Housework: Creative Ways to Lighten Your Load!

• Never underestimate the power of illusion.  A little bleach poured down the kitchen drain will make the whole house smell clean!
• Find the short cuts.  Down Wrinkle Release?  Worth it’s weight in gold.  (Good-bye ironing!)
• Appease family members.  Prey on your preschooler's fascination with "big, loud machines" by letting him vacuum the living room.
• Think creatively.  Tell your husband that the Weight Watchers lady said that, “eating restaurant grade salad burns more calories than eating at home.” 
• Hire cheap manual labor.  Nine-year-olds are not yet privy to the concept of inflation, and will do just about anything for a whole dollar.
• Call in the reserves.  Explain to your girlfriends that, while you offer your deepest regrets, you simply must skip girls night out because you are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of your chores.  (If only you had some help…)
• Do double duty.  For example…long-haired dogs are great for mopping tile floors.  Simply wet the dog thoroughly with warm water, and slide him across the floor in a circular pattern, moving from area to area until complete.  Rinse dog and towel dry while the floor is drying. Voila!  You now have a clean dog and a clean floor!
• Delegate tasks.  Speaking of Rover, why not put him on dish duty?  After all, it’s an extremely effective AND economical way to get those dishes sparkly clean!
• Strike A Deal.  Use your feminine powers of persuasion to negotiate with your husband. Men are quite practical creatures!
  

Tribute to A Kindergarten Teacher

I wrote this poem for my son's teacher Kindergarten teacher this past year.  I felt compelled to write it for a couple of reasons...the first and foremost, we felt blessed to have had a "K" teacher who not only diligently taught my son academics and social skills, but also truly loved each & every kid in her care.

I struggled a little, as we moms sometimes do, with the idea of my "baby" going off to school 5 days a week... With my daughter, the whole going off the K was a little anti-climatic, because we ended up doing Junior K first. And when she did go to Kindergarten, it was at a small, private school. Caleb didn't do Junior K, and his first real school experience was in a huge public school of over 900! So letting him go was a bit more traumatic -- especially since he is the youngest. I worried about him walking all the way to class all by himself...worried that he wouldn't be able to sit for so many hours a day without "wiggling" or falling asleep...and worried that he would never get what he needed in a huge class of 28 (even with an asst. teacher). I didn't like the "hands-off" feeling of a large school, and quickly worked myself into a tizzy, thinking about the irrepairable damage that might result if I let him stay all day with "that horrible woman"! Lol.

But Caleb not only survived, he thrived. And Mrs. Eaves, with her loving heart, gentle ways and years of experience was in complete control...not only of her "K" students, but of their nervous mommies as well! The year flew by, and my little boy grew from a tearful preschool graduate into a confident first grader before my very eyes. How can a parent every truly thank a teacher for that?? There truly are not enough words to express it...but here are a few I came up with. Caleb signed it, added an X, and we sent it in with a Hershey's kiss on steroids. I think she liked it. :-)