job combined with his “non quitter” attitude slowly but surely cooked us all. Before we knew it the job that claimed to only have 30% travel soon turned into 80% travel. “80% travel” basically meant that he was pretty much only home to sleep. It was hard for me at first but just like that frog…I adjusted. Before I knew it, I had developed for myself a pretty impressive routine. I enlisted my 3 children in the duties around the house and found that they actually took pride in helping out and lending a hand. The older 2 kids loved to set up the silverware rack from the clean dishwasher on the counter over the silverware drawer and teach their little sister, who is 3 years old, how to match up the silverware to put it in it’s proper place. Who knew?! I found that if I simply kept my children busy inside the house by playing games with them and doing crafts that it was much easier than allowing them to join the gang of neighborhood kids who stalk the neighborhood and eventually end up in bickering quarrels in which case I would promptly offer them all a Popsicle! Popsicles that I bought on sale for a dollar a box when our local grocer offers that special deal only a few times a year…I stock up on them for such the occasion! I guess what I am trying to say is that I had this house in tip top shape and kept up on all the grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, and anything else that needed to be done. As long as I was able to talk to my husband on the phone each day and the paycheck kept getting deposited into our checking account, things were okay.

I say “okay” because we were not thriving. We were surviving. If at any point I had gotten sick, we would have gone under. I was keeping things together by the skin of my teeth. In many ways we felt trapped by this job. But, I mean seriously, who quits a good paying job in THIS economy?

I won’t go into all the boring details of the office bully and the politics of the matter but last week my husband had enough of this rat race. We realized we were barely operating like a “family” anymore (or at least not our personal definition of family) with as much as he was gone and the stress upon him and myself to ‘keep things running’ not to mention the children who desperately missed their father. A situation presented itself and it basically helped us to STOP for a moment and see things for what they really were.

And the things we saw were just that…things. A very nice home, a new vehicle, pictures of a cruise that we went on in March, well dressed children, and basically every material possession that we could ever want. Another thing we saw was a picture on the wall of a family. A family that had a Dad/Husband, Mom/Wife, and three precious little kids. It was a picture that hung on the wall in our living room but rarely did those five people sit in that living room together…all at once.

Don’t get me wrong, we were not rich and nor was our family falling apart. Neither is true. But what was true is that we were not living the life that we envisioned ourselves living when we walked down the isle almost 10 years ago. Albeit those grandiose dreams were somewhat fantasized, I mean who’s aren’t right?, this was not the life I dreamed of! When I would dream about our future and how we wanted to live our lives, what our purposes would be, how many kids we wanted to have and how we’d raise them…I never saw me at home alone with three kids struggling through everyday lonely and going to bed alone every night!

What were we doing? Living to make money and spend money? No!! Everyone has a purpose here on this Earth and I assure you that mine was not to make money and spend money…I don’t even LIKE shopping!

My husband made a drastic, daring, and even yes balls’y move last Friday to resign from a lucrative position in his company. To basically kiss his paycheck goodbye. We knew what we were doing when we agreed to do it. Yes, we have some money in the bank; we are not complete fools. But we decided to take our lives back! No more living like a stressed out single mother for me. No more living in hotels and being lonely for him. No more wondering when Daddy is coming home or leaving again for our kids. No more are three little letters that when combined make a word and that word is “JOB” going to dictate and determine our lives!

When I married this man, I married him for richer AND for poorer. I love this man and I stand by his side no matter what. We are one. I am more in love with him today than the day we married. I have the utmost respect for him and I support him.

We are now entering a new phase in our journey together. Is it scary? Somewhat. But more than any other emotion, excitement is what I’m feeling. I’m excited to be going back to the basics. We are eating at home whereas before we had gotten used to eating out a lot to support our busy lifestyle. We are catching up on projects around the house, getting to know our neighbors a bit more and just being happy with the simple things in life like each other. This actually has been the biggest stress relief I’ve ever felt to this day in.my.life!

I encourage you to take a look back at your life and see if there are any changes you need to make. No, I don’t believe the whole world needs to quit their job in order to regain balance but for us it was such a huge distraction that kept us continuing on with the rat race of which there seemed to be no end. We are enjoying spending time with our kids, in our garden and finding ways to keep things “simple” again. Don’t let the ‘rat race of life’ rob you of your dreams or your family…it’s not worth it.

Teresa Jonkman is a stay at home mother to 3 children, Logan (7), Kenzie (6) and Gabriella (3). She is married to Chuck and they currently reside in the suburbs of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Teresa’s interests include scrapbooking, photography, and decorating.

Be The Change You Wish To See In The World

(**title is a quote from Mahatma Ghandi)

You can smell it in the air and feel it on your skin during our Wednesday Night Hikes. You can see it as you walk through our cat adoption area. Change. Yes, great things are happening at Baltimore Humane Society. I’ve only officially been a part of this organization for a month, but the strides I’ve seen in that time have been huge. Most animal shelters focus on one basic thing: adopting out animals. But at BMore Humane the goal is much larger. Together with my dedicated and knowledgeable co-workers, we’ve been able to begin laying the foundation for some exciting new programs.

The most exciting, perhaps, is an educational program geared towards children and teenagers. The program will teach the importance of humane treatment and care of animals, explain why spaying and neutering is important, show just how a shelter operates and offer the chance to interact with shelter animals. Educating tomorrow’s pet owners about humane treatment today, how refreshing.

Other programs in the works are a summer camp, similar to the educational program; Sgt. Stubby’s Fierce 5K (SF5), a challenging 5K race through the trails of BMore Humane set for March 28, 2010; Trainable Tuesdays, a program designed to offer training and build the social skills of our shelter pit bulls; summer movie nights and a “Woof Wellness” clinic focused on vaccinating and offering spay/neuter options and educational information to Baltimore’s inner city pit bulls and their owners. We’ve also implemented a new volunteer program that will allow our volunteers to reach multiple levels through more focused training.

I love my job. I’m so grateful to be able to honestly say that. I get to be a part of positively influencing something I believe in and I come home from work everyday knowing I’m making a difference. It doesn’t get much better than that. I know the staff at BMore Humane feels the same way.

Why not let the positive energy from BMore Humane seep into your life too? Join us on a Wednesday night for a great hike through the grounds. You can bring your own dog or sign up to walk one of ours. Stop in to see the adoptable animals or challenge yourself to SF5, there’s still plenty of time to train for it. I promise you won’t be disappointed. But don’t take my word for it, come see for yourself.

http://www.baltimorehumane.org/

Tracy shares her Baltimore City home with her husband, two tail-wagging pit bulls, a mutt mix named Wolverine and four very tolerant cats. She loves combining her love of animal welfare with her passion for writing. She can usually be found cheering on the Orioles at Camden Yards, running with her dogs in Carroll Park and generally enjoying city life.

Becoming A Grandmother

What’s it like to be a grandparent??? ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! I always thought that being a mom was the top of my list – and believe you me – it still is – but being a “grandmother” – HOLY COW – the absolute best!! The love of those little ones is beyond anything imaginable.

At first – when my oldest Sam and his wife Chrissie had their first child – Jaxson Timothy – I was so happy and sad – sad that they lived a little over 5 hours away – I wouldn’t be able to see them much – as I still need to work. We took time to go and they came home when they could. Then – once when they were home – they left on a Sunday and then they would be a the grandparents house late the following Wed – we discussed leaving Jaxson with us – it would only be 3 nights away from Mom & Dad.

What a difference those days made – Jaxson and I and Papa (my hubby) had the best time with him – he was only 20 months at the time. Jaxson started getting a little homesick there towards the end – and broke my heart when I had to leave him with the other grandparents that he didn’t know too well either – and was hoping to be in Mom & Dad’s arms – but traffic had held them up some.

Just having that time with him bonded us forever. He’s my “special” little guy and he loves his Meme and PaPa so much. Time with grandchildren has to been so much better than with my kids –I believe mainly because – we are not their disciplinarians – we get to enjoy the best of them. Yes – they are kids and do things we need to say NO too – but so many more times I get to say YES!

My son would say – but mom I was never allowed to do that when I was young or I wasn’t allowed to have treats before dinner. To which I respond – but that is what being a grandparent is all about – love and understanding and spoiling them rotten!!!

I can’t give them the monetary stuff that I would like to at times – money and this economy is taking that away. I have gone to yard/garage sales and tried to find many little things that will put such joy on a little ones face.

Now they have added yet another grandson – Gavin Daniel – and he’s such a spitfire. He goes, goes, goes and goes – there is no stopping him and seems to never want to sleep and when he does – it’s not very long. The bond that those two have is amazing. I don’t think my boys (I have 3 of them - Sam – 31, Tom 29 and Dan 28) were ever as close as these two little ones are. I hope with all I have that they continue this wonderful relationship through their entire lives.

I just again had the privilege of keeping my grandsons but this time for a week. Yes – it was the BEST week ever – tiring definitely – as I’m not used to getting up in the middle of the night for a little one in such a long time. Those two are different in many ways. Jaxson is a very quiet and laid back – Gavin on the other hand – is so much more outgoing and active. Jaxson is now 3 – born on St Patrick’s Day – and Gavin turned 1 in June. We took Jaxson and Gavin to the local Oil Heritage Day festivities that week – was nice we had local stuff to do. There was a parade – one of which Jaxson had never been to one – he LOVED it – was so good – Gavin even sat for a period of times. They came home with bags of candy that were thrown from the passing floats and cars and fire trucks. Amazing memories I will have of these events. Fireworks ended our week and we had hit our church’s festival also. Didn’t really win anything great but still had wonderful time. Toward the end of the week – Jaxson again was missing his Mom & Dad a lot – he’s been attached to them since they came to get them back. We have made a very special bond with our grandsons by having “our” time with them. We have a video cam on our computer and they do too. What a WONDERFUL way to stay in touch and watch our grandsons grow up. Jaxson loves using the computer and we use Windows Live Messenger and he’s learned out to send us “winks” and “nudges”. If you don’t have a video cam to keep in touch – I highly recommend it. It’s almost as good as being there- virtual hugs aren’t the same but it helps close the distance. Gavin is still too young to get the concept but he does throw us kisses and waves to us on the computer – which is the highlight of our week!

I recommend having grandchildren – they are the light of our day and night. With the economy as it is and jobs so very scarce and unemployment on the rise they are moving home to live with us for a while. It will be crowded and I’m sure “noisier” than what we are used to but I am so very excited about having some more time with them. Family is what we love and we hope that in time those boys will LOVE the memories of living with MeMe and PaPa.

There is NOTHING better in the world than to wake up or come into a room with those LITTLE SMILES and they come running for hugs – it just makes life worth living!!

Barb has been married for 32 years to Ed and is a mother of 3 grown boys - grandmother of 2 boys Jaxson, 3 & Gavin, 1. She lives in Oil City PA. She loves sewing, quilting, reading, jigsaw puzzles, and computer games. She works as a daycare provider in her home and has done that for over twenty years. Blogging is new to Barb - something she's never done before !

Rest and Relaxation

It's that time of year again!

When school ended in early June, I was worried about how to get through the summer with my sanity intact. What would we do to fill all the hours? I dreaded long, hot, boring days, stuck in the house with nothing to do.

Instead, we've been pretty busy. Between the gym, work, the pool, and trying to coordinate schedules for playdates, we haven't had very many long, boring days at home. The weather has been decent too, this past week was really the first one in which the heat was unbearable.

I've been working a lot of weekends, and we filled the rest of the time with cookouts and parties. Another day, we got a truckload of mulch and spent a few hours working in the yard. This past weekend, we left the kids with John's parents and attended the wedding of my best friend from high school, Grace.

The downside of all this activity is that I am tired. Very tired. I haven't been sleeping well, and between that and the constant activity, I'm just beat.

So it's great timing that we're due for a break, but I also don't want to leave my readers high and dry.

While I'm off enjoying some R&R with my family, several guest bloggers will be taking my place here. Look for posts on marriage, becoming a grandmother, some changes at the Baltimore Humane Society, the choice to work or stay home with the kids, and how to utilize the farmer's market for tasty, easy and fresh meals.

I hope you enjoy the posts and be sure to leave my guests lots of comments!

Don't Feed The Wildlife!

When my husband first bought our home, Baltimore had a pretty crappy recycling system. For our zone, bottles and cans went out on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month and paper went out on the second and fourth Friday. Stuff was expected to be in plastic bags, or you could use a bin, but you had the provide the bin. It was the same when we got married and I moved in. Having come from Anne Arundel county, where recyclables are picked up weekly, and you can have as many bins as you want for free, it was a bit of a shock.

Anyway, too many people found the second and fourth schedule too confusing, and no one was recycling, so the city went to "single stream" pick up. All paper, plastic, bottles etc could go out together, but the pick up remained twice a month. So if there were 5 weeks in a month, or a holiday, or depending on where the Fridays fell, we could (and did) easily go for a month without having our stuff picked up. We have two large trash cans with lids for our recycle, but once they were filled, I was forced to throw recycle stuff in the regular trash, feeling horribly guilty about it. The thing is, with a city overrun by rats, letting bags of stuff sit around is just a really bad idea.

Just last month, the city went to a different schedule, in hopes of saving some money. Trash pickup went to once a week and recycle also gets picked up once a week.

I was thrilled about the increased recycle pick up, but the once a week trash pick up was met by skepticism. If there was already a rodent problem, would decreasing the pick up make it worse? What about older residents who would struggle with moving large, heavy cans? Or people without an alley, who would need to carry a week's worth of trash through the house? (We don't have an alley either, but we have access to the backyard from the sidewalk.) And what about the stink factor? My brother lives in the county and they don't have a rodent problem, but he said their cans absolutely reek in the summertime.

It's been about a month, and so far, I have mixed reviews.

For us personally, it's been great. We fill both our recycle cans every week, and I've been recycling stuff I never bothered with before, like envelopes from junk mail, or empty toilet paper rolls. As long as we take care to recycle, the regular trash can doesn't fill all the way, and since we have one with a tight fitting lid, it doesn't really smell. I feel better knowing we're recycling stuff that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

However, I think the city was counting on people recycling more and it's just not happening, at least not on my block. Most weeks, I see maybe three or four houses on our side of the block put out recycle, counting us. Everyone else puts out overflowing cans on trash day.

Supposedly, the city has trash inspectors to fine people who put out trash in uncovered cans or in bags, but they haven't made it around here yet. Last week, the kids and I walked to the pool and practically every other house had exposed trash sitting out, and it all showed evidence of animals getting into it.

Rats gross me out. So clear proof that there are not only rodents around, but that they are coming out on trash night to enjoy the free buffet totally freaks me out. Is it so hard to get a can and use it?

Plus, with twice a week pick up, the trucks had usually come and gone by lunchtime, but now the stuff sits until closer to dinnertime. And with the weather lately, it also means that if I want to spend time out front with my kids, we get to smell eau de garbage while we do it.

I'm all for anything that saves the city money, and I'm thrilled to finally see a better recycling program. I think once a week trash pick up could be a good thing if only the residents would follow the rules. No bags and put a lid on that can.

City residents? How is it going for you?

Should Kids Be Lab Rats?

In July, Kate at Charm City Moms posted about a clinical trial involving an experimental vaccine for swine flu, and asked her readers, "Would you sign up your kids?" Responses turned into a discussion about the polio vaccine, which was once experimental too.

Although I have reservations about a vaccine that may be used to prevent ear infections that Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess wrote about, my children are fully vaccinated with the other vaccines available, including the chicken pox. Both have received yearly vaccines for the regular flu. I'd rather my kids not get any kind of flu, and the next time we see our pediatrician, I'm going to ask about giving Johnny and Maureen the herbal immune booster that I take myself. I've been taking astragalus capsules for about a year now, and last winter I had only one bad cold and did not get the flu.

However, while I might sign myself up for such a trial, I'd have to put a lot of thought into signing my kids up. Presumably, by the time a vaccine gets to a human trial, it has performed well enough with lab animals, but that's no guarantee. In 1999, a vaccine to prevent rotavirus, the most common cause of diarrheal illness in children, was pulled off the market because it increased the chance of developing intussusception, a serious bowel blockage.

It's a hard call for parents to make, because we'd all like to reap the benefits of medical science without making our kids be the guinea pigs.

But what if the study didn't involve any injections or unknown drugs? Would you do it then? Would you involve your child in a study that might potentially help many other kids?

Last week, we received a packet in the mail from the Maryland DHMH. Since we have a child that was born in the Baltimore area that is between 2 and 5 years old, we are being asked to consider putting him into a study. The study, a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and the CDC, is looking at the causes of autism, and in enrolling children with and without developmental disabilities.

To participate would require turning over my medical records as well as his, answering a questionnaire and being interviewed, a developmental evaluation, and providing hair, cheek swab and blood samples. My first reaction upon reading the packet was, "No way," because of the blood draw. But then I thought about it a little more. Both kids have had blood drawn for lead tests. They cried during the actual draw, but were fine minutes later. I personally have blood drawn frequently, and it's just not a big deal. And autism IS a big deal. Wouldn't the right thing to do be to participate, in the hopes that the results of the study could help pinpoint and avoid the causes of autism?

I asked about this subject on Twitter and received the following responses:

From ARigMom: No I wouldn't, at least not for just anything...BUT if he/she had an unknown illness and the trial was a last resort, I might.

When asked about a medical research study, she then said: Meaning, there would be no meds introduced? That I might be able to go with, but, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

And Mommymae said: It would depend on the research. I've done two twin studies on language and growth factors. I do it for science and my kids haven't been harmed.

I'm going to ask for more information on the autism study. As long as our privacy is guaranteed and it's not a huge inconvenience, I'm inclined to participate. There is a small monetary compensation, but that's not really a consideration. Any money from the study would go into Johnny's savings.

How about you? What would you do?

The Beach In Our Backyard

One of the big downsides to living in a small rowhome is a lack of space, in every aspect of our home. We don't have a playroom or enough closets, my kitchen cabinets are small and limited, and our basement is only good for storage. We like to call it cozy, and it has helped when it comes to keeping our possessions under control, but another word comes to mind at times, like when I'm trying to find a place to put yet another bin of outgrown kid clothes.

The coziness extends to our yard too. For a city home, we have a nice sized yard, and we've worked hard to create flower beds and make the most of our space, but it also means that many typical "kid" activities don't work well.

When All Children's Furniture contacted me about reviewing a product from their site, I was happy to be able to choose an outdoor product specifically with my small city yard in mind.

My kids enjoy playing in the sand at the beach, but digging in the dirt in most places in the city is a no-no, because of the general uncleanliness of the dirt (and by this, I mean dogs). I have been wanting to get my kids a sandbox, but until now, was unable to find one that met the needs of our city yard. In addition, we do have to worry about cats and rats, so any sandbox would need a sturdy cover.

I chose the Naturally Playful Sand Table by Step2 and it arrived last week. I chose this product for the following reasons:

**It's small, so it wouldn't take up half my yard.
**It has a sturdy cover, which attaches with elastic tie downs, to discourage cats from using it as a private bathroom.
**It sits off the ground. I was especially interested in the table version of a sandbox, because my kids wouldn't be able to sit in it, and I thought that might decrease the amount of sand that got on their clothes and in my house. In addition, while some people in the neighborhood have had problems with rats climbing on a covered box or chewing through lids, I thought the combination of being securely latched, up close to the house and off the ground would be more of a deterrent to rodents.

The sandbox holds up to 80 pounds of sand, so I picked up a 50 pound bag at a local store for 3 bucks. The sand table quickly snapped together, no tools required, and the kids went to town. The plastic is lightweight, yet strong, so I feel like the table will last a long time. It also comes with two shovels, two scoops and one bucket, all of which are small enough to fit in the table with the lid on.

We're extremely happy with it so far. Because it is so small, it's easy to move, even with the sand inside. On a sunny, mild day, I moved it out into the sun, and on a hotter day, put it in the shade under our deck. The lid fits snugly, and even after a pouring rainstorm, the sand stayed dry. The kids can't sit inside it, but it's the perfect height for my 2-year-old. I have seen my 4-year-old crouching or kneeling on several occasions, but he's young and his knees can handle it.

My husband was also happy with the sand table being off the ground, because he was able to sit in a lawn chair next to it and play with our son, without having to stress his back or knees.

The only problem I had was that the kids still managed to get sand all over themselves, on the ground and in my house, but that has more to do with my kids and not so much with the table. So now I am looking for a vacuum with enough suction to get sand out of cracks between floorboards. Once again, the small size and light weight of the sand table meant it was easy for me to move it and sweep up the spilled sand.

The Naturally Playful Sand Table was provided at no cost to me, but the full price is $69.99 and it is currently on sale for $49.99. I think it's a great option for limited spaces, thanks very much to All Children's Furniture for this opportunity.

Be sure to check out the site. In addition to outdoor toys like the sand table, ACF also carries a wide variety of kids furniture, nursery furniture, storage options and toys.

Fungus Among Us

On several occasions, after heavy rain and humid weather, this strange, red, stalk-like thing appeared in our yard. It happened again last week, so I did a search online to see what it was.

It turns out it is something called a stinkhorn, from Phallaceae, and you can see more pictures of the different varieties here. A stinkhorn is basically a mushroom, but it uses a smelly goop at the tip to attract flies and other insects. Once they land on the stinkhorn, they get spores on their feet and in their digestive tracts, thus transferring spores to whatever surface they land on next.

Gross, but efficient. I didn't get close enough to see how bad they smelled.

Because I am immature, I am highly amused by the stinkhorns, and waited several mornings for another one to appear, so I could get a decent photo to share with you. I'm guessing that this variety is the mutinus caninus. Click on the link above, you know you want to, for other highly entertaining specimens. And if you too are immature, you'll see why I am still laughing my butt off.

Judge for yourself.

Admit It. My Kids Are Really Cute.

One of my co-workers, Karen, is quite talented with a camera. Some of her animal photos are framed and hung on the walls at work. Last weekend, the kids, the H and I went to a party hosted by Carol, the hospital manager, and Karen spent some time photographing Johnny and Maureen. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Rolling With The Punches

There's something rotten about getting all excited over something and then having it not work out. Like when you look forward all day long to going for snowballs after dinner and then get there and the flavor you wanted is all sold out. Or scheduling a playdate and then having to cancel at the last minute because one of the kids is sick.

I like things to go as I planned them, and when they don't, sometimes I have a hard time with it.

Yesterday, we headed over to the wading pool, only to find that there was no attendant, no water in the pool, no nothing except a giant swarm of biting black flies. I was disappointed, because it was the perfect day for swimming, and also a little miffed because it took some effort to get both kids coated in sunscreen and out the door.

But, I rallied and came up with something else to do. We went home, but headed straight to the backyard. I taped some paper to the fence and let the kids fingerpaint.

The rule was the paint needed to stay on the paper but someone didn't listen.









At the end, we abandoned the paper rule and they painted each other.







I used some leftover plates from a party for the paint, and used duct tape on the bottom to keep them anchored to the flagstones. The vinegar weed killer I used last week did a nice job on the weeds that were growing between the stones, but I still plan to cultivate moss to keep the dirt from washing away when it rains.

The paint is pretty thick and goopy, so even though there was a lot left in the bottles, it wouldn't come out, so I ended up cutting the bottles in half and scooping the rest of the paint out that way. When the paint was all gone, any neighbor looking out the windows would have gotten an eyeful of naked butts, because I stripped both kids down, soaped them up and hosed them off. Maureen screamed her head off, and Johnny thought it was a blast.

Do your kids like to fingerpaint? If so, how do you contain the mess?

Blog Talk On WYPR

On Monday, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Midday Show on WYPR. The topic was mom/dad blogging, and the other guests were Kate Shatzkin from Charm City Moms and Evan Serpick from Learning To Crawl. I enjoyed myself, although I was a bit (a lot) nervous and I probably said Ummmmm too much. But then again, I've never been on the radio before either. A big thanks to Karen Hosler, who was filling in for Dan Rodricks, for being so welcoming.

If you missed it, you can listen to the Podcast here, at the WYPR website.

Don't Turn Around

Today, I only had one kid. Some of my husband's relatives took Johnny to Hershey Park and he spent the night at their house on Sunday. This morning, Maureen slept late and my house was super quiet and it was weird and I almost didn't know what to do with myself. Almost.

Anyway, I set Maureen up with paper and markers to color while I made dinner and she was soooooo quiet. And here's why.







My husband says maybe she'll grow up to get full arm tattoos?

Respond Differently: Living With Sibling Rivalry Without Throttling My Kids

My red minivan inched forward in traffic. My head was starting to pound, my jaw was clenched and my shoulders tense, but my stress level had nothing to do with rush hour. Instead it was a product of the war being waged in the backseat.

My kids, ages 2 and almost 5, were engaged in their favorite activity, yet another sibling spat. At the root of today's argument was my daughter's desire to keep her brother from looking out "her" window.

"Don't look out my window, Johnny!" she cried. "Use your own!"

The problem was that whatever he was looking at was on the other side of the road. He tried to explain.

"But Maureen, the tractor is over there!"

She didn't care. "No! It's mine!"

At a loss, he turned to name calling.

"You're silly."

"No, I'm not, you are!" she blasted back.

"You are!"

"You are!"

Then they tried to get me involved. "Mo-om! She called me silly!"

I turned the radio volume up, hoping to drown them out, but they compensated and got louder.

At a red light, I shoved the van into park and turned around in my seat. "You guys have got to knock it off. I'm trying to drive. Maureen, the windows belong to everyone, and Johnny, no name calling."

They start to protest, but I cut them off. "Keep it up and I'm parking this van and getting out to walk."

They know I'm not serious. "Hey Mom? You're silly."

Sigh. And once again, I'm the butt of the joke.

Growing up, I was the older sister. My brother is 28 months younger than me, and one of the things I remember most vividly about my childhood is the sibling rivalry. The bickering, the name calling, sometimes some pushing and shoving. One of my mom's favorite stories to tell is of the time when my brother, unable to put exactly what I was doing to him into words, complained, "Mo-om! Kayris is doing something to me!" Or the time when I was 16 with a brand new driver's license, taking my turn behind the wheel on the way home from a family vacation. My brother sat behind me, and every so often, pulled out a single strand of my hair. "Mo-om! Andy's going to make me crash the car!"

As a childless adult, I remembered those scenes, so when I heard bickering kids out in public and their frustrated parents, I used to smile inwardly because I knew what it was all about. Concealed within absurd arguments was a life lesson in progress--how to get along with difficult people. After all, if you can learn to get along with someone who plays his music too loudly, leaves his smelly socks all over the place and eats all your Cheez Its, you can get along with anyone, right?

Then I had my own kids, coincidentally spaced almost the same as my brother and I, and I really learned who suffers the most from sibling rivalry. While it might be annoying to have a sister or brother in your life, it's pure torture for the parent who has to listen to it.

A week after the window disagreement, we're back in the van, but this time the argument is over socks.

"Mom! Maureen said her socks are whiter!"

"Her socks ARE whiter."

He starts to sob. "I want whiter socks!" I roll my eyes and make some sort of comment about there not being enough bleach in the world to make his socks whiter. He stops crying to announce, "Mom? You're weird." And then they're off, best friends again, having a laugh at my expense.

It's times like these that I really get my mom, and sometimes wonder why she didn't leave my brother and I on the side of the road.

The thing is, I have a very low tolerance for listening to sibling rivalry. When the kids were first able to communicate well enough to argue with each other, I felt compelled to try and keep the peace all the time, force them to get along, attempt to do something about the noise level. When Maureen doesn't get her way, she shrieks. It is ear piercing. When Johnny doesn't get his way, he bangs things and stomps. Frankly, I can't deal with it. Some days are better than others, but then there are the days when they get the best of me and things come to a boil and we end up with something like the Stick Incident.

But things have improved somewhat, once I started to respond differently to the rivalry. At Johnny's school, the parents stay one day a week, and while the kids are in their classroom, we're off in another room, talking about the challenges of parenting and swapping tips. One day, I brought up how I was having a hard time dealing with it. Since Maureen is so much smaller, at first she always lost to her bigger, stronger, older brother, but I didn't always want to make him be the bad guy. Let's face it, she starts it too. And I didn't want to foster any dependence on her part by always jumping in to fight her battles. Finding the right balance was a struggle.

One of the other moms, who has 4 kids, mentioned that she rarely stepped in to help her youngest, and she's tough and independent. They figure it out.

I decided to try her hands off approach. I put them in charge of their own relationship. As long as no one is bleeding or getting hurt, I stay out of it. If they approach me to solve their dilemma, it's usually a solution they don't like. If they come to me, I tend to take the toy so neither kid gets it, or they go to separate time outs, or they lose privileges.

So far, it's been better. There are still rough days, when the screaming and the banging get to me. The Stick Incident happened after I changed my approach. But in general, it's been helpful for me to stand back a little and wait instead of rushing in all the time, and it's also helped them to treat each other a little better.

This week, I was upstairs folding laundry when I heard voices raised, the conflict over a toy tractor. I paused, kept quiet, listened, and in a matter of minutes, they had sorted it out and were playing nicely again.

I smiled to myself, satisfied.

Until the next time.

My brother is grown now too, with a son of his own, but invariably when we get together, there is some good natured ribbing. He makes fun of my shoes, I make fun of his gut, then we turn towards an easier target. "Hey, want to hear something funny? Mom's old." Hysterical laughter. Some things you never grow out of.

This post was written for the Respond Differently Challenge at Lords of the Manor.

Ecostore USA Review And Giveaway

The more I read the news and the more I hear about the vast amount of chemicals people are exposed to in an average day, the more uncomfortable I am with it. In addition, we live very near the Inner Harbor. On hot summer days, we stay away, because there is so much junk in the water that it smells bad. In our efforts to reduce the amount of chemicals in our house and in our water, we use natural methods of deterring ants, killing mold and controlling weeds in our garden.

One area of my life that hasn't made the switch yet is in household cleaners, so when Ecostore USA contacted me and asked if I'd like to try out their products, I said yes.

Ecostore USA is an extension of a 20-year-old company that makes plant and mineral based products for household, baby and personal care. You can buy the products at Meijer stores in the midwest; if you're elsewhere in the country, you can order online at EcostoreUSA.com.

The first product I tried was the Citrus Spray Cleaner. Advertised as a broad spectrum cleaner, I took it from room to room to try it out. I liked the lemony smell, but found it to be a tad strong in enclosed places. It performed well in the bathroom and shower, deodorized the litter box and a smelly trash can, and adequately cleaned my kitchen counters and stovetop. The only places it fell short were on the ceramic tile floor (left streaks) and in the kitchen sink (despite heavy scrubbing, I still ended up using a more abrasive cleaner to make the sink shine). I liked having a product that could be used in so many places and that didn't make my head hurt from the fumes. The only thing I didn't like was the price. While the cleaner was provided for me to try, one bottle would cost you nine dollars. Even with the cleaner being concentrated, I felt like I would use the bottle up too quickly to make it cost effective.

The other product I tried was the Pure Oxygen Laundry Whitener, chosen because I've been looking for an alternative to chlorine bleach. After an incident involving spilled cranberry juice, I tried the Whitener on the fresh stain on a throw rug, and later on a load of dingy socks and other assorted whites, including a kitchen towel with a dried cranberry juice stain. The whitener did a good job removing the juice from the throw rug, and the towel too, but didn't do much for my preschooler's dingy white socks. I didn't try the overnight soaking option listed on the label, because the directions say not to soak buttons or zippers and my load of laundry included a pair of white shorts with both. If my next load of whites is free of zippers and buttons, I'll try this option. This product would cost you twelve dollars, but as each load of laundry only uses two tablespoons of powder, the Laundry Whitener is more cost effective.

Sign up for the No Nasty Chemicals newsletter here, and you can follow EcostoreUSA on Twitter or Facebook.

The company has also offered me a giveaway. One lucky winner will receive a 25 dollar gift certificate for Ecostore USA. This contest will be open for one week, I will choose and notify the winner on Thursday, August 13th. To enter, take a look at the website and leave me a comment telling me what product you are interested in trying. I MUST have your email address in order for your entry to be valid, as this is how you will receive your prize. Good luck!

Congrats to Tracy, the winner of this giveaway! Tracy will receive a 25 dollar gift certificate to use at the Ecostore USA website.

Revenge

When my children are old enough to drive, I'm going to hand over the keys, then sit behind the driver and kick the seat repeatedly.

When my children are older, I'm going to go to the grocery store with them and ask them to buy me overpriced, junky food. When they say no, I'm going to whine, "But I wannnnnnnntttt it!"

When my children are older, I'm going to invite my brother over. Then he and I will sit on the couch and poke each other and tease each other and call each other names.

When my children are older, I'm going to wait until they are really tired and want to go to bed, then I will jump on the couch and yell, "I'm not tired! I'm not tired!" I will go to bed, wait just long enough for them to think that I am asleep, and then come out and ask for a drink of water/one more story/one more song/a back rub and then jump on the couch some more. When they get angry and yell, I will then dissolve into tears and make them feel like complete arses.

When my children are old enough to cook, I'll get very excited about the healthy, delicious meal they are cooking me. Then, when placed in front of me, I'll take one look, push it away and announce, "Yuck. That looks gross."

When my children are teenagers, I'm going to take them to church, then at a very quiet moment, whisper loudly, "Phew! What's that smell? Which one of you farted?"

When my children are older, I will answer everything they say to me with the word, "Why?"

When my children are grown, I'm going to ask for grandchildren. When the grandchildren are holy terrors, I'm going to smile and shake my head and say something about reaping what you sow.

Revenge is sweet.

Kids, Rowhomes And All That Stuff

Admit it. Once you had kids, all your ideas about interior design and feng shui and all that garbage went out the window. Once you had kids, all your choices about storage and decor revolved around your kids. I can tell you that had I known what my kids would do to my couch, I would have chosen a color other than the tan one we have.

It's an even bigger deal when you live in a rowhome with practically no storage, an inconvenient basement and narrow doorways and stairwells.

In the following couple of weeks, I'll be reviewing a product from All Children's Furniture, a site that sells great kids furniture, toys, decor and more. This item was specifically chosen with rowhomes in mind.

Stay tuned! In the meantime, I'd love to hear your ideas for maximizing storage space and minimizing clutter.