Having a Happy Road Trip with Your Kids

It is getting to be summer. For my family growing up summer meant taking a road trip somewhere fun.  Though it may sound like a nightmare, there are many advantages to taking road trips especially when you have children.  You can save money if you plan the trip correctly, you also get to avoid sitting for 5 hours on a plane with a screaming child.  There is also something very American about driving across the country and stopping at the "Mummy Alien" or whatever else you find along the way. 

I am a huge believer in no personal electronics on a road trip.  The point of sitting in a car together is to connect and bond.  It may be easier on you if you let your kids have their own little world, but when your children are grown you're going to wish you had spent more time connecting and talking instead of taking the easy route of electronics.  Besides our parents didn't let us use things like that or watch movies in cars and we all turned out perfectly fine. 

Planning

Plan your trip wisely.  Do not try to rush to your destination, enjoy the journey.  Remember that at every gas stop, your entire family is going to need to get out and potty and stretch.  If you have a young one that is in the middle of potty training, bring his or her potty and some wipes with you.  That way if you have to make an emergency stop in the middle of nowhere, they at least have a potty to sit on while they go to the bathroom.  Plan for stops at the world's largest whatever and anything else cool you see on the way.  I would also suggest planning on stopping at your motel or hotel for the night by 6 or 7 pm.  Then you have time to let your kids run around, play in the pool and explore your stop for the night.  You should also plan one long stop during the day so you can find a park and the kids can run around and play for an hour or so.  Letting children get their wiggles out at a park or a road side stop, means less wiggles during the car ride. 

Activities

Have lots of activities for your children to do in the car.  You can get some audio books from your local library that your whole family will enjoy.  You can also burn a few cds, if you can't stand listening to wheels on the bus one more time you might want to consider burning some pg songs that you like to listen to on the cds.  Play games like finding the alphabet first or I spy.  Have quiet activities they can do as well like books, coloring books, etch-a-sketch, dolls, action figures, ect.  Buy a couple surprises and have them stashed away for when times get super rough and they need a new activity.  Bring a map and let your kids follow the route on the map.  If they are young you can plot out the map for them and show them where they are and where they are going, if they are older have them plot out where they are.  A road trip is a good way to to learn how to use and read a map.

Food

This may be the most important part of the trip.  Have some cut raw veggies available, home made granola bars, sandwiches, tube yogurt, goldfishies, water, and whatever else your family eats.  If you are planning on saving money, you might consider having picnics for breakfast and lunches.  You can pack the picnics at the motel the night before, buying fresh food at a local store or bringing a loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter on the trip.  Then you can all look forward to having dinner somewhere special.  My family had a rule that you can't eat somewhere you can eat at home.  This meant no nation wide chains and we got to experience local favorites.  Whatever you do, don't limit yourselves to burgers and fries.  I'm sure I'm not alone when I say eating fast food makes grumpy.  Whatever you do avoid feeding your children lots of sugary foods.  There is nothing worse than making them super hyper and then locking them in a car for hours on end.  Having lots of yummy, healthy snacks is a way to make the trip much easier on yourself and kids. 

Enjoy your trip.  The road trip is about spending time together and seeing something you might not otherwise see.  Don't get frustrated or stressed before the trip, the driving is the fun part of the experience.  Hopefully it is something you will love doing with your kids and make it a regular part of vacations. 
 

Celebrating May Day

My mother always told me it's important to celebrate the special days like small holidays, otherwise every day blends together and gets boring.  Now that I'm married and have a family, I realize this more than ever.  It is important to have silly little traditions that your kids can remember an pass down to their kids. 

May Day is celebrated on May 1st every year.  This year it will be on Tuesday.  The reason I'm writing about it now is to give you time to read and prepare how you'd like to celebrate the special day.  May Day has origins in Europe.  Each country has their own set of traditions from passing on flowers, to dancing around in the grass, to lighting large (controlled) fires.  Though everyone celebrates differently each country is basically celebrating the end of the long winter nights and celebrating the warm spring and summer days to come. 

In the United States it is traditional to celebrate spring by filling small baskets with flowers and/or treats and leaving them on the doorsteps of all of your friends.  The tradition is to ring the bell and run away before someone can catch you.  If they catch you, you are supposed to give them a kiss.  I would suggest that in this day and age you skip the kiss unless you are really good friends or family.  The last thing I want is to suggest that you to sexually assault someone. 

You can celebrate May Day any way you see fit.  The point is to start a special tradition for your family.  You can go on a picnic, blow bubbles outside, pick flowers, do an art project.  Anything you decide celebrates spring you can use as your tradition.  My family takes the more traditional route an leaves flowers for each other on our door steps. 

Leaving a basket is a nice surprise for all of your friends and family.  Not a lot of people celebrate May Day anymore, so it's a complete surprise when they open the door and there's a basket sitting there.  It gives your friends a bright spot in their day.  Who doesn't like a just because gift?

When I leave gifts, I like to leave something that can be planted in the yard.  This way the gift lasts longer than just cut flowers and it doesn't seem as wasteful. It also seems like a good spring gift because the flower I give will usually be the first plant planted in a summer garden bed. I usually go to a hardware store or a nursery to pick out something native that is a flowering spring plant.  Then to make it seem like a gift I'll find some decorative foil or tissue and a ribbon to make the plant seem like a gift not just a plant.  If I'm feeling really creative I might also make and leave a little home made card.  You can leave a plant, baked goods, cut flowers or just a basket or pail with a few little things tucked in it.  You know your friends and the age group, pick something that they would enjoy receiving.

The point is to do something nice to celebrate spring, not to do a grand gesture.  Anything that will make your friends smile or start a tradition will be perfect.  Make an average day just a little more special.  Have fun and celebrate May Day with your family!  

Going Above and Beyond for Overnight Guests

This is part two of cleaning for guests.  You will have lots house guests over the course of your married life.  There are your in-laws, kids' friends and many other guests that will enjoy nights in your house if you are lucky.  In addition to just cleaning the house, there are a few special things you can do and provide for overnight guests to make sure they are comfortable and will stay with you again and again.

Before they come or right after they get there depending on how long they will be staying, ask them if they have any allergies or any special dietary needs.  It's polite to go shopping and stock your fridge and house with food and drink that the guests enjoy, especially if they will be staying for a couple of nights.  A small gesture like the brand of water they like to drink will make your guests feel more welcome than anything you can say. 

Review the guest bathroom.  Is there soap?  Extra tp?  Does your toilet have a tendency to clog?  If it does consider subtly adding a plunger somewhere in the bathroom.  Nothing is more humiliating than having to ask for a plunger when you're a guest.  Clean towels for body, hands and face?  Are all of the surfaces clean?  Make sure the shower/tub is clean too in case your guests would like to shower. I use an electric toothbrush so I store all of my freebies from the dentist in the guest bathroom just in case someone forgot a toothbrush and needs to borrow one. 

Freshen up the guest room.  I put clean sheets on the bed, open the windows and just dust all of the surfaces.  We don't use our guest room a lot so though it doesn't get too dirty, it's probably the stalest of the rooms.  If you can, invest in a comfortable guest bed.  You don't have to spend a lot of money since it doesn't have to be heavy duty, but find a bed that's comfortable.  I don't know how many times I've been miserable and exhausted while visiting people because my bed was so uncomfortable.  Make sure the sheets are comfortable too.  I like the jersey cotton ones on a guest bed because they work for summer and winter.  They are also only 20 dollars for a set, so they feel amazing considering you only dropped 20 dollars on the guest bed.  I also store an extra blanket in the room and a fan in the summer so the guests can pick the temperature of the room. 

Doing these things don't take much time, but you will be surprised what a little effort will do to make guests feel comfortable.  When your guests feel welcome they will visit again and again. 

Fake a Clean House for Last Minute Guests

Surprise!  You invited friends from a play date at the park over for dinner tonight, or your significant other called and is bringing home dinner guests.  You look around and realize your house looks like a scene from Hoarders (well maybe not that bad).  How are you going to possibly clean the house and make a meal in a matter of a few hours? 

Take a deep breath and relax.  See my post from earlier this month on roasts or consider something in the slow cooker so you have more time to clean, but don't worry.  I'll give you a few points on faking a clean house in less than an hour.

Before you start anything considering serving your guests outside.  If you have a nice, clean, patio and the weather is nice consider having a bbq.  Guests won't mind helping wipe down a table and chairs for dinner and the less time they are in the house, the less time they have to notice dirt. 

Before you start cleaning crack a few windows.  Fresh air will make your house smell less stale and get rid of whatever odors your house normally smells like.  The fresh air will also help take away the vinegar smell or whatever products you use to clean your house. 

Clean up the clutter first.  Make sure you remove the clutter from surfaces like counters, tables maybe even the floor depending on your house.  We keep a mail tub with all of the random papers we collect and when guests come over we just move it to the desk in the office.  Honestly, you just have to move the clutter to a bedroom or office, a room the guests won't be seeing.  You can easily close the door to a messy room.  Clutter makes the house look smaller than it is, it also makes the house look messier than it actually is.  Cleaning off the clutter is the fastest way to make a house look cleaner. 

After the clutter is put away clean off the surfaces of everything.  I run a quick duster over bookshelves and the tv.  I also use vinegar and a rag and clean off the table and counter tops.  The counters may get dirty again from dinner, but that's explainable and crusty dinner from last night is not.  While I'm doing this I also take a quick check of the walls and knock down any new cobwebs and scrub any big marks on the walls. 

Peek into your guest bathroom.  Make sure there is tp, soap and a clean hand towel.  Sweep the floor or wipe down the toilet or sink if they look dirty.  You can basically clean an entire bathroom in less than 15 minutes so it shouldn't take very much time at all to check and clean anything that needs to be fixed.

Lastly, I clean the floors.  I usually vacuum them and if I have extra time I'll steam mop or use a little mop and glow to make them extra clean.  I might also vacuum off my couches if they are full of dog hair and I have extra time. 

Your house is ready!  At least it looks clean even if the bedrooms are a disaster area.  Remember you are the harshest critic of your own house.  Guests just want to spend time with you, they don't care about your house.  As long as you make them feel welcome, have fun and maybe go the extra mile to serve something yummy, your guests will have a wonderful time.

Saving Money on Your Grocery Bill

My husband will tell you and I'll admit, I am a grocery snob.  I like to buy organic and natural foods and I buy a lot of produce in a week.  We also live in an area that doesn't do any double-couponing or any special discounts like that.  My husband and I have decided to finally put our feet down and save money on our grocery bill.  We know we could save more if we made a cut in our brands and favorite things, but we manage to save money every week while still buying everything we normally buy with a few small changes.

Make a list of the food you need.  Search the store's ad before you go and figure out what meat and produce is on sale, using this information make a menu for the week and make a grocery list for that menu.  Buy only what you can eat.  Pay attention to how many lbs of meat and veggies you are buying.  Can you eat that amount of food before it spoils?  Like I said I love a lot of fresh produce so I go to the store twice a week to re-supply my fresh foods.  This may take a little extra work, but it also means I'm not throwing money in the trash by wasting food that has rotted. 

Pick a store that has a generic brand that you like.  Personally, I pick Safeway usually because they carry a generic organic brand, and let's face it they are close to my house.  If you like the generic brand you can substitute some of the of the name brands, for the generic.  I usually buy generic when it comes to my canned food and other foods that are going to be used as ingredients in meals.  If there is a taste difference, it's hard to tell when it's mixed in with a bunch of other food.

Buying in bulk isn't always cheaper!  I know this is a hard one to wrap your head around.  My husband and brother still have trouble with this concept.  When you are buying something, look at the price per unit.  It's normally on the price tag on the shelf.  Sometimes when an item is on sale it won't include the unit price.  Just because it's on sale does not mean the item is cheaper.  Take the minute to do your own price per unit calculation in your head or on a calculator.  Basically to do this you divide the price of the item by the weight (either pounds or ounces usually).  The item with the cheaper unit price is the better deal.  Keep in mind if the bulk item IS cheaper make sure it's something you will finish, if it will go back before you finish the item, it's just money going into the trash. 

Use coupons wisely.  Buying a Sunday paper may cost a few dollars, but you will probably save a few dollars in the coupons you use.  I've done the math and almost every week I save more in coupons than I spend on the paper.  Only clip coupons for items you already buy or will use before the item expires.  Clipping coupons for things you don't normally buy is a great way to try new items without paying full price but it won't save you money. 

These tips will save you at least a few dollars every week.  The money saved really adds up over a month and a year.  Even if you just save 5 dollars a week over a year that's $260.  That's an extra $260 for not doing anything differently besides shopping a little bit smarter.  Enjoy your savings!

Free Family Activities to do this Summer

This weekend was just beautiful.  I hope everyone got to spend time outside with their families.  If you are me, you were stuck trying to think of fun things to do.  I came up with this list to help others stuck like me and those that are new to the area.  This is also a great list to do with people from out of town.  It is a cheap way to give them a great tour of some of the highlights of Seattle.  Hopefully you find something new on this list that you haven't done before that you can go explore with your family.  If you haven't heard of something or want to learn more you can most likely google it or ask in the comment section and I'll help you out.

Money is tight for everyone.  Even when it isn't tight, who wants to pay upwards of $10 a person to do an activity?  Here is a list of things I've found in the Seattle area that are free and/or really cheap to do.  If they aren't free they normally just ask for a donation or a small fee like parking.  Most ideas are suitable for all ages.  Some may sound similar, but give me a break, all of these are fun and awesome ideas that I've done myself.

For this list I had summer on my mind because children are home all day and need entertaining but to be honest most of these activities can be done all year round.  You just might have to do them in the rain.

1. Free Museum day first Thursday of every month list of museums and free days
2. Play in the tidal pools
3. Hike up to the ice caves
4. Hike off the Mt. Loop Highway
5. Go to any number of local parks to play on a playground
6. Pack a picnic and use a grill at a local park
7. Play in the large fountain at the Seattle Center
8. Fly a kite (can go do it on the beach, some have competitions)
9. Visit a local farmer's market
10. Visit a free concert on the lake
11. Walk around or have lunch at Pike Place Market- be sure to visit the original Starbucks and gum wall
12. Spend weekends going to local festivals, most have free admission
13. Visit one of the old forts (we have several just a short drive away and you can spend the day with a flashlight exploring)
14. Walk the Centennial trail
15. Go to the beach
16. Visit Jetty Island, which is basically a short ferry ride to a big shallow sandy beach
17. Visit a Seattle or local public library, many have story times and activities going on for all ages year round
18. Visit the Ballard locks (I do believe they have a new name now)
19. Say hi to the Fremont Troll
20. Pay your regards to Bruce Lee- I do ask that you only go out of respect as the family does still visit the gravesite often
21. Walk around or have lunch in the international district or chinatown
22. Visit U-Village and let your children play with all of the fun fountains
23. Take your dogs to one of the many dog parks
24. Ride the ferries (some you can drive over for free and then the ferry ride back home is free)
25. Take a tour of local wineries or breweries (not free but lots of fun for out of towners and couples to do on a nice day!)

Get out there and explore Seattle!  Most importantly have a good time doing it!  Report back and let us know how your summer adventures went.  If you find something cool that I didn't list or own a business that has something I can add let me know!

Grow Your Own Food No Matter Where You Live

Spring is the perfect time of year to start growing your own food.  It is warm enough that you can plant in beds outside instead of just pots around the house.  If you take a chunk of your lawn and turn it into a garden it also means less grass that you have to mow.

There are advantages to growing your own food.  You can save money if you grow the right food.  You know exactly where your food is coming from and what kind of chemicals you used or didn't use on your food.  I find that food I grow myself always tastes best, even better than organic or from a farmers' market.  There is something about picking food right out of the sun and eating it that makes it taste amazing.  You also might get your children interested in eating veggies that they grow on their own. 

Think practically before you plant your garden.  Pick foods that you will actually eat or know a friend or family member will enjoy.  There is no point in planting foods that are just going to rot in your garden.  Also think about what food will give the most reward if you are looking to save money.  You can buy a fruit tree for under $20 and it will give you pounds and pounds of fruit over the years.  You will get the most reward for a small amount of money.  Blueberry bushes, strawberries and pumpkins are other good choices.  Look at the price of the plants, check if they are annuals or perennials, and then see how much the food costs to buy in the store.  This will give you a good idea if the food you are planting is practical money-wise.

If outside space isn't an option, you can always grow food inside your house.  For a long time I had a potted lemon tree to remind me of living in Arizona.  It eventually died when my dogs decided they liked the taste of lemon branches, but that didn't stop me from growing food.  You can also keep an herb garden in your house year round.  This way whenever you are cooking you can just snip off some live herbs and add them to your cooking.  You can also choose to dry them and store them in spice jars.  I almost always have a pot of basil and rosemary sitting on my kitchen windowsill.  You can even buy live basil from the grocery store and all you have to do is put the roots in a glass of water and it will last for several weeks.  Green onions will do the same thing if you put the roots in water after you chop off the greens.  I get two or three batches worth of green onions from one set I buy from the store.  That calculates out to 3 dollars worth of onions for 1 dollar.

Vegetable gardens are a good way to get kids interested in their food.  They get to take a hands on approach to what they eat.  They also get to learn where their food comes from and how much effort goes into each vegetable they buy at the store.  Growing your own food can be rewarding for any person at any age.  Get on your garden gloves and get out there and plant!

Tips to Find the Right Nanny or Babysitter

Well since my previous post on finding the right childcare facility a couple of people have sent questions about finding babysitters or nannies.  I thought it was only fair to offer my advice on finding those as well.

What qualifies me to give these tips?  I have been a career nanny for the last 7 years.  Before that I had been doing babysitting for 5 years.  I have worked for many amazing families and I love dedicating my life to providing quality childcare for families. 

Anyway, let's jump into finding the right babysitter for your family.  Not all of us are lucky enough to have parents nearby to babysit when we want a date night.  For some families it's important to have a really amazing, trustworthy person to watch their kids, and for others they just need the kids to be alive when they get home because they will only use the babysitter for maybe a couple hours a month. 

Before you even start looking for a babysitter you need to think over and decide a few things with your significant other:

• How many hours a week will you use the babysitter/nanny?
• Does age or rather experience matter to you? 
• How much were you thinking about paying?
• Are you ready to pay for extras like gas and entertaining the kids, or do you want the babysitter to take that out of his/her salary?
• Do you need someone to do educational things with the kids or just someone to watch them for a few hours?
• Are you open to someone bringing their own kids or sharing a nanny with another family or do you want only your kids to be in the house?

When you have those questions sorted out, it's time to start your search.  Depending on what you are looking for you can try an online nanny website, a service, putting an ad in the newspaper or even just asking around if anyone has a good babysitter that could use some extra hours.  After you find a couple good candidates it's time to schedule interviews.

From the nanny's perspective it's much more pleasant to meet in a public place like a coffee shop or a park if you haven't met the babysitter before.  As a nanny you never know what to expect when an employer you met online just gives you an address to a house.  I always feel much more comfortable when I know it's a public place and I'm not going to wind up on the 5 o'clock news.  You can decide if you want to bring your kids or not.  Ask the person you are interviewing to bring several references and a resume if they have one.  You may ask for the references and check them before the interview, but I find it's more polite if you weed out some of the candidates in person before you bother all of the references. 

You should come with a list of questions ready to ask the candidates.  Print out a different sheet for each person so you can write their answers down if you want to review later.  Here is a few questions if you are stuck on what to ask.

• What are you looking for in compensation?
• How many hours a week are you interested in working?
• Are you available for last minute emergencies?
• How do you discipline children?
• What would you do if you were playing in the park with my child and he/she fell off the swing and his or her head started to bleed?
• If I were to look in your car right now, how clean is it?
• What are some of your favorite hobbies or activites?
• What activities do you do with children?
• How much tv do you allow children to watch?
• Do you have any first aid or cpr training?
• Are you open to a background check and submitting your driving history?

If all of these answers are to your liking and their inteview went well it is time to pick your nanny/babysitter!  If you are still unsure after references are checked, have an audition.  Either leave the house and let the babysitter audition, or just stay in the house and see how the sitter interacts with the children.  Feel free to post any other questions you may have!

Low Maintenance Gardening

Everyone wants a beautiful garden, but let's face it, not everyone wants to spend all day everyday out there pulling weeds and planting new plants.  There are several shortcuts you can take that will eliminate work in the future.  Following these rules will save you time this summer so you can enjoy playing outside instead of planting on your knees.

Here are some natural ways to keep the pests away and help you get the most out of your time.  This way the little amount of time you spend on your yard will get the most results. 

Put down mulch! A thick layer of mulch will keep weeds from coming up in your plant beds.  By thick I mean several inches, not just a thin coating. 

Plant your plants according to what their tags say.  Do not put a plant that needs shade in direct sun and vice-versa.  Watch the sun in your yard and figure out what places are shaded and what places get a lot of sun.  In summertime the afternoon sun is going to be more intense than the morning sun, so keep that in mind as well when planting. 

If you really hate spring planting try planting perennials instead of annuals.  These plants will come back every year instead of dying after one season. You can also try bushes and bulb planting to keep from having to re-plant every year.  Flowering bushes look as nice as flowers and they don't need to be replanted every year. 

Release ladybugs in your yard will help keep the bugs from eating your plants.  You can also put down slug traps made of beer to keep the slugs off your plants if you live in the northwest. 

Water your plants.  Do not water during the daytime, this just wastes the water because the majority of it will be evaporated.  Watering an hour before sunrise instead of the evening will also help cut down on the slug problem.

Put down compost for your plants.  I make my own compost with an electronic composter so my food scraps become food for my future plants.  If you don't want to make your own compost you can purchase some at any hardware store.  The compost provides minerals and food for your plants.   This will give your plants the boost they need to grow larger and have more blooms. 

If you follow these tips you will get the most out of your yard in the least amount of time this summer.  It's never too early to start planning for spring.  You can start planting after the last frost of the year.  If you are worried it will still frost pick a hearty spring plant that can handle a light frost without being killed. 

Rainy Day Activities to do with your Kiddos

Play is essential for all children.  It teaches motor and cognitive skills.  Play may seem silly to an adult but your children are actually learning by playing. 

Every parent, nanny, grandparent, anyone who has ever watched a child has been there before.  It's raining, your children are bouncing off the walls with boredom and you are absolutely brain dead about what activity to do with them.  In my previous post I talked about ways to get out of the house on a rainy day but sometimes that's not always possible.  The next time you are stuck look to this list to pick an activity, some depend on the age and number of children you have but all are fun!

If for some reason I list an activity that you have never heard of before feel free to google the rules.  All of the ones I have listed are easy to play without many props. 

• Musical Chairs
• Duck, Duck, Goose
• Freeze Dance-have the children dance to the music and then when the music stops they freeze
• Red light/ Green light
• Hide and Seek- Great way to teach kids how to count, even mature toddlers can catch on to the game.  Can turn off the lights and play it in the dark with older kids
• Balloon Games- Blow up some balloons and play volleyball or how many times you can hit the balloon without letting it touch the ground.  You can also make them walk around while balancing it on a part of their body.
• Alphabet game-place letters of the alphabet on items around the house that start with that letter and practice saying that letter and word that starts with that letter while your child finds the letters
• Hide the objects- We used to hide keychains all over the house and the other person would have to find all of them
• Bake Something-let your children help you bake something, it teaches basic math and science, not to mention leaves you with a yummy treat to share on a rainy day
• Holiday art project- let the children make some art to decorate your house for whatever holiday is up coming
• Make a card for a grandparent- what grandparent wouldn't love a piece of art to hang on their fridge?
• Plant an indoor garden- Find a packet of seeds from last season and make a planter out of a milk carton or two liter bottle, see what grows
• Create an obstacle course-use your furniture or put pieces of paper on the floor saying they cant touch the carpet, time them and see if they can beat their time
• Simon Says
• Read books
• Have the children write their own book or comic book and illustrate the story
• Sing-a-long- karaoke for the older kids
• Make-overs- dress up, paint nails and do hair (this probably works best for girls)
• Have an indoor picnic or tea party
• Make your own movie- Have the kids write a script and you can film them doing a movie

Hopefully at least one of these activities will get your kiddos going and you can find enjoyment in being stuck inside all day.  Feel free to add other activities or let me know how your family enjoyed them in the comment section.

Picking the Right Preschool or Daycare

There comes a day when it's time to trust your child to strangers by sending them to preschool or daycare.  The choice of which preschool can be overwhelming to parents.  Do you send them to a commercial center or in someones house?  Do you pick the Montessori preschool or the private one at your church?  There are certainly a lot of choices and not every preschool is the right fit for every family. 

When picking the school or daycare you need to consider how long/how many days a week, cost and location before you even go to look at the school.  After you find a couple centers in your price range with the hours you need it's time to schedule a visit and go see the schools in person. 

On the day you tour the school or daycare you should come with a list of questions for the person showing you around.  You are going to trust these people with the most precious possession you own, don't be afraid to ask a million questions.  If you don't know where to start questioning I will give you a few things to ask or at least consider asking before picking a place. 

• What is the child to adult ratio?
• How do you discipline a child?
• What does a typical day look like here?
• How much time do they spend outside in a day?
• What do you feed the children for snack and or meals?
• Do they serve organic foods?
• Do they clean with chemicals or are they eco-friendly?
• Do you do evaluations of the children to let me know how they are developing?
• Will you let me know if my child has areas he or she needs to work on?
• What if my child gets hurt?  Do you send home boo-boo reports?
• How many field trips do the children take a year?
• How are you going to prepare my child for kindergarten?

When touring the school poke around a bit.  Does it look clean and well organized?  Is the bathroom clean and kid friendly?  Are there lots of toys?  Is it designed for children i.e. small tables and chairs and everything low for a child? Is there a playground outside?  Does it look well kept or run down?  Is the staff friendly and smiling or do they look tired and grumpy? 

If you still want to know more ask if can come in during business hours and observe the staff interacting with the kids or ask if your child can come for a day or a week to see how he or she likes the school. 

My suggestion is to introduce your child to the idea of preschool slowly especially if he or she is used to a nanny or being watched by someone at home.  I would start the child off with half day two or three days a week and from there eventually build up to more days/longer days depending on if you plan to send your child to full day or half day kindergarten.  For daycare you don't usually have the option of introducing your child slowly, put you can still make the experience postive by talking up how great it is. 

Preschool is a wonderful time in a child's life when they get to develop a social life and make friends outside of who their parents pick for them.  It is their first real taste of freedom and look into how wonderful school will be.  Putting them in the right mindset now will help cultivate a love of school. 

Organize Your Household Contacts

I know many people already a household notebook, but if you don't I suggest you make one this weekend.  I learned how important they are during my wedding, when I had a wedding notebook.  All of the information I needed for my wedding from caterers to flowers was in one place.  After I got married I took the same concept and applied it to my home life. 

It's a running joke in my family that my dad has a "guy" for everything.  He has a floor guy and a yard guy, he even as a concrete guy.  The truth is, it's important to have maintenance people that you trust and would hire again.  Whenever I have someone do maintenance at my house and they do a good job, I take their business card and put it in my household notebook.  This way I can either hire them again, or if someone ever asks me for a an awesome duct cleaning guy I have his number. 

I also put recipes and take out menus into my notebook. You may want to use a separate binder for these things, it just really depends on how many contacts you have. We are just starting out so we only have one binder, but I'm sure one day we will build up to having more.  The good thing is the menus and recipes aren't in a junk drawer or pinned to the fridge, they are organized in one place on my bookshelf. 

To make my notebook a little more durable, especially because I use it in the kitchen when doing a recipe, I put each piece of paper in a clear page cover.  I also place the business cards into the same pages kids but their baseball cards into.  You may be able to find ones especially for business cards, but it was much easier for me to find the baseball card holders. 

The point of the binder is to organize your life and all of the little papers that would normally be shoved into a junk drawer and lost or pinned up somewhere in the house, making it look cluttered.  This means every so often you should go through the binder and clean it out.  I find that the take out places especially go out of business or change their menus so I try to stay on top of cleaning out the old menus. 

Having all of your "guys" in one place is going to make your life so much easier.  The last thing you want to do when a pipe bursts in the middle of the night is boot up the computer and do a search, trying to remember the name of that company you used that one time.  All you have to do is pull out the notebook and flip to the page. 

Reasons and tips to make a roast

For some reason a lot of new cooks are afraid of making a roast.  I'll admit once upon a time I was one of those cooks.  All of my first meals were terribly overcooked in fear of serving raw food (still managed to serve some raw meals) and I never went near anything like a pork roast or a whole chicken because those things seemed advanced.  I left those meals to my parents to make when I'd visit home.

Here is the myth busted on roasts, they are basically the easiest meal to make.  All you do is season them, stick the meat in the oven and take it out after a couple hours.  Throw in a couple quick sides like peas and rolls and you're done.  It looks like you spent hours making an amazing meal but in reality you maybe spent 20 minutes actually standing in the kitchen cooking and the rest of the time you let the oven do the work. 

The price is usually reasonable too, I wait for a buy one get one free meat sale at my grocery store  then stock up on meat, and store it in the freezer until I'm ready to use it. Even if it's not on sale, the roasts are normally pretty reasonable for how impressive the meal will look especially if you are entertaining. 

A few tips:

• Time and temperature: Different roasts need to be cooked to different temperatures.  My advice is search online for the type of meat you have for recipes and even if you don't use the recipe it will have how long and the temperature the roast will need to go in the oven.  Use a meat thermometer to test the temperature of your roast to make sure it has come to Temp.  A good meat thermometer will even have what temperatures all of the different types of meat should come to before they are done. 

• Chickens and turkeys:  Clean them out first!  They have organs stuffed inside of them when your buy the birds.  Some people use these parts to make gravy.  It doesn't matter if you're that type of person or not, you need to remove those parts before the bird goes in the oven.  Unless they are frozen inside, they should pull right out.  I know, gross, but suck it up or put on a pair of gloves it will be worth it in the end. 

• Resting the meat: Resting just means when you pull your beautiful roast out of the oven, let it sit for a few minutes before you cut it.  I suggest setting it on a wood cutting board, tenting it with foil and letting it sit for 15 minutes before you cut into it.  If you cut the roast before you let it rest, all of the juicy goodness will run out on your cutting board and your meat will be dry. 

• Seasoning: Now this is just a basic idea, my seasoning and how much changes from roast to roast, but this will give you a good start to your first roast.  I use garlic, sea salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning on almost every roast I do.  If I want a spicier flavor I might add red pepper flakes, chili powder or Cayenne pepper. 

There you go!  Hopefully any anxiety over making a roast is gone and you're ready to try one.  Remember it might take a couple tries to get right taste you're going for, but it's a process. 

There is a myth that cooking a meal such as a roast for a man you are interested in marrying might actually make him propose.  The reason?  He sees you not as a girlfriend but more like wife/mother material because you made that traditional, complicated meal.  What he doesn't know was it hardly took any time at all!

Rainy Day Field Trips to do with your Kiddos

Even though it’s spring it is still rainy here in the Seattle area.  I know when I nanny I get just as crabby as the kids when I’m stuck in the house all day, so we try to do a couple outings a week even if it’s rainy. It’s important to get out of the house to help the young ones stimulate their minds.  It also is good to have a mix of activities that allow children to socialize with other kids their own age.  Though it’s not always possible with the indoor activities, I like to pick ones that allow the kids to get some exercise and run around because movement is key for physical development. 

 When we are stuck on what we are going to do I pull out my cup of ideas.  It’s a cup that is full of Popsicle sticks, each stick has an outing written on it.  I draw one and if the idea is feasible for that day, that’s the activity we do. 

Here is a list of some of the activities we do.  Feel free to go out and do one of these the next time you’re stuck at home on a rainy day.  Add your own ideas to my list if you have any!

Inside inflatable park

Inside trampoline park

Community swimming pool

Aquarium

Library or story time

Window shop at the mall

Indoor playground

Play in the covered area of school playgrounds (after school hours)

Spring Cleaning Checklist

This is my spring cleaning checklist.  I saw a cute idea on an article on theknot.com where points are assigned to each chore depending on difficulty and time it takes to do the chore.  Then you compete with your significant other or your entire family and see who can earn the most cleaning points. Not every house is the same so your list might be different from mine, but this is a good list with some tips to help you get started on your cleaning.  If I forgot anything please feel free to leave a comment and add it to the list!

Don't be a crazy person and try tackle all of this in one day, pick and choose one or two chores to do in a day.  Think about maybe making simple or quick and easy dinners for days you decide to clean so you don't have to clean all day and then cook all night.

While your working on a room try to at least open the windows in that room if not the entire house.  The fresh air is going to get rid of that stale smell.  Fresh air has also been known to reduce illness and asthma.  The other reason to open windows is to ventilate if you are using any chemicals. 

First off clutter cleaning is the most important.  One of the quickest ways to make the house look cleaner is to remove the clutter.  Consider donating the items you no longer need, some places like St. Vincent de Paul will even send a truck to your house and give you a receipt for tax purposes.  Look for outgrown clothes, old toys and gadgets when you are sorting through your house.  Removing these items will put you on your way to a clutter free house.

Living Room

• Wipe down all walls and knock down any cobwebs
• Dust ceiling fan and wipe it down with a cloth dampened with vinegar
• Turn off gas to fireplace and dust under the fireplace (I have 4 dogs so it gets dirty)
• Wipe down every blind with a cloth damped with vinegar
• Dust off tv and wipe down all wires behind the tv
• Vacuum under all couch cushions
• Vacuum dust off bookcase and dust by hand
• Steam mop floors

Bedrooms

• Wipe down all walls and knock down any cobwebs
• Dust ceiling fan and wipe it down with vinegar
• remove winter sheets, wash them, and put them away
• Freshen the bed by sprinkling with baking soda and then vacuuming off after a few minutes
• Put spring sheets on the bed
• Remove any unwanted clothes from the closet
• Bring spring clothes to the front of the closet
• Dust off nightstands and dressers
• Remove aluminum blinds and wash them in a bath tub making sure to dry them off

Kitchen

• Wipe down walls
• Remove aluminum blinds and wash them in bathtub
• Throw out all expired food from fridge and wipe down all shelves and drawers
• Defrost freezer
• Throw out that tv dinner or whatever else that nobody in your family is going to eat ever
• Organize pantry by putting your oldest cans in the front, tossing expired food and donating the food your family will never eat
• Deep Clean oven
• Wipe down all drawers and shelves
• Clean out that pesky junk drawer
• Put ice down the garbage disposal to sharpen blades
• Put orange peels and baking soda down garbage disposal to give it a fresh clean scent
• Wipe down all appliances that sit on the counter

Bathrooms

• Scrub shower with vinegar and baking soda
• Clean off mirrors
• Knock down cobwebs and wipe down walls
• Replace or wash shower liner with a towel in the washing machine if you have one
• Scrub down toilets, sinks and trash cans
• Steam mop the floors

Office

• Dust down everything
• Wipe down walls and knock down cobwebs
• Toss out old files and papers (Shred them first!)
• Wipe down the wires
• Freshen the sheets on the guest bed by washing them

Outside

• Weed all garden beds
• Power wash sidewalks and driveway
• Sweep out garage and make sure everything is organized
• Wash screens with soap and water

Time to celebrate because your house is clean!  Have a glass of wine and order some Chinese food for dinner tonight.  The person that collected the least amount of points has to order, pick-up and/or pay!

Spring Cleaning Supplies

No matter what I used I couldn't get my shower clean. I spent a lot of time and money on chemicals that didn't do anything to my shower. One night last winter out of frustration I grabbed a scrub brush and vinegar and my shower is now cleaner than when I moved in to the house. I am not lying when I say give it a try and it will change the way you clean forever!

It is that time of year to start your spring cleaning.  This year I've decided I'm tired of headaches from chemical cleaners and have decided to use more natural cleaners for my cleaning.  I now use vinegar, baking soda and warm water for most of my cleaning.  Many people suggest putting oranges or lemons into their vinegar to give it a more pleasing scent.  It is okay to do this but you must be careful depending on what you are cleaning.  The acidity from these oils can erode some of the things you clean.

I bought my own spray bottle and fill it 1/3 tap water and 2/3 vinegar.  This has replaced bathtub, toilet, window, sink, wall and a couple other cleaners.  If it's a really tough mess I will sprinkle some baking soda onto a brush or the surface before I scrub the area.