Why, oh why: Towels and Hotels

Why do hotels always have insufficient towel rack space?  We're staying at the recently renovated Hyatt Regency in Monterey.  The lone towel bar is no more than 18" long.  It barely fits four washcloths folded in half.  Yet there is the now customary note about the hotel's environmental commitment encouraging guests to reuse towels.  Ok, but what about proving space to let said towels hang to dry?

I am seriously tempted to start packing my own over the door hooks.

Scented Bath Salts

This is a very easy project I recently did with my MOPs group.  It is very relaxing massaging the salts together with the coloring and scent.  The fragrances filled the room while the moms were working on their craft and enjoying each other's company.  This project also works well as a party activity and take-home favor for bridal or baby showers, or as a girl-scout or brownie project for Mother's Day gifts.

Supplies Needed
Epsom salt
Coarse sea salt ($.69 for a # bag @ Smart & Final)
Baking soda
3.5 oz. Bottle with cork (6 for $2.64 @ save-on-crafts.com)
Raffia
Silk rose pick
Scent (soap-making section @ Michael's)
Coloring (soap-making section @ Michael's)
Scissors
Zipper sandwich bags

Instructions
1. Take zipper sandwich bag and add in 3 Tbsp. each of Epsom salt, coarse sea salt and baking soda.
2. Select desired scent and add approximately 3 to 5 drops of scent to the mixture in the sandwich bag.
3. Close and securely zipper the sandwich bag and shake or gently massage the salt and scent mixture to evenly distribute the scent.
4. Choose a color for your salts. Add 5 drops of coloring to your salt mixture. You can add more drops of color later if you desire a darker color.
5. Close and securely zipper the sandwich bag and gently massage the salt mixture to distribute the coloring, gently breaking up clumps of color you may see.
6. Once your salts have the desired level of scent and color, cut one bottom corner of the bag (approximately ½ inch diagonal) and funnel the salt mixture into the bottle.
7. Tie a raffia bow around the neck of the bottle. Trim ends of raffia if desired.
8. Thread the silk rose pick through the knot in the raffia bow. Wrap the excess wire of the rose pick around the raffia bow.
9. These bath salts can be added to bath water for soaking, or can used as a scrub by creating a paste with water or olive oil.

No Knit Scarves (Based upon a Martha Stewart project)

 

The left scarf is 4 bunches of 3 strands, the right is 4 bunches of 4 strands. 
These scarves are "Thick and Quick" yarn.



The blue scarf is 4 bunches of 3 strands, the red scarf is 4 bunches of 4 strands.
These scarves are the "Loops and Threads" yarn.




Supplies needed:

Bulky-weight yarn (We used Wool-Ease or Jiffy "Thick and Quick" yarn and "Country Loom Loops and Threads" yarn.)

Scissors

Masking Tape

Wire Hanger

Instructions:

1. Cut 12 pieces of bulky-weight yarn to about 2 times the desired length of the final scarf. 

2. Divide yarn into 4 bunches of 3 strands each. (If you have enough yarn left over to cut 4 more strands, you can make your scarf slightly thicker if you want by adding an additional length of yarn to each of the 4 bunches, so that you have 4 bunches of 4 strands each.)

3. Tie 2 bunches together with a square knot, leaving 6 inches of fringe at end; repeat with remaining 2 bunches.

4. Using fringe ends, tie both bunches onto hanger, spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart. (Alternatively, you could use binder clips or clothes pins to secure your scarf to the hanger.)  Using masking tape, secure hanger to a chair, door knob or other stationary object.

5. Knot inner 2 bunches of yarn together, spacing knot about 2 to 3 inches from existing knots (I used three fingers to determine my spacing).

6. Knot left bunches together and then right bunches together.

7. Alternate knotting the inner bunches and the left and right ones, spacing knots evenly apart, until about 6 inches of yarn remain on the end.  (One knot inside,  two knots outside, one inside, two outside and so on....)

8. Finish so that final knots mirror opposite end, and trim to even the ends.

Mom vs. Toddler: Perserverance Requires Focus on Long-term Goals

My 2 year old son loves his Buzz Lightyear action figure (it's not a doll--it's not!).  He likes to bring it with him when riding in the car.  He even sleeps with it at night.  He has watched the Toy Story 3 video more times than he can count.

The other day, my son hit his 5 year old sister with his Buzz Lightyear .  He was probably imitating the action he has seen on Toy Story 3, when one of the kids in the Caterpillar Room takes Buzz and treats him like a hammer.  However, in this case, the result was my 5-year old in tears. 

For this he got time out and I told my son in my "Mom" voice that he could not hit his sister with Buzz and that he had to apologize.  He refused.  He knew he was in trouble and tried to run away.  He also put on his sad, pity-me face.  When I told him to say he was sorry, he said, "No, and I'm not sorry eeder (either)."  I sat him down on my lap, made him look me in the eyes and told him, that if he did not say he was sorry, and if he hit people with his Buzz Lightyear, Buzz would have to go away.  This lead to more tears from him, but still, "no, and I am not sorry eeder."  I took Buzz away and hid him in a closet on a high shelf.  My son threw himself onto the floor and cried, "I want my Buzz..." in such a sad little voice too.  I again explained to him what behavior was required and then ignored his tears and left him on the floor.

During this whole series of events I felt some internal conflict because part of me could not help but react to his sad little face and the tears.  I felt bad taking away his favorite Buzz.  Part of me wanted to do whatever was needed to stop the tears.  But, I knew I could not let him fail to apologize for his behavior and reconcile with his sister.  If I gave in, sure, his tears would stop, but in the long term, he would not learn there were consequences to his behavior.  In addition, my daughter was watching this whole scene.  If I gave in, the lesson to her would be that I would allow someone to hurt her without consequences.  It would also show favoritism toward her brother.  It would also teach them both that tears and tantrums were a way to escape discipline.  So I had to resist that part of me that wanted to respond to my son's tears and sad, pitiful little voice. 

It took approximately 15 long minutes before he finally got up to apologize to his sister and give her a hug.  I could tell that my daughter was really pleased that discipline had been applied and that my son had come around and apologized for hitting her.  Peace and harmony had been restored.  Buzz was allowed to come back. I survived another parenting moment.  Whew.

Anti-Ants

Just a quick note to share with anyone with ant invasions due to the cold weather or rains.  Dealing with ants when you have small children or pets can be more challenging as you don't want to leave out ant baits or any poisons where the kids or pets might reach.  You also don't want to use spray poisons.  Two things that have worked for me are: dish soap and cinnamon. 

With the dish soap, put a few drops in clean spray bottle (I use Dawn), add water to fill bottle and gentle swirl to mix.  Use that to spray on the ants wherever you see them.  The soap in the water kills the ant or at least stops them in their tracks so that you can wipe them away with a paper towel.  (You can feel good about the fact that you are also cleaning the soap at the same time.)  The soap also wipes out the scent trail that ants leave behind them that tell their fellow ants where to follow.

With the cinnamon, sprinkle liberally at any entry points if you can discover where the ants are entering your home.  Within a day, all the ants will stop coming in.  The bonus is that cinnamon smells great, much better than any ant spray.  Most importantly, cinnamon is safe to use around pets and kids.  Even if they do taste the stuff, at least it's not poisonous.

The Great Eggsperiment

My kids don't like to eat eggs, and in fact, my son J is allergic to eggs.  As for me, I enjoy eggs over easy or sunny side up for my breakfast on Saturdays, the one day of the week that breakfast is not rushed.  I just love putting it on toast to soak up all that lovely yellow yolk.  Add a little bit of salt on the eggs, a nice cup of hot coffee on the side, and I am in breakfast nirvana.  Of course these days, with all the salmonella outbreaks, it is considered risky to eat eggs prepared that way.  The FDA recommends cooking all eggs until both the whites and yolks are firm.  I don't like hard egg yolks.  I am not a big fan of scrambled eggs.  Ceasar salad just doesn't taste the same with out the yolk in the dressing either.  So I guess I am rolling the dice each time I enjoy my over easy eggs.  Yep, that's me living dangerously.  On the edge.

All these reports of bad eggs, egg recalls, poor conditions for hens etc., have spurred a growing backyard hen-house movement.  It used to be something that was rather unusual -- something you see only Martha Stewart doing on her Connecticut farm.  Lately, I have read several local news articles about people having hens as pets and egg producers in their urban and suburban backyards.  Last week, one article featured a family in nearby Alamo who have now decided to go into business selling their fresh eggs.  Even my daughter's elementary school has egg-laying chickens next to their school garden.

My neighbor S is one of many local homeowners with her own chickens.  She has 10 hens.  Her three kids raised the chicks as pets, spending time with them every day and putting them on their laps like cats.  Each hen has a name and distinct personality.  They are very tame.  (Except for one called "Crazy Girl" who somehow didn't get as much attention as the other hens.  She's like the foster child that somehow fell through the cracks.  She didn't get as much love and it apparently shows.)  My kids love to visit and pet the chickens.

Last month, S and her family were out of town for a week.  She set up a rotation with friends to feed her chickens and collect the freshly laid eggs.  Her 10 hens lay about 6 to 8 eggs per day.  Each friend had a 2 day slot.  This was a great opportunity to try fresh eggs and to know where they came from.  I could enjoy my over-easy eggs without fear.  My top question though, was do fresh eggs taste better than store bought eggs?

Each person to whom I posed the question assured me that fresh eggs do taste better, but when asked to describe how, they were unable to put it into words.   So I was full of anticipation and curiousity when my turn came to feed the chickens and collect the eggs. 

On the first day, we collected these eight eggs.  Although the photograph doesn't show it, the none of the eggs were white.  Three were sort of a green-blue-grey color, while the rest were tan or brown.

The only day that I have the time to actually cook eggs for breakfast is on Saturday.  So we had to wait a few days before we could enjoy the fresh eggs.  How did they taste?  I scrambled two for my husband B, and had a couple over easy for myself.  Our conclusion was...

... they taste like eggs.  Perhaps because of the great anticipation, I was expecting something earth-shakingly different.  Neither of us noticed anything different.  Our impression was that they were good eggs, but just eggs.  How deflating.  I guess I was expecting some sort of egg-epiphany.

The following weekend, I decided to be a little more scientific in my approach.  I cooked one store bought egg and one fresh egg.  Upon a side-by-side comparison, I finally got it.  Next to the fresh egg, the store bought egg was decidedly bland tasting.  I was surprised that there was a marked difference.  The fresh egg still tasted like I expected a good egg to taste.  Next to the fresh egg, the store bought egg tasted like cardboard. 

I guess it is like pizza.  If you regularly ate Domino's pizza, you would not think much about the taste of the pizza.  It would be pizza.  If you later have a slice of Blondie's pizza, you would just think it is a good pizza such as you would expect a pizza to taste like.  If you had a Blondie's and a Domino's side-by-side, then you would really notice the difference.  If you were accustomed to having Blondie's regularly and then tried a Domino's pizza, you would conclude the Domino's is bland and tasteless.  If you never had Blondie's, you would not know what you were missing.

So with the eggs.  The fresh eggs are probably more nutritious.  I now know they are more flavorful.  They are probably more safe to eat over easy or in ceasar salad dressings.  Maybe some day when my kids are older and require less of my focus, I will consider having my own chickens.  But as for me right now, I guess I will have to stick with my bland-risky-store bought eggs.  Unless my neighbor decides to go out of town and wants us to feed her chickens. ;-)

Crafts for the Masses Part 4 -- Fortune Cookie Conversation Starters/Game

This was a fun craft we did with our MOPs group last February when Valentines day and Chinese New Year celebrations coincided.  This was based upon a craft I found on the Martha Stewart website at http://www.marthastewart.com/article/felt-fortune-cookies-from-the-martha-stewart-show.  I made several modifications to fit our groups time and budget limitations.  Also, I decided to use craft foam because it looks much more realistic and was easier for us to work with than felt as used by Martha Stewart.  We also provided our group with some pre-printed "fortunes"-- which were conversation starter questions or acts of service they could perform for their spouse.  To play this game, the players could choose either a conversation starter question (truth/share) or an action (dare/serve), and either answer the question or perform the required act.  At the end of the instructions below, I will include some of the "fortunes" we used.

Fortune Cookie Truth or Dare/Serve or Share Game Instructions

Supplies:

3" diameter cardboard circle template
ball-point pens
9x12 Red Foam sheet
9x12 Hot Pink Foam sheet
4 red pipe cleaners
paper "fortune" inserts
wire handled box
Sharpie markers
scissors
Fabri-tac (or hot glue gun)
paper cutter

1. Create template by using a compass or any household object with a 3" base (glass ware, jars, containers) and draw a 3" circle onto cardboard (you can use an empty cereal box or any other cardboard you might have around the house).

2. Using template and pen, draw circles onto the foam sheets.
3. Cut out foam circles to form your "cookie"

4. Cut pipe cleaners into 2 and 1/2 inch pieces.
5. Put a line of Fabri-tac along the center of each "cookie" (you could use hot glue instead of Fabri-tac for this step, but we chose Fabri-tac to avoid burnt fingers.)  Press a pipe-cleaner onto the Fabri-tac line, press down to adhere. Repeat for each "cookie."

6. While you are letting the pipe-cleaners dry onto the "cookies" cut out your paper "fortune" inserts.
7. Decorate your wire-handled box with Sharpie markers if desired.

8. Make sure your Fabri-tac is completely dry.  Fold your "fortune cookies." To fold, take one "cookie," roll both sides in toward the pipe-cleaner in the middle. At the same time, fold the "cookie" in half, bending the pipe-cleaner.

9. Insert the paper "fortune" in the "cookie."

Here are some of the questions and "dares" we included as fortunes in the cookies.  Some of these questions were taken from the MOPs book, Life on Planet Mom.

What is your proudest accomplishment? What are you proud of right now?

When was the moment you first knew you loved me?

What challenge would you like to meet in the next year? Can we challenge each other to meet our personal goals?

If you could choose another career, what would it be?

If you were a billionaire, what charities would you give money to? Can we give a small amount to each of those over the coming year?

What do you think defines an excellent marriage? How can we get closer to that ideal?

Do you know what I appreciate most about you?

Describe your ideal day to me. Can we make it happen for you in the next three months? Can we schedule it in? Can we do the same for me?

If money were no object, what are the top three places you would like to see in the world? Can we start saving a little money to see one of those in the coming years?

What is the scariest thing you have ever done? Would you do it again?

Tell your sweetheart “I love you” in at least three different languages.  See how many different languages you can come up with.

Get some lotion and rub it into your sweetheart’s hands for two minutes per hand.

Make your sweetheart a favorite beverage and bring it to her/him.

Make a snack for your sweetheart and bring it to her/him.

Give your sweetheart a ten minute shoulder rub.

Give your sweetheart five kisses in five different places.

Give your sweetheart a bear hug.

Get a basin, towels and soap and wash your sweetheart’s feet.

Your sweetheart gets to assign you one 15-minute task or favor to do this week.

On the next Saturday or Sunday, give your sweetheart 30-minutes of alone time to herself/himself to nap or do whatever she/he desires.