A Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,
I want binoculars, a telescope, a tree... The princess dolls I want, too. A frog chair... I want a party hat, a matching game, cookies, berry game, a reindeer pull toy, a teddy bear, sparkly glasses. And I also want one more thing: a dolly -- a sparkly dolly with ornaments all over it!
Love,
Mia (age 3)

Where Has All the Customer Service Gone?

Over the weekend, I went shopping at the Levi's Outlet, where I was sure I would find a great pair of jeans. After all, I had found some Levi's at Kohl's the week before that were *almost* perfect (except that they were too big). When I walked in the door, a young sales clerk asked what I was looking for and steered me in the correct direction. Her name was Tyler and she seemed friendly and helpful. No complaints there. I started looking for jeans in a size smaller than I had found at Kohl's. There weren't too many options, but I tried on what I could find in both boot cut and straight leg. I wasn't happy with the way any of my first choices fit, so I tried again, and again, and again.

After becoming a bit frustrated, I took the best pair of jeans I had found to another sales clerk, Kim, (older than the first) and asked if they came in a smaller size. She told me that they didn't, and that the store didn't carry a lot of jeans in that size. She then found me three pairs of the another style of jean and sent me to the fitting room. When she came to check back with me, I wasn't thrilled with how these jeans were fitting. The "straight leg" seemed tapered to me, and my personal opinion is that skinny jeans do not look particularly good on anyone, not even on me, and I have been called "skinny" for as long as I can remember. Plus, there was a considerable gap in the back and the rise was lower than I prefer. When I mentioned the problem with the gap to her, she said, "Have you considered wearing a belt?" I told her that I usually do, but I still didn't think that would solve the gap issue. Her response was, "Have you considered buying different underwear with a lower rise?" She insisted that the jeans looked cute on me. I left the fitting room to look some more because despite what the sales clerk seemed to think, the jeans were not cute and they did not fit well. And it really annoyed me that she thought they would be fine if I just wore different underwear!

When I went back out to the store, I met Tyler again, and explained the dilemma. I thought the boot cut jeans were more flattering than the straight leg, but I was having a hard time finding a small enough size. She seemed to understand, so she showed me a different area than I had looked in before and suggested junior's sizes. I was skeptical, but decided to try the junior's jeans because they might actually fit, and I really just hoped to come away with one decent-fitting pair of jeans. As I feared, junior's sizes are not the way to go. The cut is completely different, which is what I suspected, and not meant to accommodate a grown woman's figure, not matter how petite it may be. I do not recommend trying on junior's jeans unless you are young enough to actually shop in the junior's department!

By now I was not only frustrated but also feeling like there was little hope in finding a pair of Levi's that actually fit my petite (not junior) frame. However, I had made a special trip to Birch Run specifically to go to the Levi's Outlet, so I really didn't want to leave until I had accomplished that task. So, I decided to search for jeans without the assistance of a sales clerk. While looking, I overheard a middle-aged lady complain, "I don't want jeans that are frayed or have a pearl button, and that if that makes me a difficult customer, then I guess I'm a difficult customer!" I nodded in agreement because I had passed up a pair of boot cut jeans in the proper size because they had holes in them. Call me picky, but I was not going to pay for holy jeans. I don't think a respectable looking mom should go out in public in holy jeans. I grabbed one last pair to try on and headed to the fitting room. By now, the attendant recognized me and told me that my room should still be open.

That last pair of jeans seemed a tad long, but I decided to make them work. They might shrink a little in the wash, I rationalized, or worse case scenario, I could have them shortened by a tailor. Feeling more defeated than proud, I took my *almost* perfect jeans to the cash register. When the cashier asked if anyone had helped me, I told her that both Tyler and Kim had helped me. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying that they really weren't all that helpful, and ultimately, I had found the jeans on my own. And I didn't even "need" to buy new underwear for them to look right! What ever happened to, "The customer is always right?"

Thanksgiving in a Word

I was a teensy bit nervous about hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner this year, completely absorbed in the food preparation (which admittedly involved many shortcuts, but that is a whole other story). Everyone enjoyed the meal, but after the leftover food was all put away and the family had headed home, I realized that we had never talked to our kids about what Thanksgiving means. Mia quickly figured out that a lot of food is involved in the celebration, and she knows that we (try to) pray before each meal, but we didn't specifically teach what it means to be thankful. Of course, gratitude isn't a one-day-a-year sort of thing, so I hope to make up for this. After being inspired by imanimama to come up with a single word to explain what I am most thankful for this holiday season, I have decided that I have many...

BLESSINGS

Toilet Paper Tube Scarecrow

Here is another craft I came up with for the girls to do during their play date yesterday.

Scarecrow by Mia, Age 3 1/2

Materials:

• toilet paper tube
• milk cap and plastic ring
• glue
• scissors
• 2 buttons for eyes (do not have to match)
• marker/s
• yellow construction paper
• another color of construction paper

Optional Materials:

• googly eyes
• yarn 



Toilet Paper Tube Scarecrow by Emily, Age 3 1/2

• pipe cleaners 
• raffia
• straw
• artificial flowers
• fabric scrap

 Directions:

1. Glue two buttons (or googly eyes) onto a toilet paper tube.
2. Cut a small triangle out of construction paper and glue down to make the nose.
3. Using a marker, draw a mouth. I did mine like cross-stitches.
4. Cut fringe onto yellow construction paper and glue down for hair. You could also use yarn, pipe cleaners, raffia, or even real straw.
5. To make the hat, cut a circle from construction paper (you could also use fabric), about 3/4 to 1 inch larger in diameter than the milk cap. Place paper circle over milk cap, and press down making an impression of the cap. Add a small amount of glue to the inside of the plastic ring from a milk jug and place it over the paper on top of the cap. Push down to secure the paper to the cap, being careful not to tear the paper.
6. Add a bit of glue to your hat and place on top of the toilet paper tube.
7. If desired, embellish your hat with paper, silk, or felt flowers, buttons, or whatever you have on hand.
8. Once your scarecrow is completely dry you can display it. You could also use your scarecrow as a finger puppet or a place card holder.

Toilet Paper Tube Turkey

Since Mia's friend, Emily, was coming for a play date, I decided to come up with another turkey project for the girls to do. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Materials Needed:

• toilet paper tube
• 2 googly eyes
• coffee filter
• markers
• spray bottle filled with water
• scissors
• glue
• orange pipe cleaner
• red pipe cleaner
• masking tape

Directions:

Toilet Paper Tube Turkey by Mia, Age 3 1/2

1. Using markers, color a coffee filter. You don't have to color perfectly or cover all of the white space. I used red, orange, and yellow markers to color my coffee filter in "pie piece" sections to look like tail feathers. Mia and Emily used various colors.
2. Spray the colored coffee filter with water so that the marker blends like water colors. Set aside to dry.
3. Using the tip of your scissors, poke a small hole in the toilet paper tube, approximately in the middle.
4. Cut a length of orange pipe cleaner, approximately 2 inches, bend in half and insert the bent end into the hole to make the turkey's beak.
5. Glue two googly eyes above the beak.
6. Cut a length of red pipe cleaner, approximately 2 inches, bend into a kidney bean shape for the wattle. Glue onto the toilet paper tube, or twist it so that it is attached to the orange pipe cleaner beak.
7. Once the coffee filter is dry, use one hand to pinch it together, and use the other hand to tape the gathered section to the back of the toilet paper tube. Allow glue to dry completely. 
8. You can now display your turkey on a table or shelf or use your turkey as a finger puppet. You might also use it as a napkin ring or add a name and use it as a Thanksgiving place card.

   

   Toilet Paper Tube Turkey by Emily, Age 3 1/2

DIY Laundry Detergent

My friend Jeanine gave me a recipe for homemade laundry detergent and I decided to give it a try. First of all let me say that this sounds like a daunting task, but it wasn't as much work as I thought it would be. If you really want to save some money on laundry detergent, this is the way to go.

Materials Needed:

• Fels Naptha Laundry Bar Soap
• Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (not to be confused with baking soda)
• Borax
• 3 gallon bucket
• cheese grater
• large pot 
• long-handled spoon
• water
• funnel
• something to store your detergent in
• essential oil (optional)

Where to Buy:

Fels Naptha, Borax, and Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda are all found in the laundry aisle of grocery stores. I know for sure that you can buy Fels Naptha at Meijer and Kroger. I paid $1.29 for one bar at Kroger. Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda is available at Meijer, Walmart, and Kroger. I paid $2.89 for a 55 oz. box at Kroger. I had previously purchased Borax for making Safe and Green Household Cleaner. It can be found at Meijer, where I paid $3.42 for a 76 oz. box, and it is also available at Walmart. You may also find these products at other stores or online.

How to Make Laundry Soap:

1/3 Bar Fels Naptha Laundry Bar Soap
1/2 Cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/3 Cup Borax
2 gallons hot tap water + 8 cups tap water

1. Grate soap bar and melt in a pot of water (8 cups) on low heat, stirring as needed. (Note: The smaller your grated pieces of soap, the quicker this process will be. I found the most time consuming part to be waiting for the soap flakes to melt--about 35-40 minutes-- so I would advise grating your soap as finely as possible.)
2. Fill a bucket with 2 gallons of hot tap water.
3. Add washing soda and Borax to bucket of water and stir to dissolve.
4. When bar soap is completely dissolved, pour mixture into the bucket and mix thoroughly with a long handled spoon. 
5. Pour directly into your containers using a funnel or store in the bucket if it has a lid. (I used 3 clean gallon milk jugs. Jeanine told me that she uses 3 100 oz. Dynamo jugs.)

* Makes approximately 2 1/2 gallons of laundry detergent. 
* Use 1/2 cup of detergent per load.

Tips and Suggestions:

• This soap will not produce lots of bubbles. This is okay, though, because it is not the bubbles that get your clothes clean, anyway!
• The mixture will be clumpy and will need to be shaken or stirred before each use. (I just shake up my milk jug before using the detergent.)
• Do not use regular soap to make detergent. Soap that is made for your skin can stain clothing.
• Jeanine adds 1 tsp. of orange or eucalyptus essential oil when making her detergent. I did not do this because I didn't have any and I prefer not to use soap with fragrance. (Unfortunately, the Fels Naptha has a fragrance. However, it doesn't transfer to the clothing.)
• This detergent doesn't work well for removing odors, particularly urine, so Jeanine says to add 1/2 cup of ammonia when washing especially stinky clothes.
• Jeanine tells me that she has tried other laundry bar soaps, but she feels that Fels Naptha is the best.
• I have still been using a commercial pre-treater to tackle tough stains. Sometimes, I also add Oxi Clean to the wash load.
• I have used this detergent to wash everything except diapers. After doing some research online, I do not feel comfortable using this on our FuzziBunz. I found that Martha Stewart recommends using Borax and washing soda for diapers, but it is the Fels Naptha that I am concerned about. It is a soap and soap is not recommended by the manufacturer.
• Be sure to label your containers with all ingredients. I also wrote a reminder on each container to shake before use and to use 1/2 cup per load.

Is It Worth It? My Opinion:

The ingredients needed to make your own laundry soap are not difficult to find. The entire process of making laundry soap is not complicated. It does take some time, but it's far from being an all-day chore and the amount yielded should last a few months so you will only need to make detergent a few times a year. To me, that is worth an hour or so of my time, especially once I did the math and figured out how little this homemade laundry detergent costs. I will break it down for you:

• Fels Naptha = $1.29/bar. Divide this by 3 since you only use 1/3 bar to make a batch of detergent and you get 43 cents per batch. Remember, one batch of detergent = 2 1/2 gallons.
• Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda = $2.89/55 oz. or 0.0525 cents per oz. You use 1/2 cup per batch of detergent and that comes to 21 cents per batch.
• Borax = $3.42/76 oz. or 0.045 cents per oz. You use 1/3 cup per batch, which costs 0.1197 cents. (I rounded that to 12 cents.)
• Add 43 + 21 + 12 = 76 cents per 2 1/2 gallon batch. If you use 1/2 cup per wash load, you will get 80 loads from one batch of laundry soap. After dividing, that comes to a grand total of....

0.0095 cents per load! I know that sounded too low to me, too, but I double-checked the math. This is absolutely, positively, waaaaaay cheaper than buying commercial laundry detergent. Plus, by making your own, you know exactly what is in it.

Bye-Bye, Binky!

It's official. I have lost the last of Logan's pacifiers. The second-to-last one went MIA when we were at the park last week and now the very last binky has disappeared (although it may turn up somewhere in the house only to be unceremoniously pitched into the trash). The last binky standing was the lavender and pink one that Mia had picked out for him, and I didn't really like to take it out in public anyway (because it's not a "boy" color-- Not that we're too hung up on that, anyway. But, well, you know...). Amazingly, he went to bed last night without it and didn't seem to have any problems, and we made it through today, too. And he went to bed just fine tonight.

It's interesting to me that I expected this to be a total nightmare and it has not been much of an issue. (Knock on wood!) That's sort of how it was with Mia, too. One day she had it, and then the next day we threw it away and never looked back. We were so afraid to do it, but the next day was her second birthday party and we figured we better just get rid of it then before she ended up being in elementary school and still sucking on a pacifier! (Okay, I wasn't actually afraid of this, but it does happen, people!) We knew we didn't want to let Logan use a pacifier as long as Mia did, but I wasn't exactly planning to get rid of the binky at 14 months. However, we weren't planning to buy new ones either, and our supply has been dwindling. It's funny how some of my seemingly most important (at the time, at least) parenting decisions are left up to circumstance. Ready or not, the binky has vanished, so we will simply say bye-bye!

A follow-up: The morning after writing this, the pacifier is found. My husband reports that Logan, upon seeing the binky, shrieks, lunges for it and pops it into his mouth. He happily sucked away until breakfast, when I threw it away while he was distracted by food.