Month: June 2013

Finger painting for toddler

Finger Painting for Neat Freaks

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We’ve got some gorgeous weather happening in Seattle right now, which means lots of fun outdoors. But sometimes, we gotta eat. Which means kiddo is restless and unoccupied for about 10 minutes while we get meals together. Enter this:

Finger painting for toddler
Occupy your toddler with minimal chaos and destruction!

I found this brilliance on Pinterest, and couldn’t wait to try it. I could only find one color of finger paint, so I added a few drops of blue food coloring for interest. I think it helped thin out the paint so it would squish and swirl more. Just add a few blobs of finger paint to a gallon-size freezer bag, squeeze out the air, seal, and tape all edges to a window. I say tape all the edges because as the kiddos get older, they like to peel, pull, and basically destroy everything they get their hands on! We did get a hole in ours, but patched with more packing tape and it was fine. We had fun stamping footprints, handprints, and even stamping shapes with some of our Melissa & Doug play dough tools.

Oh, and PS–make sure their nails are trimmed. We went back for a second round and Wolverine’d that bag up pretty good, thus making it messy (but not as messy as regular fingerpainting!)

Happy painting!

Scarf storage solution

A Pain in the Neck: Scarf Storage

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Update:

Welcome Pinners! I had no idea this idea would go viral. Thanks for visiting my blog & check out my other well-pinned posts on Traveling with a Toddler  and Family Fitness. Also, follow me on Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram, or “like” the Committed Facebook page to keep up with new posts!

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I need to preface this post with a statement: I don’t want to pretend that I’m super organized. I’m typically pretty scatterbrained. Case in point: this morning I got the kiddo packed up and ready for school, strapped into the carseat, then I realized I FORGOT TO PUT ON ANY SHOES. Mmmkay? Sure, kiddo had her snacks, her lovey, a toy, extra shoes for water play, diapers, but none of that matters if mommy shows up at daycare barefoot. Sheesh.

Anyway, this post is about getting the craziness under control. As I was unpacking in the new house, I discovered that I have a TON of scarves. I felt like a two-bit magician yanking an endless array of scarves from my magic hat. Except that magic hat was actually a couple of boxes, 2 drawers, and God knows where else I was stashing them. They were a wrinkled mess and I could never find the one I wanted when I wanted it.

In the new house, I want to stick to the mantra “A place for everything and everything in its place,” in the hope of maintaining a wee bit of sanity. Now that we actually have space and tons of storage, there’s no valid excuse to strew crap around the house (not that there was an excuse in the old house either!)

Scarf storage solution
Tame the pain in the neck for under 10 bucks.

So, I bucked up and bought a cafe curtain rod at Target for about $7 (like this one). If your space is narrower, you can also do this with a tension rod. The weight of your scarves ends up being comprable to a shower curtain. (We used a tension rod in my daughter’s closet for the last 2 years and it held up well with the baby clothes!)

It took about 10 minutes to mount to the wall and hang all the scarves. Now it’s a cute blast of color in the closet and I can find that perfect scarf when I need it! Sanity preserved! Now if I can remember my shoes…

Home, Sweet Homework

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We are officially moved into our new house!

This truly is our “forever home,” and all three of us are almost giddy every time we walk through the door. There are tons of beautiful features, but mostly it just feels like home. Know what I mean? It was one of those this just feels right kind of places. Another bonus? Projects! Lots of ’em! I’ll be posting things here and there, since we hopped on the project train before even setting foot in the house as owners.

I don’t know what spurred me on, but I had the crazy urge to get shit DONE before we moved in. I guess I just know how crazy and messy life gets with my projects and the toll it would take on the fam (sorry, guys…it’s an addiction!) Plus, I had to promise to ONLY START A PROJECT WHEN THE OTHER ONE WAS FINISHED. This is hard. But I’m doing my best. Anyway, the first project was hiring a painter to do the trim.

Seriously, guys. It was pretty bad. Faux marbling, odd continuity choices, or total emission of paint/finishing altogether. I had 2 days available between getting the keys and getting the cleaners in, so we had to be choosy. I picked the trim in the front room, office, and sitting room. (OMG we have a sitting room! So fancy!)

Faux finish trim color.
I’m a firm believer in contrasting trim. And keeping things simple. And not this.

The pic above is just a teaser–I want to finish those a little more before posting pictures, but I thought you needed to see what we were working with.  Continue reading “Home, Sweet Homework” →

Moving Pictures (Without the Popcorn)

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As I mentioned in my previous post, we are moving. In 3 days.

I’ve avoided moving for the last 6 years, and it’s been so nice. I’m no stranger to changing domiciles–since moving out for college, I’ve changed addresses TWELVE TIMES. And that doesn’t include the time my roommate and I decided to swap floors in our townhouse. 3 of those moves were in the span of 6 months, when we first came to Seattle. Needless to say, I fucking hate moving.

I prefer living outside the box.

Luckily, this time we have the means to hire a crew to pack, move, and unpack us. It doesn’t mean we can bleed money, however. I’ve learned a few things about the local moving process and thought I should share with you lovely readers. Continue reading “Moving Pictures (Without the Popcorn)” →

Bye-Bye, BooBoo

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Amidst all the craziness of getting ready to move to a new home (a post or series of posts will becoming soon), we suffered a loss of a dear friend and family member. Our cat, BooBoo died suddenly on Thursday afternoon.

Bye Bye BooBoo

I didn’t think I would be so sad about losing a cat, after all, I always contended that he was “just a cat.” I am NOT a cat person, but maybe it’s because until BooBoo, I’d only met shitty cats. But really, he had a great personality and charmed everyone who met him. Regardless, watching the seizure or heart attack take him in those 30 seconds was horrifying and painful to watch. Seeing any living creature suffer is difficult.

But what this post really is about is how to manage the death of a pet with a toddler.  Continue reading “Bye-Bye, BooBoo” →