Why I Stopped Folding Their Clothes

Our t-shirt drawer now!

Both of my kids are at that age where they want to pick out what they wear. It's great; I love the Punky Brewster ensembles they come up with. But it's also been driving me NUTS having them tear through every t-shirt, skirt, and pair of pants stacked in their dresser to find the one they want. Every day I'm folding and re-folding, putting clothing back in its place... an endless flashback to the late 80s when I worked at Benetton. Ugh! My solution to end the madness: everything gets rolled and placed in the dresser drawers so it's visible to little eyes and hands. If something is a set, like a pajama top and bottom, I'll roll both items up together so anyone putting the kids to bed (like my sweet hubby or grandma) knows what goes with what. And finally, my new rule: if an item doesn't fit in here, like this, it is donated to charity. This is working great for us so far - you could even say we're on a roll. Give it a try, moms and dads.

Frosty The Tomato?

One great thing about living in SoCal: my winter tomato crop is coming off the vine and the lemon tree is full of fruit again. While it tastes like summer, it's getting chilly at night... cold enough to freeze up here in the foothills. That's why I was pretty interested today when I came across the farmer's rule for frost: never touch or pick a frozen plant. If you do the ice crystals will destroy the plant when it thaws and you'll be left with black mush. (Same reason you don't rub frostbitten hands.) Instead, leave the heartier plants - like leeks and lettuces - on the vine and, some say, a moderate freeze may even improve the flavor. When you do harvest, simply peel off any outer damage and you're good to go.

I love this advice, for plants and life in general... don't rush when things get frosty and trust that our better selves will make it through tough times. Enjoy the winter solstice this week.

Thanks to Farm Fresh To You for the frost advice! 

Oh, Those A-Doorable Holiday Cards!

The Christmas cards are starting to roll in through the mail, and it's always so great to see everyone's photos of all those cutie kids and pets. I never really know what to do with all the cards though. I'd like to enjoy them during the month, but not necessarily have them take over valuable counter space, etc. So, here's what I came up with this year. I hung a wide felt ribbon down my entry way closet door (you'll need to tape or nail this to the back of the door) and then attach cards as they arrive. It's easy and fun to see it "fill up" as we get closer to the holidays. For all my cousins who send their Christmas greetings out around Easter, I can't guarantee it will still be up then... so get 'em in early this year so I can look at your pretty faces now! :)

Kiwi Freezer Jam!

Wow, does this recipe for kiwi freezer jam from the Coconut & Lime website look yummy and easy - and that green color... just spectacular! I'm kind of a kiwi freak, and I have fond memories of freezer jam from my childhood strawberry picking days. Going to give this one a try very soon. Starting my search now for freezer pectin...

My Benadryl Adventure (Or How I Learned to Get Over The Fear of Flying with My Kids)

Going into this summer's vacation, I'd never given my kids Benadryl to make them sleep on an airplane. Trust me though when I tell you the suggestion has been made to me more than once... usually by complete strangers. Those are the moments of motherhood I treasure.

Like many moms, the very thought of flying with small children makes my blood pressure start to rise. As I started to pack for our upcoming trip, I heard those strangers' voices in my head again – could Benadryl really make it all better?

Being a firm believer in the theory that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, I've been living in a bit of mommy fear on the topic. Scared that the Benadryl would have the exact opposite intended effect and hop up my kids more than a trip to Toys R Us. Or worse, that they would fall so deeply asleep that a trip to the ER would be necessary upon landing. You know, the usual paranoia.

As the date for our red eye departure grew near, my kids were getting more excited about the trip. I just had to think: why would I drug them for the plane flight? I mean, it's a real-life Dream Day when they get to go to the airport, like they've actually turned into Little People. Why rain on that?

Now I've heard the argument both ways - a dose can't do any harm (the cool moms are doing it) and drugging your child for your own peace and quiet is tantamount to child abuse (the cool moms are definitely not doing it). So I looked a bit into the whole Benadryl thing before our flight... Do I or Don't I?

In the drugstore Cold & Flu aisle, it was pure confusion. I could only find some Walgreens look-alike Benadryl that had warnings all over it that it was not for kids under age four and should not be used to induce drowsiness. That definitely did not pass my "would I be okay doing this if a story about it ran on the front page of The New York Times" sniff test. (Sometimes having a background in marketing can be good, right?) Then I moved on to the Walgreens Bennie meant for infants age two and up, obviously a different cocktail, that happily proclaimed "Compare to the ingredients in Zyrtec!" Like that's a good thing, to be giving toddlers Zyrtec? Well, no mommy folklore had ever told me to slip my kids a Zyrtec on a flight. So that box was out too. By then I was just kinda creeped out by the whole Big Pharma-selling baby medicine-to-parents thing. I left Walgreens empty handed.

Driving away from the store I had an idea though. Maybe I already did have a drug of choice for my kids. One that I was not afraid to dispense if needed... yes, it's called television. Moments before we left for the airport we loaded up our iPods with $1.99 episodes of Team UmiZoomi and Bubble Guppies, and off we went.

You know what? The TV shows worked like a charm during some interminable terminal time and in the rental car post-flight for the long four hour drive. On the flight itself, they weren't even needed.

That's right. My kids don't need no stinkin' Benadryl. They slept like champs on that plane. To all the parents on Delta LAX to Detroit that evening, in my mind every kid on that plane was an angel - even the ones that were screaming (yours!). We did it! To the woman in front of my two year old who had her seat kicked fifty times, you're a saint and I'm super sorry. To the guy next to me who thought having his overhead reading light turned on for the entire red eye was a good idea, you need your head examined. But that's the joy / curse of traveling with wee ones... and adults. We're all a bear to deal with at times. That's why drink coupons were invented for the big kids, I guess.

My name is Beth, I love my kids, and we flew Benadryl-free. This was my story.

Reprinted from the MOMS Club of Monrovia's Newsletter (Sep 2011)

Why Match When You Can Contrast

Want to give a room in your house a mini-face lift for the end of summer? Just add a few accessories in contrasting colors to your overall decor. So in my family room, which has lots of warm tones like browns and orange, I chose these teal blue curtains (the opposite of orange on the color wheel is blue). Other basic complementary pairings you can try are yellow + purple and green + red.  You can do these colors together in pastels (think pink and lime green) or in their darker versions (like burnt yellow and eggplant).  I really like the pop this creates. If you do add a contrasting color, it helps to include a few instances of it - like curtains, a vase, a pillow - to draw your eye around the room. This will connect it all together and help it visually feel right. 

Crap, I Broke A Curly Lightbulb.

Okay, so it's going to happen  to you if it hasn't already. You will break one of those compact fluorescent light bulbs and probably start to freak out about how to clean it up. These bulbs release mercury vapor when broken and can be tricky to recycle ... even illegal to just toss in the trash. So what's the right way to cleanup one of these broken CFL bulbs? Here's the official EPA website method. In short, get out of the room for 5-10 minutes to let it air out (shut off your A/C to stop circulating any vapors). Then use sticky tape or wet paper towel / wipes to sweep all the debris and powder onto a stiff piece of paper. Funnel the broken shards into a sealable container, like a glass jar. Finally, put the container outside until you can dispose of it properly according to your local rules. Two other good tips I found: always screw the bulbs in and out holding the base (not the curly glass part) and put a beach towel under your lamp when changing the bulbs, just in case one falls.