Sneak Peek: Valentine’s Day photoshoot

Here’s a sneak peak at the photos I took of my little man for the Valentine’s Day cards I’m making. I’ll show the colored versions a bit closer to Valentine’s Day, after I decide how I’m making the cards.

Little Champ wasn’t in an ideal mood, but the weather was divine, so we went with it.

I was really hoping for a picture of Little Champ hugging Chewbacca, but he thought it would be better to poke him in the eye and then throw him into the dirt.

He also just could not comprehend why I would want him to sit, down, by a tree, outside, and not eat acorns. “Sit down. Sit down, please. Please sit down. Sit…over…here. Stay. No. Stay there. Sit back down.”

Then Mr. Goldilocks sat in a chair. He refused to make eye contact.

“Look over here! Hey! Champ! Look at me! Look at mommy. Over here! What’s this? What am I doing over here? Am I dancing? Woohoo! Yeah! Blablalalala! Pfffffffft. Hey, look. Yes…no. No, no. Over here!”

After a blaster peace offering and game of Mommy-Chewbacca Peekaboo, I got 3.5 smiles.

On our retreat back inside, we saw our neighbors, so Little Champ and Tinkerbell played some soccer together.

Final assessment? Time well spent.

Free Music?

I sing Little Champ to sleep every day and lately the song that has been knocking him out has been “You Belong to Me.” Now, I’ve been planning for a while to record a bunch of the lullabies I sing to him, a cappella, no frills, nothing fancy, and put them onto a CD for us to play for him if I’m not around or if I lose my voice, or if he’s having trouble staying asleep.

Then I thought, if I’m going to do that anyway, why not share the songs with you fine people so you can have a CD of free lullabies for your children?

Here are some of the songs I’d probably record for a lullaby collection:

• You Belong to Me
• Golden Slumbers
• My Favorite Things
• A Blanket for a Sail
• Que Sera, Sera
• You are My Sunshine
• Good Night Sweetheart, Good Night
• The Rainbow Connection

There are more, I’m sure. That’s off the top of my head.

I’m still up to the idea, I’m just not sure how to do it. I’d have to pay $20 per year to upload them on WordPress, which honestly I’d rather not do since I already have a negative income (my business costs more than I make, which is why we will probably end up listing my expenses as a “hobby” on our taxes). I’ve tried FileDen, a file hosting website, but WordPress doesn’t recognize the URL, and therefore won’t post it.

Email is an option, but I’d prefer not doing that, either, unless I created an email specifically for this blog. Privacy, you understand. Also, I don’t want to get a ton of spam for posting my email address online.

I could do YouTube, but then you’d have to get creative to find ways to harvest the audio (MP3) from the video.

Would anybody actually want these Mp3s? Any other ideas on how to get the files to you? Any favorite lullabies I didn’t mention? Anybody aware of whether this is completely illegal?

That last one is mostly a joke. I’m pretty sure it’s fine for me to distribute covers of songs to you as long as I’m not making any money by doing so.

• There are more, I’m sure. That’s off the top of my head.You Belong to Me
• Golden Slumbers
• My Favorite Things
• A Blanket for a Sail
• Que Sera, Sera
• You are My Sunshine
• Good Night Sweetheart, Good Night
• The Rainbow Connection

I’m still up to the idea, I’m just not sure how to do it. I’d have to pay $20 per year to upload them on WordPress, which honestly I’d rather not do since I already have a negative income (my business costs more than I make, which is why we will probably end up listing my expenses as a “hobby” on our taxes). I’ve tried FileDen, a file hosting website, but WordPress doesn’t recognize the URL, and therefore won’t post it.

Email is an option, but I’d prefer not doing that, either, unless I created an email specifically for this blog. Privacy, you understand. Also, I don’t want to get a ton of spam for posting my email address online.

I could do YouTube, but then you’d have to get creative to find ways to harvest the audio (MP3) from the video.

Would anybody actually want these Mp3s? Any other ideas on how to get the files to you? Any favorite lullabies I didn’t mention? Anybody aware of whether this is completely illegal?

That last one is mostly a joke. I’m pretty sure it’s fine for me to distribute covers of songs to you as long as I’m not making money for it.

DIY reusable daily and weekly planners

Are you ready for the week to begin?

I’ve always had a bit of an obsession with daily planners and notebooks.

But instead of telling you about my love affair with planners and walking down the aisle in the office supply store, I’m just going to cut to the chase and show you what I do know.

I could write down all of the things I needed to do in my planner, easy. The problem was actually opening up my planner again to do those things I wrote down.

Now I use dry erase boards that are hanging on walls all over my house. I figure that “out of sight, out of mind” also means “in sight, obnoxiously nagging you.” I also figure that it gives me some accountability to anyone else that can read…

Here’s an example of one. I’ll explain the layout and give more examples below.

All you need is a dry erase board, a Sharpie, and an idea of what you want to be planning. Ruler and nail polish remover optional. Basically, you draw the outlines with a permanent marker and draw inside those outlines with dry erase markers.

Step One

Use the Sharpie to draw out the permanent layout on your dry erase board. If you mess up, you can erase the permanent marker in one of two ways.

• For small areas, take a dry erase marker, scribble over the permanent marker, and erase.
• For large areas, use nail polish remover and a Q-tip or cotton square to apply.

Note: If you accidentally draw over a permanent marker line with a dry-erase marker, the permanent marker will come off. That’s why I don’t draw lines for writing on—I draw boxes to write in.

Step Two

Actually, that was pretty much it. I suppose at this point, you start filling in your planner. Woohoo!

My examples

Here’s a close-up of the board shown above. I got the days of the week magnets at Target. The first row of seven is for daily appointments. The next is for menu planning and lists the menu theme of the day, as well as daily chores. The bottom section is the Honey-Do list, which LT and I both contribute to.

This one is a more elaborate weekly planner in a “checklist” format. On the left are things that need to get done every day, ordered in the rough progression of the day. The squares on the inside are either blank or I write in what needs to happen during that time. For example, I have two slots for “projects.” In the boxes I write which projects I need to work on that day. When I finish a chore or activity, I put a magnet on that square. The first column reads: Vitamins, breakfast, chores, lunch, projects, work out / go outside, snack, projects, dinner, dishes, brush teeth, mini bedtime (bedtime for the mini people in our family, aka the kids), before bed tidy up. Yes, I often forget to eat three meals each day.

If it would appear that I haven’t done anything this week, then I should point out that today is Sunday, and the board is for tomorrow–Saturday. Tomorrow I will put the magnets in the squares as I complete each item.

This format will be adapted or duplicated, probably, when I have more children. With this layout, each child could fit a magnet in one slot, or you could have a board for each child.

Here’s the daily one I made today.

The one on the left is the blank version. On the right, I filled in the planner and made a couple of additions.

When I saw these Free Daily and Weekly Planner Printables from AHolyExperience.com, I thought that they were great! And I thought maybe I’d try them out, and then I’d design my own. However, I haven’t gotten to that yet, and I wanted to use my third dry erase board for daily planning, so I did this.

The printable downloads are lovely! If you go that route, enjoy them heartily. Be sure to check out Ann’s book and the rest of her blog, too! She’s an inspiration. You can even try laminating her planners and reusing those with a dry erase marker (or overhead markers, if those are still around). When I come up with my design, I’ll post it here, on my blog, for free. I’m wanting a smaller size, I think, hence designing it myself. We’ll see, I suppose.

• Top row: Devotion? check box | date
• 2nd row: Blank space to write out memory verse, practicing every day |Domestic duties | business
• 3rd row: Imperatives (things that have to get done) | things I should do | things I could do, if I have time | things that need to get done eventually
• 4th row: menu for the day | Schedule for the day (when I will do what I wrote in the “to do” section)
• 5th row: workout? check box | Water? Check box

Have fun planning out your days and weeks!

The Cure for Hangerphobia

As I described in my recent post about organizing clothing, I have quite an aversion to hanging things up on hangers.

The Life Cycle of my Non-Foldables

On a rare occasion, non-foldables make it all the way to hangers IN OUR CLOSET, only to be tossed on the floor after I try them on and decide to wear something else. But of course, they rarely get that far. Baby sea turtles have a better chance of becoming geriatric.

My hanger-necessary items usually get taken out of the dryer and lain out on a flat surface, piled on top of each other. Then the awkwardly long pile stays there or migrates across the house—to the couch, where the other clothes were getting folded while I watch Netflix, or to a chair in the bedroom, or to Little Champ’s pack & play, which is in the closet. Sometimes I actually get them on hangers right in the laundry room…and they stay there for months until LT wonders where his dress shirt is.

But yesterday I came up with perhaps my most brilliant idea, ever. Even more brilliant than using a ladle to grab bottles from the back of the top shelf (That totally works. Cup the top of the bottle with the ladle and pull it towards you.)

Anyway, here’s my idea, complete with real life, embarrassing photographs:

If you take a non-foldable article of clothing out of the dryer, PUT IT ON. Finish folding the other clothes. When you are done, walk to the closet, and take the articles off one at a time, PUTTING THEM ON THEIR HANGERS.

I suppose that an early and repetitive exposure to FRIENDS may have inspired this idea.

Here’s the plan, in action:

Bewildered Mother wants YOU to try it (if you are a hangerphobe)

Little Champ's clothes prove an interesting challenge

I think that this would work especially well for kids that are hangerphobes due to its silly or embarrassing nature.

If you try it, let me know how it goes!

If you are especially silly, post a picture of an attempt on the Bewildered Mother Facebook Page!

Need help organizing your home? You don’t want to get advice on organizing from somebody who doesn’t really need to organize in the first place because their house is already in perfect order. You want tips from a person who is like you, who figures out how to organize through trial and error, and who knows the value of a Junk drawer. Let’s muddle through it together! Check out my Slobs Anonymous posts for tips and confessions. My Housekeeping posts have a little bit of everything related to keeping a house, even the D-word…Dishes.

Meal Planning and Recipes

I’m trying to get more organized with recipes and meal planning. LT and I have half a dozen cookbooks, a drawer full of magazines with recipes included, and a recipe box that was my great grandmother’s.

If you know me, you’ll know I’m completely the opposite of a Stepford Wife. I hate folding laundry, but not as much as I hate doing dishes, and I will not cook unless I already know what I’m cooking.

I hate standing in the middle of the kitchen at 5:30 just scratching my head. Those are the days we take out our organic Annie’s shells & cheese. (Soooo good).

Of course, LT and I like to keep away from packaged food, and especially processed food when we can. But around here, there is a pathetic selection of produce and raw ingredients. Which I hate. I can’t wait to move. I need farmer’s markets!

Ahem. Anyway, a while back I decided we should have theme days, just to help me meal plan, and to keep me from making red meat every. single. day.

Mmmmm…meat. Ooooowwwww…heartburn.

So here are our theme days. All images are free stock images, except for the Lasagna, which I ACTUALLY MADE AND ATE.

Meat Mondays

This is the day we eat like normal Americans on the SAD (Standard American Diet). Burgers, steak, meatloaf. It gives us something to look forward to after the weekend. This includes any meat-prominent meal that doesn’t fit into any of the other categories.

Taco Tuesdays

Actually, we rarely make tacos on Tuesdays. It’s just an easy way to remember that this is when we eat Latin American food. Or anything seasoned with chiles.

Mediterranean Wednesday

Click image for my favorite lasagna recipe

Originally “House of Italy Wednesday,” we expanded this to include any Mediterranean food, including Moroccan. Wednesday nights we have church, and let’s face it, Italian food is really easy/fast/yummy. If we find a European dish that isn’t “Heart healthy” or meat-prominent, then it will go here, too. But most pub food falls under the “meat” category, or Sunday’s (which you will see below).

Heart Healthy Thursdays

I abbreviate Thursday as “H,” so the alliteration thing sort of works here. This is the day we eat fish, vegetarian, or vegan meals.

Pizza Movie Night Fridays

This is a tradition carried over from LT’s family. We started going to a couple’s Bible study on Friday evenings, so we haven’t done a Friday movie night in a while. So every once in a while, we have Meat & Movie Mondays. LT usually makes the pizza—he loves trying new doughs and pizza recipes. Pepperoni pizza is my classic favorite, but it usually triggers heartburn, so I tend to buy frozen Kashi Mediterranean pizzas.

Oriental Saturdays

LT suggested we change this from “Asian Saturdays” to “Oriental” so we could include African dishes. Now anything from the Eastern hemisphere that doesn’t fall into the Thursday menu and isn’t European or Mediterranean goes here.

Soul Food Sundays

On Sundays we feed our soul at church, and then we feed our tummies with soul food. Yes, I realize I have a corny sense of humor. But Mneumonic devices WORK, people! Anyway, Soul Food Sunday is another “SAD” day, when we eat Macaroni and Cheese and anything baked in a casserole dish, which is called a “Hot dish,” in case that will confuse you in the future. I’m a Minnesotan. I say “pop,” too, even against my will. Anyway, we use the term “soul food” loosely, not in the regional or ethnic sense. I consider any single-dish meal to be soul food because it makes me feel all warm inside. That, and anything with cheese or potatoes in it.

What about Lunch? Breakfast? Second breakfast? Elevensies?

For lunch we have leftovers, soup, or sandwiches. Sometimes all three, because we have leftover soup with sandwiches grilled on the skillet. That’s usually when LT is home, though. I usually have leftovers heated on the stove, because we don’t have a microwave.

For breakfast, we generally have cereal. LT made me French Toast this weekend when I was sleeping in, and brought it to me in bed. Yes, I won the marital lottery with that man.

For snacks, we eat fruit or have chips and salsa. I try not to keep junk food around, but we do have a bag of Doritos from last week, when I successfully got LT to eat and enjoy COOKED BROCCOLI.

How to get your family to eat cooked broccoli:

1. Steam broccoli
2. Top with shredded cheese
3. Melt cheese on broccoli in convection oven (or conventional oven, if you don’t have a convection/toaster oven)
4. Top with crushed nacho-flavored Doritos.

We ate it with Mexican burgers.

I’m thinking every once in a while (I can’t commit to every single week, because life happens), I’ll post our menu for the week as well as our favorite recipe of the week. Or favorite new recipe of the month.

So stay tuned! Also let me know if you have any requests, or are interested in one of our categories above, and I’ll hook you up with a recipe or two.