Pinteresting: Cell Phone Holder

This was one of the very first pins I pinned when I joined Pinterest - possibly the first.  It's great idea:

Idea of the Day
Take an empty bottle, cut it off so it fits your phone, leaving at the top a little loop to hang off the charger.  Decorate as desired.

The original pin is very pretty.  She took the time to delicately round and smooth all the edges.  She mod-podged this cute fabric to it.  It looks glorious and functional!

My take on it is a little less polished, but I don't care.

I took an empty shampoo bottle and a knife. That's all.  No fancy-shmancy stuff here.  I think to myself "hmm, maybe someday I'll decorate it."  But really why bother?  I did remove the labels at least.

I use this thing every time I charge my phone.  It allows me to plug the phone into an outlet in the kitchen that hangs above the dish rack.  The holder keeps the phone out of the dishes and away from grabby little hands that would love to play with Mommy's phone and rip the charger out.

The only thing I would note is to make sure the bottle accommodates both the phone and the charger.  My phone is not smart at all. The charger attaches to the side.  That added an extra 1/2 of an inch to the phone's width because of the plug and curving cord.  I had to chop extra bottle off to get it to fit.  Not a big deal, but just mildly annoying since I thought I was done.  

7 Quick Takes: July 5 Edition

-1-

Whoohoo look at this! It's only 8:30pm, it's still daylight outside and I have a few minutes to sit down and write some paltry post.  I warned you all to not expect too much from this blog.  So here we go...linking up with Jen.  

-2-

"How is she sitting down so early?" you may be wondering.  Well, my friends, my brother-in-law has come for a visit, and he and my husband decided that while I was at work today they would have as much fun with the Little Man as possible - wear him out so he'd take an early nap.

They failed.

The poor guys tried a two hour walk & playground excursion.  They played many games.  All for naught.  The Little Man would not nap.  I arrived home, and he continued in his wide-eyed and bushytailed state.  The gentlemen decided they were not tired either, so they set out to play some evening tennis.

I sat down with the little guy, and after reading the same book no less than 8 times in a row (possibly more, and it is not a short book), he whipped out the towel that usually serves as a changing pad, threw it on the floor and insisted I lay down with him.

A few minutes later:

Silence is golden.


(Don't worry, he's in his bed now.)

-3- 

The book we were reading is this darling story:

Albert the Fix-It Man

Written and illustrated by two sisters, it's a very sweet story of a man who helps everyone and in turn is helped by others.  We've been participating in our library's Summer Reading Challenge.  I'm very glad that the program is open to all people from birth up!  Even though I'm the one usually picking the books and always logging and reviewing what we read together, it's helped me be more motivated in making sure there's always a variety of books for us to read together.  It's also motivated us to go to the library more often - and he LOVES that!

 -4- 

I love summer.  One of the best things about it is fresh fruit!  The other day a friend called me up and we took our little ones out to pick strawberries! 

8 pounds!  Not bad for the end of the season.  Now I have some in the freezer, 5 jars of jam, and 6 jars of various flavored sauce perfect for topping ice cream.  Strawberry and whiskey sauce anyone?  It was a hit last night!

-5-

Speaking of last night....Good grief!!!  I was beginning to wonder if our town had decided to bombard our neighbors to the north to try to annex their land.  I have never heard so many fireworks!  Granted, where I grew up you could not could not set off fireworks in your backyard and here you can.  This was only our second Independence Day here (we'd always traveled before), but I really didn't remember it being so violent last year.

This morning my favorite radio weatherman provided an explanation: last year we were in drought conditions so there was a ban.  This year, people were free to let loose.  And they did.

It sounded like a warzone.  The Little Man was terrified and cried quite a bit.

And for all the noise, I didn't get to see a single one. 

-6-

Back to the subject of books... Kate included me in a book exchange via snail mail. I now need to find 6 willing mommy (or daddy) participants to pass the letter on to.  The idea is you send one book, pass on the letter to 6 more people, and you get 36 books in return (if everyone does their part).  Do any of my readers want to participate? Let me know. I have some people in mind, but thought I'd put it up here just in case there's someone who'd really love to do it.  Friends and books -what a perfect combination!

-7-

Okay, down to 7. While I'm throwing stuff out to the crowd - does anyone have any suggestions for the blog? Any inspiration to get me running?  I'd be glad for any thoughts! 

Have a great weekend!

7 Quick Takes: June 28 Edition

-1-

Well my friends, I'm linking up with Jen again.  You know, I had great hopes of writing a wonderful post for today.  That did not happen.  It is not going to.  I spent all of my computer time yesterday and today making a photo book on Shutterfly.

I am a Shutterfly addict.  I've been doing pretty good lately - but then I received a coupon for a free photo book (you still have to pay the $8 shipping, but whatever).  I've tried their various products in the past but this is the first book I've done. I am super excited to see it in print.

-2-

Google Reader is about to cease to exist. July 1 Google will be removing one of it's most wonderful services.  I'm in a bit of a panic.  I've been ignoring the little warnings that pop up every time I log in. Maybe if I ignore them enough they'll just go away and Reader will stay.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a replacement reader?  Please let me know!  I'd appreciate it!

-3- 

This past weekend was spent with some of my extended family at our "Ancestral Lake Home" - once owned by my paternal grandparents, now co-owned by their children.  It's a lot of fun!  I was reminded yet again that I am really blessed with an incredible family.  As one of my aunts pointed out: not every family can pull off sharing a cottage for multiple generations without ever having a major fight. 

-4- 

Speaking of that, we left after everyone else.  We arrived home from a day of less then pleasant work to find this wonderful bag of chocolate in the fridge.

-5-

My birthday? Why yes....it is around this time if you were wondering.  More chocolate?  Why yes I'd like that too. 

-6-

Six?  I think that really 5 Quick Takes should be sufficient.  It seems I run out of things to talk about after #5.  Maybe I should make a rival link up of only 5.  The lazy, uninteresting, uncreative people's link up. Anyone interested?

-7-

Well, since I am going for 7, I guess I can tell you all about terrible storm that blew through here the other day.  Branches down everywhere. Wires down everywhere.  Our neighbor's power box was ripped out of her house.  It really frustrates me that all the wires are above ground around here.  I grew up a spoiled child in a place where nearly all wires and cables of any sort were buried deep below the ground.  I believe everywhere should get with the times and invest in burying their lines.  Their less likely to be destroyed by falling branches and it sure looks a lot tidier too.  Just a thought.

On Waste

My neighbors across the street appear to be moving.  Most likely moving on short notice.  I never really got to know them - a single mom with 3 kids.   People were always coming and going, and now people having been buzzing about all afternoon and evening emptying the contents of the home onto the beds of two pickup trucks and carting it away.

Except for the giant pile of "trash."

Not the neighbors, but you get the idea.

American homes generate a ridiculous amount of waste on a day to day basis.  That alone is a crime, but what's really killing me right now is that a lot of this "trash" is seemingly usable items the family simply doesn't need any more and does not want to take.  Okay, so just some of it is.  I hope that she is getting better beds to replace the 6 duct-taped mattresses lying in the heap.  But why are her male friends gleefully carrying bookshelves, TV stands, and other furniture items down to the curb and then smashing and kicking the heck out of them?  Why not at least leave them standing for the evening with a sign saying "free?" 

I'm kind of hoping the rocking horse and kid's picnic table survive the madness and maybe I can ask her for them.

The most nonsensical part of this scene is that all of these people are living in "poverty."  I see this so often at work.  Many of those in poverty are the worst stewards of the resources they have.

I don't understand.   I would have paid her for a couple of those shelves, but before I could open my front door they were destroyed.  Can anyone explain?

She could have sold them for money, which she almost certainly needs.  She could have given them to a friend - I'm sure she knows someone who could use them.  But now she's just deprived herself of money, or her friends of the goods, and added to the ever-growing morass of waste consuming our world. 

7 Quick Takes: June 21 Edition

-1-

It's finally the end of the week!  Time to link up with Jen. I have not improved in the timely-posting department.  At least not by much.  I guess I am better by an hour.  Can you believe I even started a draft days ago and still couldn't get it out earlier?  Thank you to anyone who actually reads this.

-2-

If any of you who read last week's 7 Quick Takes were wondering, yes, we did make it to the Old2Gold sale.  It was pretty crazy.

The organizers recommend that people have an idea of what they want so they can make a bee-line for it.  The thing they should really emphasize is that you really should only plan on getting one category of goods.  Even if you have a seemingly short list of 3 things (say, organizing bins, sweaters, and a bookcase) you will realistically only get one of those items.

That being said, I got really lucky!  While we didn't get a bike we were hoping for (those things sell out super quick), I scored the totes I wanted, plus some random goods picked up along the way.

Sorry the pyrex didn't make it in the first picture. 

Total spent: $26  -  $16, plus $5 admission per adult.

-3- 

Michelle over at My Domestic Monastery wrote a really great post earlier this week: TV is Not Evil.  The issue of my little guy and screen time is something my husband and I worry about frequently.  I hope I can share my thoughts and experiences in more depth soon.  In the meantime, head on over to Michelle's post.  

-4- 

My little guy loves watching Spot and recently discovered Peep and the Big Wide World.  He LOVES Peep and his friends Chirp and Quack. The other day in an effort to pull him away from watching one more segment, I found some coloring pages and printed them out.  He was so shocked to see his new favorite characters on paper and not the computer that after staring wide-eyed, jaw agape for minute, he buried his head in embarrassment.  (See more below.)   Then he got over his high emotion and colored with reckless abandon. 

You know you're a Mommy Blogger when you post your kid's "Works of Art"

-5-

Embarrassment?!  We are approaching the "Terrible Twos" as people like to call the wonderful 3rd year of life. I'm sure there will be a lot of strong feelings and emotions going on, but that is part of this developmental stage. Just this past week embarrassment walked on stage. 

Our friend Therese and her son came over to visit on Tuesday.  My little guy was so excited to see his buddy, but being an awkward toddler who is still figuring out how to share, he didn't really know how to handle it all. 

At one point he came out of the room where he and his friend were playing.  He tripped a little.  He didn't really fall, and he certainly didn't get hurt, but the fact that he tripped, even a little, in front of Therese caused him to hide his head in shame.  He wouldn't look up until I came over and told him it really was okay and Therese didn't think less of him for it.

We had a few more similar incidents through the week and I'm sure there are many more to come.  I find childhood development fascinating all the way around, but this growing awareness of emotion and social interacting is particularly intriguing.  Anyone know any good books about it?  I'd love to read up.

-6- 

Speaking of reading up, at the suggestion of a friend, I picked up this book. I'm very excited to start it this weekend.  I'm also super excited because said friend is planning on making a tour of major historical sites throughout the mid-Atlantic.  Since I'm so jealous that I'm stuck in the Midwest and can't join her, I've been pushing her to blog the experience.  Stay tuned.  I think she finally has a blog title! ;-)

-7-

Lastly, I'm looking forward to this weekend.  I get to hang out with some of my extended family!  It's going to be blast!  Hope you all have great weekends too.

Pinteresting: Scratches Vanquished by Nuts

I love Pinterest.  It took me awhile to realize its value, but once I did I was hooked.  It's a wonderful place to get ideas and inspiration.  Yes, sometimes you do have to take things with a grain (or few) of salt. But isn't that true of everything on the internet?

While it might not be the most exciting of series, I thought I'd share various projects and tips gleaned from the boards of Pinterest.

Here we go!


Ever had some nasty scratches on a wood surface you'd wish would go away?  I have lots.  Particularly on this lovely toddler bed we recently acquired.

Idea of the Day: Rub a raw nut across those scratches and watch them fade away!


Walnut and Brazil Nuts are preferred - their oily flesh is perfect for the job. (Don't forget to take it out of the shell first, silly.) I only had raw almonds on hand.  They accomplished the job decently.

Here's how it turned out:

I'm still hoping to pick up some walnuts and test them on some of the more difficult scratches. But that's not too bad is it?

Certainly a handy trick I'll keep in mind.

7 Quick Takes

-1-

Linking up with Jen's 7 Quick Takes seems to be one of the cool things to do these days, so here I am jumping on the bandwagon.  I might slip and fall off though.  Try not to laugh too hard.

-2-

Speaking of, Martha, who did her Quick Takes at a reasonable hour, asked:

 "time to write those posts is so limited. So, other moms who blog with little ones- answer me this: HOW DO YOU DO IT?!?!?!?!"

Martha, if you get an answer, let me know.  In the meantime my solution is blogging Friday's post at 11:20 on Friday night.  Eeesh.

Maybe I'll just fudge the time stamp and pretend I'm so organized.

-3- 

Regardless, I should not be up this late.  Tomorrow is Notre Dame's Old2Gold Sale.  Notre Dame students are notorious for having a lot of stuff - usually nice stuff - and also for leaving said stuff behind when they graduate and move on with life.  So the University collects it all and sells it off - a giant yard sale in the stadium - and all the proceeds go to charity. Pretty cool.  For the last several years I've wanted to go and check it out.  Each year something's come up, but honestly it runs from 7:00am to 10:00, the bulk of the stuff sells in the first hour and, oh yes, you can't line up earlier than 4:30am.

That's just scary.   I am NOT a morning person.  I repeat: I am NOT a morning person.

Neither is the Hubby, but he needs a new bike.  That's our motivation.  We'll see how this goes.

-4- 

I am not a morning person.

-5-

Speaking of yard sale shopping: Dear People of the world, please consider starting your yard sales a little earlier in the day and run them until about 4 instead of noon.  Thanks.
If I ever have a yard sale there's no way I'm waking up at the crack of dawn on Saturday.

-6-

Earlier this year the city of South Bend decided to allow homeowners to keep up to 6 hens within the city limits.  Pretty awesome.  Even more awesome, our next-door neighbors immediately took advantage of this and so we get to watch 6 hilarious hens pecking around. 

They make my day every time. 

-7-

And now I'm going to bed.  Sweet dreams.