Blog Change for my fellow followers!

Okay.....so after some deliberation I have changed my blog and divided into two different blogs.  The first blog will be a team blog with multiple writers that deals with everything mom and family, from kid crafts, discipline and humor to beauty secrets and girl talk.  This blog will be located at moreformoms.blogspot.com.  The next blog will be my own personal blog and will include my fabulous dessert recipes and design secrets and will be located at dessertsanddesign.blogspot.com.   I hope you will continue to follow me as I learn how and what it really means to become a mother-blogger!

Wednesday Whine

I am so grateful for the occasional husband's help with doing laundry.  However, it is rather disheartening to find an entire load of laundry that has gone through the dryer with a ink pen melted all over the whole batch!  Of course, just having had a baby and very limited clothes fitting me right now, all my "fat" clothes happened to be in that sorry batch.  Here is what i tried and what I learned:  First, if the pen is permanent ink there is little to no chance of getting anything out even with something as harsh on the fabric as using the last resort of mineral spirits.  Second, if the ink is not permanent and it has been dried...there is still little to no chance of getting anything out.  However, there are a few tricks to make it significantly lighter if you are willing to take a little time. I had the most success using hairspray and scrubbing over and over again and then spraying with spot remover and washing on a hot cycle.  I read that some people have also tried rubbing alcohol and had success in place of hairspray.  Obviously, the key to getting pen out of clothes it to catch it before it hits the dryer.  Unfortunately, in most cases of hidden pens in pants pockets, it doesn't actually get all over the clothes until it hits the hot dryer and the dryer melts the stopper in the pen.  If anyone has had better results some other way after it is dried, please share.  The good news for me is...looks like I will be going shopping some time soon!

Motivational Monday: Gumballs

Over the summer, when we realized my husband would be working out-of-state for a period of time, we decided it was time to have our 8 year old start learning how to mow the lawn.  We decided on the small allowance of $2.00 each time he mowed the lawn and passed it off to our liking, which entailed not having too many grass "mow-hawks" sticking up all over the place.  Money proved to be very motivational for him over the summer, but now we have been struggling to find something that all of our little kids want bad enough that they are willing to help do jobs without being told too many times by mom.  So far, in the last couple weeks, I have found the most motivational method of reward for my kids to be the chance of earning a large gumball.  This has proved to be more effective at getting immediate results than anything else lately.  So, I thought it might be fun for any other moms to post pictures or descriptions of their most effective reward systems for their children, whether it be for doing jobs around the house, yard work, bed wetting, etc, so we can compare and possibly acquire new creative methods.

Drown sorrows in Peanut Butter Bliss!

Okay, so I have been doing the single mom thing for the last two weeks and I have decided that baking wonderful desserts is the best way of drowning my sorrows of being alone and bored.  Here is my recipe that you must try:

Perfect Peanut Butter Bars

3/4 c Peanut Butter

3/4 c softened butter

1/2 c sugar

1 1/4 c brown sugar

2 eggs

3/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

mix all ingredients above well, then add:

1 3/4 c flour

2 1/2 c oats (blend half)

spray 11x15 pan and bake 325 degrees for 18 min.

Frost while still warm with this chocolate PB frosting:

1/8 c softened butter

1 tsp vanilla

dash salt

1/4 c peanut butter

1/4 c room temp. milk

2 tbsp cocoa

Powdered sugar (about 2- 2.5 cups)

It doesn't take a mind-reader!

So after months and months of being sick and pregnant and having 6 kids in my home daily, four under the age of 3, I broke down crying one day and told my husband that I think I just needed to get out of the house each week and hoped he could help facilitate it.   With his job keeping him crazy busy, and of course, his necessary gym work-outs that were "not fun" (he assured me), I was unsure of what time was actually leftover over and available for me during the week.  In all honesty, the answer to this question seemed to be like the gloomy words of a flashing neon sign at an old motel-- "no vacancy."  After what I felt like was a hopeless conversation, he looked me in the eye and told me to schedule my personal time on the calendar if it was necessary because he "wasn't a mind-reader."   Did I really need him to read my mind?  Did I not spell it out in perfect words that i needed a break?  Why did it even need to be spelled out...could he not see the chaos created by 6 small children?  Did I crave the impossible?  I just wanted him to say, "take the night for you" without me having to schedule it so that my night out was totally guilt-free and enjoyable.  Why is that too much to ask?  Does not every man know that guilt-free golf is way better than the golf that requires an explanation for the fresh tan lines acquired on a supposed work day?  Men, F.Y.I., girls night outs are like guilt-free golf...necessary for sanity.  It doesn't take a mind-reader to figure this out!

Another blog for moms!

Okay, so this blog is representing me, a mother of 5 children who is inspired by creative crafts, interior design and good food....all on a budget, of course.  I am hoping that someone out there will find my postings unique among the thousands of other mother bloggers out there who post about the same things.  Ready or not here I come!