Thank Goodness for Google

A couple of months ago, we came across a major milestone in my seven year old's life. She decided that she was ready to get her ears pierced. I am one of those people who think that piercing should be one of those special "coming of age" things in a child's life, so I waited until she asked about getting her ears pierced.

"What had happened though" was this...
She is part of a competition dance company, and  not only do they have a certain kind of costume, tights, shoes, and makeup to wear, but they also have a certain king of earrings. For the last year, she has worn clipons and has complained the whole time. Almost to the point of causing me to go into complete insanity! After an all day competition and all day complaining, we decided it was time.


 So with much trepidation we enter a Claire's store somewhere in Jacksonville, FL. She was so brave and did not cry at all. The same cannot be said for her mother, who was not at all ready for the cost of getting one's ears pierced to be close to $60!

She has been so responsible about cleaning her ears. Much more responsible than I ever was. I had to get my ears pieced 3 times because they always got infected and I would just let them grow up.

I thought that we were out of the woods when we reached the 6 week period. We bought a set of 4 sterling silver earrings, and my extremely organized daughter even set up a "rotation schedule" for wearing her earrings. However, the smooth sailing sunk last weekend.

She woke up Monday morning and told me that her earring had fallen out during the night. Upon closer inspection,  I shockingly found out that it was in fact still in but had been pushed back into the hole! Needless to say, a traumatic event incurred with much screaming and crying and pain and holding down.

As with everything, I immediately Googled to find out what to do. We tried everything but the only thing that truly worked was soaking her ear in a solution of 8 oz of warm water and 1 tablespoon of Sea Salt. It is supposed to draw out the infection, and with only one 5 minute soaking, her ear was amazingly better.

We repeated this everyday, twice a day for 3 days. We also cleaned her ear and earrings with Hydrogen Peroxide 3 times a day, and slathered it with Neosporin at night when we left the earrings out and then again before putting the earring back in each morning.

Five days out and it is oh so much better. Thank goodness for Google!

Wish I Had Known This Sooner

"Are you kidding me? We've let another thing of strawberries go bad!" This was my husbands cry from inside the refrigerator yesterday afternoon. We had purchased the strawberries on Sunday, and alas this was the next Saturday, but still you would think they would last longer. Nope! There they were all tasty and moldy and in the bottom of our trashcan. $4.00 down the drain, and in these uncertain economic times that is not good!

Luckily, just in time, or in this case a day too late my mother sent me this e-mail:

The key to preventing moldy berries... Berries are delicious, but they're also kind of delicate. Raspberries in particular seem like they can mold before you even get them home from the market. There's nothing more tragic than paying $4 for a pint of local raspberries, only to look in the fridge the next day and find that fuzzy mold growing on their insides. Well, with fresh berries just starting to hit farmers markets, we can tell you how to keep them fresh! Here’s a tip I’m sharing on how to prevent them from getting moldy in the first place: Wash them with vinegar. When you get your berries home, prepare a mixture of one part vinegar (white or apple cider probably work best) and ten parts water. Dump the berries into the mixture and swirl around. Drain, rinse if you want (though the mixture is so diluted you can't taste the vinegar,) and pop in the fridge. The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the surface of the fruit, and voila! Raspberries will last a week or more, and strawberries go almost two weeks without getting moldy and soft. So go forth and stock up on those pricey little gems, knowing they'll stay fresh as long as it takes you to eat them.

So I followed these instruction this afternoon when we got home from the Wal-mart, and we shall see. If anything, it definitely got them cleaner than I normally get them. Wish I had known this sooner!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

I know I had laundry and unpacking and cooking and countless other things to do yesterday, but I couldn't help myself and had to get a little creative. It is an outlet, much like the working out I need to be doing every day.

So since Mr. Peter Cottontail is soon to be hopping  along to my house, I thought I would create something with which to welcome him. Here is my inspiration:


And here is my version:


I just realized that I need to ad some ribbon to this bad boy. That would explain why it doesn't hang so well on my door.

For those of you who think you are not creative, this would be a good one for you to try.
Start with a blank canvas.
Draw a hill starting at the bottom.
Draw two ears coming out either side of the hill.
Add eyes nose and mouth.
Paint background first.
Then eyes and pink parts.
I outlined everything with black and then went over my rabbit with some glitter paint. (Always all about the bling!)

I Have a Favorite

I once saw an interview on the Rachael Ray show that really hit home with me. Not only was it extremely entertaining because it was with one of my favorite celebrities but it was also so very TRUE. 

She was interviewing Kelly Rippa and Marc Consuelos. She was talking to them about jobs, marriages, food, and of course their 3 beautiful children. They bantered about disagreements and annoying quirks and cooking disasters. It was too funny!

Then Rachael really got into it when she asked them if they had a favorite kid. At this point, I stopped all of my ADHDness and really tuned in. It was a question all parents have thought of at some point in time, but it is never something we same out loud except for "I love you all the same!"

Kelly laughed and said, "You know we've never really talked about it but I know we do. At any given time, one of them is your favorite. At this point in time, there is no doubt we like one better than the others."

"You may say 'I love all my kids the same' but you know in the event of emergency, there's one kid you'd reach for first," Kelly tells Ray.
Mark then said, "Yeah, there is definitely one I would rather be around. The truth is...he is just nicer to us. The other 2 are at that point where they are smart aleck  and don't ever want to do what we tell them. In fact they know it!"

Kelly interjects, "Yeah they know it! If they ever want something, they know to send him in to ask because we are less likely to say no to him."

Rachael asked, "Him? Who is it?"

Kelly replies, "I don't think we have ever said it out loud. But it is definitely..." Then both of them together declared, "Joaquin!"

You could hear the collective gasps of judgmental people all around the world. Judgmental and dishonest. Every parent knows that you have a favorite. Now for me, it is not the same favorite all the time. In fact on any given day, my favorite might change twenty times.

In the morning, my favorite usually rotates between my oldest and youngest child. My oldest is my favorite at that point in time because she can get herself ready to go completely by herself and always wakes up quite chipper. She comes into my bathroom fully dressed with her hair brushed and gathers me into a bear hug. My youngest is my favorite because there is nothing cuter than walking into the nursery to find her grinning at you from behind the bars of the cribs. Then you pick her up and she lays her head on your chest in her version of a hug. She is so giddy and loving.

However later in the day, my middle child will become my favorite. She will dance and sing and entertain us like we are on Broadway. She will crack us up with her antics and drama. She will then grab each of us by the face with one hand on each of our cheeks and not allow us to move until she plants a precious kiss on our lips.

So I would have to agree with Kelly and Mark, I do have a favorite. At any given point in time, I have a favorite. It changes from minute to minute. But I will admit, I do have a favorite. It is munchkin #1. Well now its # 3. *smooch* #2 just took the lead!

Bodacious Batter Blasters

I only write about products or places when they completely blow me away. (See my previous post on The Red Elephant.) So when I say that Batter Blaster is bodacious, what I mean is it is the most awesome thing EVER!

We eat breakfast every Sunday night for supper. There is nothing better than breakfast at night. It is so yummy, and you secretly feel like you are breaking the rules by eating it at the wrong time of the day. We usually have eggs, bacon, grits (so sorry for you people who don't live in the South), and toast or pancakes. More often than not, we have toast, because it is so much easier and less messy than powder batter (that ends up everywhere), cracking eggs, spilling milk, and stirring and stirring and stirring to get all of the blasted lumps out!

So when I found a coupon for a new product called Batter Blaster, I was intrigued: intrigued and more than a little skeptical. I mean how good could pancakes be that came out of a can. But I had a coupon for $1.00 off one can, and they were BOGO at my favorite place ever, Publix. Seeing as  I was going to end up paying about $1 a can for 2 of them, I couldn't resist giving them a try.

I will NEVER buy another kind of pancake batter again. It is so easy! Shake it up, push the nozzle, and cook the pancake. No mess. No accidental salmonella poisoning. No wasted batter. No easier way to do it.

You store it in the refrigerator, and one can lasts my family of 5 through 3-4 meals. Not only are they easy but they are without a doubt the best pancake I have ever eaten. They rival my mother-in-law's from complete and total scratch version that I would never, ever make due to the fact that it is from...scratch (I's gots 3 kids up in here!).


As far as healthy, 2 pancakes have 80 calories and 1 gram of fat, and I can say all of the ingredients on the can, which is something that can not be said for many of the things in my cabinet! 

Try it or don't try it, but if you treasure your homemade from scratch pancakes you might want to avoid Batter Blaster because once you try it you just might not go back!