If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you’re borderline addicted to Pinterest. I noticed that the majority of the traffic to my site comes from Pinterest, which makes sense because I spend a lot of time over there! Since it became so popular, there have been a lot of Pinterest spin-off sites. After looking through quite a few
50 songs from parent to child
Growing up in a musically-talented (except for me) family, songs have been a big part of my life. In fact, my sister and I were both named after songs. I put together this list of songs that were written for children, but are not necessarily children’s songs. You can use this list to make mixed CDs (for yourself and your
Homeschooling children. Homeschooling and socialization
My kid has been studying at home for two years already. This has become the simplest and logical decision for us. Our family upholds and accepts our decision. However I constantly get the same questions to answer. That is why I decided to make a post in which I provide all the answers and will explain my decision. Socialization of
List of family values
Each family has something important, constitutive, which builds the relations of like minded people, and which is taught to kids and for which people live. One third of a life we live together. One fourth of our life we are parents. I think this is a reasonable time to make up a list of values. 1. To be your own
Guest post your eyes windows to the soul and your wellbeing
It goes without saying that as we only get one pair of them during our lifetime, it is vitally important to look after our eyes. Many believe you can tell a lot about a person by looking into their eyes and there is more than element of truth in that statement. If it is an ophthalmic specialist who is looking
Kidecals review
Disclosure: I received complimentary KiDecals products in exchange for posting the following review. All opinions are 100% my own. This review was not guided by Kidecals, nor did they provide any suggestions or requirements as to how the review is written. I am really excited to write about a product that I tried recently, Kidecals. Because I mostly write about methods of simplifying
Guest post adding healthy seafood to your daily diet
I’m so excited to have another guest poster today! Joel Cordle wrote the following post on adding seafood to your diet. Joel Cordle is associated with George stone crab. At George stone crab you will get the best quality sea food, a Stone Crab claws. George Stone Crab packs and delivers the freshest stone crabs to your door, whether you
Mothers day shirt for kids to make
Last week I posted about a cute Mother’s Day flower pot for a child to make (you can find it here). Tonight I realized that I really need to post about this cute Mother’s Day shirt as well. This was also made for me by my daughter, with the help of our child care provider (have you noticed that she’s
Mothers day gift for a child to make
This is a very cute little Mother’s Day gift that our daycare provider made with our daughter last year. It’s perfect for moms who work outside the home (like me) because we can keep it on our desks as a pen holder. It also has a sweet little picture of your child, and a lot of their own painting. If
Diy pacifier clip
For first time mothers, it is essential to have pacifier clips to avoid frequent pacifier sterilizing. It is a normal to have days where most babies play with their pacifiers and throw them at germ-infested places; however, it is stressful. Some mothers tried the ‘easy yet really dangerous’ way to keep pacifiers from missing: pinning it on their baby’s clothing
Playroom organization
Like most houses with young children, we seem to have a never-ending supply of toys. It’s always a challenge to get them organized because there is just so much stuff. I started applying my own rules for my possessions to my kids. As a minimalist-in-training, I only buy something if it fits into one of the following categories: 1) I
5 minute snowman appetizer spinach dip in a bread bowl
I offered to bring an appetizer to a party this year, and wanted to bring something festive. Thanks to Pinterest, I had a ton of winter or Christmas-themed dessert ideas, but I couldn’t find an easy and fun appetizer. My go-to party recipe is spinach dip in a bread bowl, so I decided to put a spin on it. To my
Getting the most from your iphone camera
I feel funny writing a post about photography when clearly I am not the best photographer. However, I’ve been learning a lot and when I look over my scrapbooks, the quality of my pictures has improved unbelievably in the past few months. The best part is that I haven’t spent any money – I have just learned simple photography techniques,
5 minute 1 girls hair accessories
The other day I realized that my daughter could use some more hair accessories – partly thanks to the dog, who has chewed up half of them, and partly thanks to her, for taking them out everywhere we go. When we went to buy some they were cute, but seemed super overpriced. I thought that even an uncrafty mom like
Diy musical scrapbook
Back when I had more time on my hands (i.e. before I had kids), scrapbooking was one of my favorite hobbies. I always wanted to find ways to make them memorable but was not able to come up with any new ideas. Of course, once I stopped scrapbooking, I finally had my great scrapbooking idea! I was inspired when opening
Dr seuss party
My 3 year-old loves all Dr. Seuss books, so this year I decided to do a Dr. Seuss theme for her birthday! These ideas could also be used in classrooms for Dr. Seuss’ birthday celebrations at schools (his birthday is on March 3). Many of these ideas came from some other awesome blogs, so please check out those links (they
Check out my health related guest posts
Lately a lot of my posts have been about living a healthy lifestyle….bikini season must be coming soon!! While I mostly write about home-related topics, I like to write about health a lot as well. These actually turn out to be some of my most popular posts. For my “real job” I work with communities to reduce their obesity rates,
21 awesome non salad veggie recipes
I consider myself a pretty health-conscious person, but I have one heckuva time trying to eat my veggies. I know I need them; I make my kids eat them; they are just not a part of my daily diet. After years of unsuccessfully trying to enjoy salads, I accepted the fact that I am just not a salad person, and
Exercise for busy people
Last week I wrote a post about keeping up your New Year’s Resolution to eat healthy (here it is!). As I promised in that post, here are some tips about keeping up an exercise routine and making it fun. I hope this is helpful! Please leave me a comment to let me know what your favorite way to exercise is,
Healthy eating made easy
This is the time of year when New Year’s Resolutions to eat healthy start to go by the wayside. Because I like to write about different ways to make life easier, I thought this would be the perfect time for this post. Healthy eating is difficult at first, but trust me, it gets easier. Once you get into good habits
My 5 rules for healthy eating
I’m completely addicted to reading all non-fiction and how-to books, but my biggest vice is books on health and nutrition. Secretly, I even listen to health podcasts during work. This post might seem out of place seeing as I blog about simplifying life, but here’s my logic: eating healthy has made my life easier in ways I can’t begin to
My top five exercise rules
1. Bodies are made in the kitchen, not in the gym. Exercise in itself is not an effective weight loss tool. That’s not to say it isn’t beneficial though, as it aids in eating healthy (who wants to eat a piece of cake after a good workout?!), and helps your body and organ systems work more efficiently. It’s best to
New years resolutions for families
I have to admit that I’m somewhat of a New Year’s Resolutions junkie. I love the idea of creating a good habit each year. In fact, I started doing monthly resolutions so that I didn’t have to wait until January to implement an idea for a resolution. My friend started doing Family Resolutions, so of course I had to piggy
Ugly christmas sweaters for the family 4 each
I’m a big fan of movie quotes, so this year I decided to incorporate them into sweaters for my in-laws’ Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Since I like to save money where I can, I made them myself. First I created the images, then printed them onto iron-on paper (which you can get at any craft store), and then simply
Uplifting christmas stories of 2012
“Whenever I get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. To me, love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there. Fathers and sons, mothers
Bathroom and laundry room reveal
I’m so excited about our recent, much needed, house renovations. For this post, I’m going to show our makeover in our bathroom/laundry room. I wasn’t able to get “before” pictures until the renovations already started, but you’ll get the idea of how bad it was from these pictures. Before showing the whole finished room, I’ll show the details. Here is
Organizing girls hair accessories
My little girl was bald until she was 3 years old, but since then, trying to organize her hair accessories has driven me crazy. Finally I took a few simple steps to get everything in place. This cleared up a lot of clutter on her dresser and made all of her hair accessories much easier to find. My daughter loves
Spring cleaning so that i never have to spring clean again
Every time I spring clean my house I say what everybody says: ”I’m never going to let my house get this way again.” While over the years my spring cleaning has become less and less intensive, my house never stays exactly the way it is when I’m finished with the spring cleaning. This year I decided to actually decide how I
Easy menu board and meal planner
I, like all of you, see so many cute menu boards for meal planning on Pinterest and on blogs. My initial thought is “how cute!”, followed quickly by “I don’t think I could ever replicate that!”. Unfortunately I inherited the ideas gene, but not the crafty gene, so I have to stick to very simple DIY projects. While making the
Easy pour everything
When I was baking the other day I wondered why salt comes in an easy-to-pour container, but nothing else does. Someday I’m sure this will change, but until then, I decided to make my own. You can use this for sugar, spices, flour, baking soda, or any other “granular” ingredient. This makes it easier to pour into measuring cups. It’s
Conquer your closet clutter
There’s a scene in the first Sex and the City movie where Carrie and Big find their dream apartment. Amongst all of the 200 square-foot shoeboxes in New York City, this apartment has a terrace, wood floors, huge windows, and never-ending space. Carrie is sold on the apartment until she sees it: the teeny, tiny, holds-two-purses closet. This is exactly