What I Loved About Last Week (32nd Ed.)

1. I went to the Catholic homeschool group book sale last week all by myself. I sold a few things and spent a little more, but I like the few things I bought. I was especially pleased to find a used copy in perfect condition of How Our Nation Began.

2. I have been enjoying our days without lessons. So far I've put all our 2010 and 2011 pictures in albums and have even replaced some of the pictures on the walls so Second Son isn't only represented by one picture of him when he was three months old. I did some deep cleaning. I've also been working on a bunch of projects I started the week after Easter and then left lying on my hutch until I had time to get to them.

3. We had our last faith formation meeting. I love getting together once a month with our friends, but it will be nice to be done until the fall.

4. The dumpster is gone! Kansas Dad did a great job clearing off the old out-building site.

5. On Friday, a couple of ladies and I cleaned our Atrium and it is now sparkling! We have a lot of work left to do to get the 6-9 materials finished, but it's going to be great.

6. We had friends visiting to play all afternoon on Saturday and a lovely dinner with a good friend.

7. On Sunday, we went to Mass, then breakfast at our parish, then a tea party (for the girls; the guys had a video game party), then dinner with Grammy and Paw Paw. Whew! But it was a lovely day!

A Comment on Charlotte Mason's Philosophy

Charlotte Mason emphasized the importance of children experiencing nature in all kinds of weather, including the rain and mud of spring. In theory, I agree with her completely.

In practice, though, I'd just like to point out that Ms. Mason did not have to do the laundry, mop the floors, or shampoo the carpet when everyone came back inside.

Considering Chores

As I plan for next year (Oh, it's fun!), I have been contemplating chores. I think a goal for this summer will be to teach everyone a new chore and clarify the ones they've been doing as their own responsibility.

Someone at Faith and Family posted a link to this article that I found timely: What can children do? A guide. I'll be keeping this in mind as I look around the house to find jobs for everyone.

What I Loved About Last Week (12 Ed.)

1. This week I pulled out an old exercise tape. This is one I originally used back in 2001 and have used off and on in all the years since. I never remember it being easy. Well, this week it was easy! Despite knowing the entire tape by heart, I was shocked when it ended. I guess all that time with the Wii Fit has been doing some good after all. (Not having lost significant weight or inches, I must take my successes where I find them.)

2. We met some good friends for a playdate at the zoo this week. It's been a while since we were there and it was very fun to see Second Son enjoying himself.

He doesn't have mittens! Maybe he'll get some for Christmas.

A very pretty picture of First Daughter

First Son pausing for a picture

Second Daughter in her furry coat

3. Peppermint marshmallows. Enough said.

4. A Small Miracle by Peter Collington. We read it this week and Oh! How I love it!

5. I love how much children love Advent. They are excited each day for our picture book, for the new magnet for our fridge Nativity, to light the candle on the Advent wreath at dinner, to prepare for the feast days. Second Daughter doesn't remember last Advent (being only two at the time) and the older two love to tell her exactly what to expect.

6. Etsy - I ordered something for the first time ever from Etsy. It was easy, the site was beautiful and I found the perfect gift.

7. Video of Second Son. I think this video is from May 2011, so he's about ten months old. I found it while going through my pictures.

8. Video of Second Son last week. We're not entirely sure what he's doing here, but we think he's shooting "guns." First Son has been playing "Hero Factory" which involves saving the world from bad guys who shoot some sort of weapon. Second Son wants to play along.

9. Dishwashers that work. Kansas Dad washed all the filters on our water softener. It took a while, but the cleansing finally worked its way to the dishwasher.


Take a deep breath. Next week we have St. Nicholas's Feast Day, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, First Son's birthday party, First Son's First Reconciliation, and First Son's actual birthday. Somewhere in all that we're going to have some lessons, too. I make no promises to post What I Love About Last Week on time next week, but I do promise there will be much to love!

Book Discussion: Chapter 8 in One Thousand Gifts

Brandy at Afterthoughts is blogging as she reads A Mother's Rule of Life. You can catch up on the series (so far) here. Her third post was still fresh in my mind when I read chapter ten of One Thousand Gifts, entitled empty to fill.

In this chapter, Ann Voskamp continues her exploration of eucharisteo:

At the last, this is what will determine a fulfilling, meaningful life, a life that, behind all the facades, every one of us longs to live: gratitude for the blessings that expresses itself by becoming the blessing. (emphasis the author's)

She realizes that each and every task is an opportunity for her to be a gift to others, that all of His gifts are in fact incomplete unless we reach out to others.

I scour pots and grin silly: I can wash feet here by washing dishes.

Later:

Scratching a stubborn pot furiously with a wire scrubby, I remember it again, what I once read of liturgy. That liturgy has its roots in the Greek word leitourgia, meaning "public work" or "public servant." The meaning! This life of washing dishes, of domestic routine, it can be something wholly different. This life of rote work, it is itself public work, a public serving--even this scrubbing of pans--and thus, if done unto God, the mundane work can become the living liturgy of the Last Supper. I could become the blessing, live the liturgy! I rinse pots and sing it softly, "This is my song of thanks to You..." (emphasis the author's)

There's more. We must not think only of the people we serve, the very real crying, moaning, whining, grumpy little people -- or even the homeless, the sick, the elderly.

When service is unto people, the bones can grow weary, the frustration deep.

When we concentrate on serving other people, even people we love deeply and who depend entirely on us as a newborn does, we dwell on ourselves. We think of our sacrifice, what we deserve.

But when Christ is at the center, when dishes, laundry, work, is my song of thanks to Him, joy rains. Passionately serving Christ alone makes us the loving servant to all. When the eyes of the heart focus on God, and the hands on always washing the feet of Jesus alone--the bones, they sing joy, and the work returns to its purest state: eucharisteo. The work becomes worship, a liturgy of thankfulness.

I haven't finished the book yet, but I think this is by far the best chapter with only one to go.

Someday...

Someday I will do all the laundry and will not have to wash any clothes, diapers or bed linens that someone went to the bathroom in or on.

Someday...

What I Loved About Last Week (5th Ed.)

1. Kansas Dad and I spent the weekend away from home and the kids. My mother and mother-in-law held down the fort, fed the kids and ferried First Daughter to and from her soccer game.

2. For the first time this year, First Son's weather graph for math showed more cool days than warm ones.

3. Kansas Dad and I had two nights without feeding anyone else, making a meal or washing any dishes.

4. My new dryer chirps when the cycle is finished. It makes me foolishly happy.

5. For two days, Kansas Dad and I didn't have to hear anyone say, "What else is there to eat?"

6. Our Fly Trap experiment failed to attract any fruit flies. I know I should be disappointed that the kids have missed out on an exciting observation opportunity, but I'm just happy to learn my kitchen does not harbor a fruit fly population.

7. Did I mention Kansas Dad and I had a lovely weekend all to ourselves full of good food, a museum of art and a luxurious hotel?

What I Loved About Last Week (4th Ed.)

1. We almost finished lessons before lunch on Tuesday. I made it halfway through First Daughter's reading lesson. Usually we need at least an hour after lunch to finish up.

2. Once last week, First Son got every single one of his math fact sheet problems done correctly in under a minute. He knows those sums of ten facts amazingly well!

3. We had an awesome discussion this week as we started our second unit of Connecting with History volume 2. Without any idea what the answer would be, I asked First Son why he thought Jesus was born as a baby instead of arriving on earth as an adult. He answered, "So he could grow." I thought that was a remarkably good answer from a second grade boy. I really enjoyed our conversation.

4. Hanging clothes outside - Last week our dryer crossed over to the no-longer-worth-fixing-and-broken-again zone. We ordered a new one, one that will not arrive until today. In consequence, I've spent the past week hanging nearly everything out on the line. I tend to use the dryer because finding time around a one-year-old and homeschooling a second grader (not to mention the other two in-between) is a hassle, but I do love a few minutes of sunshine at random times during the day and the sound of slapping clothes as they flap in the wind. I may even try to keep up with the clothesline on our easier days as long as the weather holds up. (Though we do have days of strong Kansas winds! More than once the first clothes I hung were dry before I finished hanging all the clothes in the load.)

5. Second Daughter saying, "I'm growing big, but I'm still little."

6. The near pristine hardcover copy of The Legend of the Poinsettia from a wonderful member of PaperBackSwap which appears to be autographed by the author. I also received a wonderful hardcover copy of Paddle-to-the-Sea. (I waited a long time for that one!)

7. Teaching my first lesson of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

8. A fabulous picture of Second Daughter and a wonderful trip to a living history museum for the fall education day.


9. Wonderful news about a first baby!

10. First Son's narration of the myth of Europa and Cadmus. He finished Europa off in one sentence, dooming her to wander the world riding on a "deer." Cadmus, though, was another story. He went into great detail:

Cadmus was sent away from the castle because he was blamed for the bull that took away his sister. Then he followed a brindled cow and in the spot that he was supposed to build a city he had lots of people following him who he thought would help build the city. He sat down and waited. He sat and he sat and he sat, but they didn’t come. They were eaten by a dragon which he defeated.

He planted the teeth and soldiers grew from them. Then they helped him build the city and he was the king. They called it Thebes.

This is easily the best narration he has ever given. If only every story had a dragon to slay and teeth to plant! (I type his myth narrations from Classic Myths to Read Aloud. Putting the piece of paper into his Mario folder is probably the highlight of the narration for him. I accept that.)

11. Second Daughter's "laughing pumpkin."

How was your week last week? Anything wonderful happen?


** Please note, I am a new affiliate with RC History. If you follow the link above for Connecting with History and make a purchase, I do receive a commission. I love this program and have no qualms about encouraging any Catholic to learn more about it. (Non-Catholics probably want to look elsewhere for a history program.)

Saving and Stashing Children's Clothing

One of the comments that was deleted during the Great Blogger Outage of 2011 asked how I store and organize our children's clothing.

So I thought I'd write a little post on what we do. I must admit: I'm not sure I'm doing this right.

More than a year ago, I wrote a post on how we store shoes. It's still spot on. In the same vein, I moved all of our diapers into one bin, along with a copy of our inventory. These sorts of items are best left where they can be quickly pulled out and switched when the weather changes or shoes are suddenly not fitting as you're about to run out the door for Mass.

I used to store our clothing in clear bins so I could see inside. I'd tuck a piece of paper facing outward with the main theme of the bin like "Boy Winter 12 month and smaller." That worked for a while, until we had two more babies and the amount of clothes was making the plastic bin expenses a bit outrageous.

Then we moved to our house. It was a good move. We had more space inside and a lot more space outside, but almost no storage space. All the stored clothes, diapers, shoes, coats, toys and other paraphernalia are living in the master bedroom closet. That would be the same closet that holds all of Kansas Dad's clothes and all of my clothes, along with (currently) our corn and bean planter, a backpack child carrier and all of my childhood papers (awesome stuff like my college scrapbook where you can find the letter Kansas Dad sent out when he was my RA and some less awesome stuff as well). It was getting too crowded in there.

So I spent a long time going through every single piece of children's clothes. I gathered a bunch of boxes from our move that were all the same size and shape. They're a medium size moving box, I think, smaller than most of the typical plastic bins. I labeled each one with a gender and a size and limited myself to only what would fit in that box for that category.

I first sorted all the clothes into the proper categories, which created a lot of piles that rose far above the box tops. I tackled each pile separately, sorting each of those into the long pants, shorts, long-sleeve shirts, short-sleeve shirts, pajamas, etc. Then I tried to select my favorites and the most useful of each of them so we would have enough for each season in each size.

They look rough, but they were cheap and they do the job.

I made a few notes on the outside for specific things like winter coats, summer jackets, and swimsuits which could possibly be used by a child slightly larger or smaller. I also noted if those items were gender-neutral.

Everything that didn't fit in the boxes I sold or gave away. I'd like to say I still do, but I happen to know the 4T girl clothes are filling two different boxes right now. There's a good chance Second Daughter will be able to wear them in the fall, so I decided to bend my rule a little.

After much consideration, Kansas Dad and I decided to save significantly fewer clothes when Second Son (and Second Daughter, for the purely girl things) outgrow them. Many of the clothes we have saved for Second Daughter and Second Son have been the wrong size for the season. Often, stains will appear in storage. We have always had generous friends and family pass down gently used clothing or purchase new clothes that we need.


We have not decided against having more children, but we are trying to be more protective of our space. I was running out of room for new boxes, not to mention my clothes. Also, we can now be as generous with our clothes as others have been. I am saving a few of my very favorite outfits and a few selected items like our Woombies. Everything else is either donated, given to friends or sold.

Also, and this is an important rule on the Range, if something is stained, do not keep it for the next child. I used to think, "Oh, I should keep this for wearing around the house or in the garden." I have realized, though, that there are always newly stained clothes to wear around the house or in the garden. There are also a few stains the mysteriously appear while clothes are stored. No need to save something just for play.

If it's something I truly loved, I will sometimes cut swatches or strips to keep for crafts projects. If it's the right kind of material, I'll cut it up for rags. If it's cotton, hemp, wool, or other natural fiber, I'll compost it. Did you know you could do that? Otherwise, I throw it out. Charities do not want your stained clothing. (I suppose you could freecycle it, if you think it might be good for sewing into something else or rag carpets or something. Hmm...maybe someday I'll learn to make rag carpets. Sounds interesting, but I digress.)

One last tip: If you hope to save socks for future children, or if you think you may someday be sorting socks for similarly sized children, invest in socks with the sizes printed right on the bottom. I'm sure there are others, but I know Old Navy and Baby Gap sell socks like that. I think Target might as well.

My Small Successes XL

Well, hopefully Blogger won't delete this post again, though at least this one was still in my list of drafts. I lost my later one from Thursday completely. The lovely ladies at Faith and Family have asked Sherry at Chocolate for Your Brain to host Small Successes from now on. She also lost her post yesterday, but I'm going to link up today and hope others will as well.

1. I pulled all the coats and extra sweatshirts from the coat closet, washed them and put them away until it gets cold again. None too soon, since we hit 100 degrees earlier this week.

2. I also sorted through all the cold weather and outgrown clothes that were stacked precariously in and around our closet. I can now reach my clothes without sucking in my stomach, standing on tiptoe and squeezing in sideways.

3. I went shopping! Second Son came, but Kansas Dad was along to tote him around as he napped in his car seat. I bought a black skirt which I've been wanting for ages (any black skirt, not this one in particular). Hooray for sales and $10 off a $10 purchase coupons.

All of this accomplished, of course, before Second Son developed chicken pox. Since then my productivity has decreased substantially.

Head over to Chocolate for Your Brain to read more Small Successes.

Cookbook Review: My Bread

My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method by Jim Lahey

My very sweet brother and sister-in-law sent me this cookbook back when I was horribly ill, so I'd have something to peruse and plan while I was feeling too sick to do anything. Her brother is a real chef, with a restaurant and everything. He gave this book his seal of approval so she knew I'd like it. And I do!

Years ago, when Kansas Dad and I lived in New York City, we'd select all sorts of scrumptious food at local stores. (Let's not talk about how much money we used to spend on food!) One of our favorite meals was crusty bread with salami and cheese. I have tried a few times over the years to recreate that bread at home with no luck at all. I can make a good solid loaf of sandwich bread in the bread machine and some decent cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls from scratch, but the crusty loaf with soft crumbs on the inside eluded me and I finally gave up.

Until now.

Not only do the instructions and recipes in this book give the perfect loaf of crusty bread, but they are so easy and inexpensive anyone can make it! First Daughter nearly always helps me get it started.

Basically, you need some bread flour (and other flours like wheat or rye, if you want to try the variations), a smidge of salt, a tiny amount of yeast, and water. Mix it up and let it sit on your counter overnight. Back when it was winter, I let mine sit for 24 hours or so.

You can see the ingredients are simple and frugal. In fact, this wonderful bread uses a fraction of the yeast of a standard loaf of bread. Since it's often one of the most expensive ingredients, you can make a lot more bread for your money with this book.

Jim Lahey writes, "A benefit to using a smaller amount of yeast is that it makes room for naturally occurring flavorful bacteria that are attracted to flour to enter into the equation during the 12- to 18-hour fermentation." Do you know what that means? In a very real way, this bread can taste like home.

The dough is very wet at this point. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's very sticky.

Then, you tuck the ends under and let it rise for about two hours before baking it in a cast-iron pot in the oven. Notice, I did not say knead. There really is no kneading involved. Just mixing and shaping. Here's a picture of my very first loaf (from a few months ago):

The picture looks pretty good, but the bread is unbelievably good. We rarely have a single bite left after cracking a loaf open.

Essential to the process is the cast-iron pot. We bought a Lodge Logic L8DOL3 Pre-Seasoned 5-Quart Dutch Oven with Loop Handles. It's just about the most reasonably-priced option. I think nearly any dutch oven would work, but believe it or not, we didn't own one! It works perfectly for the bread. We've also used it for lots of other meals and are very pleased with it.

Another tool that makes this bread simpler and more likely to succeed is a kitchen scale. A few years ago, I received the Oxo 1130800 Good Grips Food Scale with Pull-Out Display (11 lb, 5 kg) for Christmas. I use it almost every day and love it. You'll see a great improvement especially in breads with a kitchen scale because the balance of dry to wet ingredients is so important, but I use it for all sorts of baking and cooking. I've found it has decreased my dishes because I don't use nearly as many measuring cups.

The only hard part about the whole process is washing up. Trust me on this: wash your spoon immediately after mixing the bread. It will not come clean in the dishwasher and it will be annoying to wash by hand later. Along the same lines, soak or wash the bowl immediately after setting the dough to rise.

I cannot recommend this cookbook highly enough. I hope you all have a chance to try it yourself.

I did not receive anything for this post. I either purchased or received as a gift from family everything in this review. If you follow any likes to Amazon and make a purchase, I do receive a small referral fee.

Surprise!

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in months.

I swept the kitchen floor after lunch.

It was so nice to not have crunches under my feet in the afternoon. Sweeping during the day was one of those things I just didn't do for a while.

Today, Second Son had spots on his back. They looked like pimples. Kansas Dad and I knew just what they were -- chicken pox.

The other three have been vaccinated, so hopefully we won't have a huge epidemic here on the Range. We will be sticking close to home for a while, though.

Product Review: Rockin' Green Hard Rock 2.0 Detergent and Funk Rock Ammonia Bouncer

About six months ago, I started using Rockin' Green detergent. I waited a long time to write a review of it because I wanted to be sure it's performance held up over time. It has!

Rockin' Green is environmentally-friendly and safe for the most sensitive skin. It's free of dyes, enzymes, optical brighteners and phosphates. I think I even read in one of the recent newsletters that it's gluten free.

What I love best about this detergent is that I can purchase some specifically formulated for hard water. We discovered after some time here in our house, as opposed to back in town, that our old detergent just wasn't good enough for the diapers. Enter Hard Rock 2.0. Our well water is exceptionally hard. Before Kansas Dad rebuilt the water softener (Have I mentioned lately how he's my hero?), our water measured a staggering 28.6 GPG. (1 - 3.5 is slightly hard; over 10.5 is very hard.) Though our water softener makes a big difference, it's still difficult to find soaps and detergents that give consistent results. You can also purchase Soft Rock for soft water and Classic Rock for everything in between. They are all safe for diapers and for use in HE washing machines.

After a few weeks, I was so impressed I started to use this "good stuff" for the towels, too. I wash towels, washcloths, hand towels, bibs and cleaning rags together on hot water. I like to know they're getting really clean. (One of these days I'll probably switch all our laundry, but for now I tell myself it's cheaper to use the coupon-sale combo detergent for everything else.)

Rockin' Green detergents come in a variety of scents. In the past, I ordered only unscented because Kansas Dad doesn't care for scents, but my most recent order included three different scents. I decided to give them a try. There's no extra charge for the scented varieties and the scent washes out in the laundry. They are purely for enjoyment as you're pouring the soap into the washing machine. (The washing instructions even say you're to "savor the smell.")

Though there's one store within driving distance that carries Rockin' Green, I tend to buy mine online. If I watch the cloth diapering stores and follow Rockin' Green on Facebook, I can usually buy ahead with a sale.

If you're intrigued, you can order samples of the detergent of your choice directly from Rockin' Green.

While I was pleased with our new diaper-laundry detergent, we noticed a distinct ammonia smell from Second Daughter's diapers a few months ago. I clicked over to Cloth Diaper Outlet and ordered some Funk Rock Ammonia Bouncer, a new product from Rockin' Green. I soaked the inserts overnight. I'll be honest;  the water the next morning was totally gross! I could not believe how much gunk was built up in those inserts! I followed the simple instructions for the soak and washing them afterward. We've had no smelly problems since. Hooray! They recommend using about a tablespoon of the Funk Rock in the wash every time, but I use it about every third wash (once a week or so) to help keep the funk away.

This review is my honest opinion about Rockin' Green detergent. I purchased the products myself, did not receive anything for the review and will not receive anything if you order from Rockin' Green. If you follow the link to Cloth Diaper Outlet and make a purchase, I do receive a small commission.

Happy laundry!

Product Review: Baby Bear Wool Dryer Balls

I have never used fabric softener with our cloth diapers or towels. I think any diaper site will tell you to avoid all fabric softeners. Because they decrease absorbancy, it's a bit counter-productive to use them with towels. All these years we've cloth-diapered, though, I've continued to use fabric softener with our other loads. Just a tiny bit, but still some.

A couple of months ago, we started to reach the end of the last bottle we bought on sale and I decided to research dyer balls.

Dryer balls are just what they sound like: balls that go in the dyer with your clothes while the dryer is running. They supposedly separate the clothes to decrease static cling and naturally soften them, without the chemicals of a standard fabric softener. Wool dryer balls seem to compare favorably to the PVC ones. From what I read online (taken with a grain of salt), the PVC balls can damage clothes, do not decrease drying time substantially and are not particularly environmentally friendly.

That was all fine with me because I really just wanted to buy the Baby Bear Wool Dryer Balls at Cloth Diaper Outlet. I ordered six of them. Between the discount for ordering six and the free shipping with orders over $50, the cost was about the same for six as for four (which is probably the minimum necessary to make any difference when drying clothes).

Here they are, a couple of months later, all settled into their new home:

If I didn't have four kids to tend and homeschooling to manage, I would have done a nice scientific experiment for you comparing the time my clothes and diapers took to dry before the dryer balls with how quickly they dry after them, but I don't have that kind of time. (I do have that kind of personality, though.) I think some loads are drying faster, particularly the heavy ones: diapers, towels, jeans, and big blankets (which I don't hang outside anymore after those ubiquitous Kansas winds tore some of mine). I do think my SuperDo inserts dry much better than before. (I try to turn them inside out as I move them from the washer to the dryer, but sometimes they reverse themselves in the dryer and don't dry all the way.) I rarely have to hang them to finish drying now that I have the dryer balls.

I can say for certain is that I haven't used any fabric softener for about two months and our clothes are just as soft as ever. We have had a tiny increase in static, but hardly worth mentioning. Sometimes the dryer balls try to make an escape. They end up tucked into the arms of shirts or pant legs. I found one early on in the dog crate, but I think Moses learned that wasn't going to be tolerated.

They make some noise while bouncing around in the dryer. I have been avoiding using them when we're about to go to bed so they don't disturb us, but I dry all the time just a few feet away from Second Son's crib while he's sleeping in there and he doesn't seem to mind at all. (I've been hearing recently from people who say you should not use a dryer when you're away from home or sleeping anyway, for risk of fire, so perhaps it's for the best.)

Intuitively, using wool dryer balls seems much more environmentally friendly than using fabric softener and probably better than using the PVC balls. They are made of all-natural materials with a minimum of packaging. (Mine came without any outer packaging at all -- just the mailing envelope.) There seems to be some debate as to how long they'll last. Some people claim they've been using the same ones for years.

At the very least, I think using the dryer balls is a good investment decision for our diapers. Though I never used fabric softener in the washer with the diapers, it seems likely some residual softener was getting mixed in. It's not like I have a dedicated cloth diaper washer and dryer.

I received nothing in exchange for this review. I purchased and paid for the Baby Bear Wool Dryer Balls myself. I am an affiliate of Cloth Diaper Outlet and receive a small commission if you follow these links and make a purchase. If you are interested and crafty enough, you can make your own wool dryer balls. I've read the instructions here and they look pretty easy. I may even try them myself one day. You can also find lots of beautiful homemade wool dryer balls on Etsy.

Answered Prayers

There's just a lot of great stuff out there today!

Read this heart-warming and inspiring story of how God answers prayers -- even for clean laundry.

HT: Chris Cash

Random Tip No. 15

If you are in the market for a new washing machine and think you might one day have a two year old, seek out one with a locking feature. You'll want it when your two year old decides to "help" with the laundry, turning it off, changing the settings, and restarting it at her discretion until you remember the locking feature and bless the wise washing machine engineers who probably had two year olds of their own.

Random TIp No. 9

These waterproof bandages are awesome for a mom with a cut on her finger who changes diapers and washes her hands a hundred times a day. Keep some on hand that are not from Shark Tale.

Query 32

Have you ever noticed that all clothes tags say, "Tumble dry low. Remove promptly?"

Where are the clothes with tags that say to "tumble dry low then leave in dryer for a few hours then toss into a laundry basket for a few hours or overnight?" Because we have four kids who are 7, 4, 2, and 6 months, and that's how laundry gets done around here.

Those are the clothes we need.

Query 31

How is it that Second Daughter, who has four pairs of pajamas, never seems to have clean pajamas even though I wash colored clothes at least every other day?

The Gift of Peaceful Cleaning

First Son turned seven today and it was a wonderful day! I have his birthday post started but it's missing some pictures and I want to flesh it out a little. I hope he won't mind (someday, if he ever reads these things) if I delay it a bit. Second Son is starting to fuss and I'm going to have to go tend to him. (Ah, the sacrifices of a big brother!)

I did want to say, though, what a wonderful gift I had this morning. Kansas Dad had commencement this morning and a baccalaureate mass last night so I was alone with the kids and trying to prepare for our little party this afternoon. (I really must start scheduling birthday parties better.) Anyway, I was feeling very stressed about getting the house what I thought was properly clean, baking the cake and making cookies (because First Son kept changing his mind about what he wanted, we had both). A few days ago I called a wonderful family from our parish and asked if two of their girls would help me out and they agreed. I was able to relax a little more last night knowing someone would be here to lend a hand (four of them) this morning.

They arrived bright and early. The younger one had a whole bag packed with activities, games, crafts, a book and a movie! How fantastic! The older one pretty much held Second Son the entire three hours they were here while I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, ran laundry, mopped (kitchen and bathroom) and even cleaned the cupboards a little. Really, my house hasn't been this clean in months. We haven't devoted that kind of energy to it because Second Son cries when he's not being held in the afternoon or evening. There's only so much we can do after bedtime. (He's content in his swing or on the floor or the car seat pretty much from 8 am to 10 am or so and not at any other time. I'm not exaggerating. Ask Kansas Dad.) Today, I cleaned and no one cried. (Well, Second Daughter cried once when she fell down, but one of the girls comforted her and she was fine.)

While I cleaned, I thought to myself, not only are cooked meals a wonderful gift for a new mom, little certificates to be redeemed for baby holding at a later date would be invaluable. Priceless, really.

And now my time is up. Sleep well!

Oh, I love my clean floors!