The Disappearing Eraser Trick

I've started charging the boys ten cents for each eraser I see them destroy. When I'm vigilant, I make pretty good money.

Nice Shirt

Seriously, can somebody tell me just when this boy started wearing shirts that fit me? Oh, little one, you grow much too quickly!

Seeing Green

No pinches for this crew! Happy St. Patty's Day!

In Defiance of Winter

After yet another another week of sub-zero temperatures and more snow in the forecast, I decided a little seed therapy was in order. Thankfully Runnings already has their seeds in stock, so I didn't have to go far. Besides this beautifully springy bouquet of seeds, I also picked up corn and bean seeds and Jiffy Pots. In the past I've made my own seed starting pots out of old newspaper, but I was feeling reckless and wild and the pots were remarkably inexpensive, so I just went for it (besides, I had a gift certificate -- I'm supposed to splurge).

Of course there will be more gardening purchases once the greenhouses are set up, and I did have to make one on-line order for heirloom tomato seeds, since ya jest cain't get them kinda thangs out here in the boondocks. I've never grown heirloom tomatoes, but I'm very excited to try them out!

Here are the varieties I chose... and boy was it hard to narrow it down to these three!

Pineapple Tomato - Heirloom


Yellow Pear Tomato - Certified Organic Heirloom


Black Cherry Tomato


(above images courtesy of Sweet Corn Organic Nursery which by the way, had free shipping on these items -- yea!)

So now when the thermometer plunges into the single digits and below, which it's doing every night yet, I'll look at my bouquet of seed packages and smile... and sip hot chocolate.

The Sunday Morning Horror Show

I should know better than to try crazy new ideas on Saturday nights... when I'm going to have to deal with the consequences of them on Sunday morning when we're already going to be a hurry.

This time it was a new conditioning trick a lady at the salon suggested: mayonnaise as conditioner.

I already love baking soda as shampoo (more on that some other time... maybe), so why not another kitchen staple as conditioner?

Usually I google these bright ideas before trying them, just to make sure I've got the details right, but this time I just took the gal's word for it, showered as usual, slathered my head up with a generous handful of mayo, rinsed about 10 minutes later, then shortly went to bed.

If I had googled this procedure, I would have known that it only takes about 1 teaspoon of mayo, and you have to wash -- not just rinse -- it out afterwards.

Sunday morning I woke up with hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in a month! It felt like it had been doused with vegetable oil! The water had dried, but oil from the mayo was still very much in my hair (and on my pillow).

A little background on Sunday mornings. Our crew, most of whom don't wake up until after 7:30 a.m., has to be woken, fed, dressed and in the van before 7:30 a.m. to make it to church on time. It's not our prettiest morning, and this one in particular was quite possibly my ugliest. And suddenly mommy needs a shower she didn't wake up early enough for!

And not only did I have to shower, but I was pretty sure that to get the oiliness out I had to use real shampoo, which I don't like using (like I said previously, more on that another time).

Ugh. It was an ordeal. But, and here's the cool thing, this overnight leave-in conditioner stunt left my hair so incredibly smooth and shiney, despite having used shampoo! So there was an upside.

So, if you don't mind using shampoo and are looking for a conditioning boost, I would recommend spending a night with mayo in your hair. I may just try it again sometime, but not on a Saturday night!