Magazine Monday

These ideas are compliments of Parents (March 2012), Parenting (May 2012), and Family Circle (May 2012).  Wow!  I'm actually on top of reading this month's magazines!  (The secret is that I still have some from previous months sitting on my bedside table...but who's really keeping count???)

Food

1. Cheap cupcake decorations:  have kids sandwich a toothpick between 2 matching stickers.  Uses up stickers, is cheap, and works on hand-eye coordination:  a triple play!
2. Let a kid use a cheese spreader to cut food.  Safe and lets them practice cutting up their own food!
3. Cooking baby artichokes:  peel until you expose the light green leaves, then trim stems/tops. Quarter them and toss in juice of 1 lemon.  Heat 2 tbsp EVOO, saute artichokes until lightly browned (approx. 7 min).  Mix in 1-2 tbsp freshly chopped mint (yeah!!  the hubs just planted some in our garden last week!), 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper.  Mmmm....sounds tasty for the summer!

Crafts

1. Use a lint roller to pick up small pieces (glitter, paper, etc.) when cleaning up from a craft project--GENIUS!!!
2. Hanging yarn decorations (popular on Pinterest right now and oh-so-cute!!!  Yarn chandelier tutorial here:

Medical

1. Put a superhero band-aid (such as Spiderman) on a bottle of spray pain reliever and call it Spiderman Spray.  Helps with getting kids to let you put on medicine--at least that's what they said!

Travel

1. I really want to travel on Route 66 one day.  Here's a blog of sights to see/do on the trip!

Magazine Monday

Yes, I know it's on Tuesday again.  Deal with it.  I am!  My "to-do" list was too long yesterday and it just didn't get done.  Well, that and the fact that the magazine I'm currently looking through has so many good ideas that I haven't even finished it!  And sad to say, I really want to "pin" this blog to my Pinterest board so I can have the ideas in multiple places so I can't forget them.  So...if you see this on my Pinterest board, please know that I don't think I'm that awesome (well, actually I do!), but I just want to make sure I remember these ideas!

Recipes

1. Not a recipe specifically, but an idea:  make meatloaf in cupcake tins so you have individual servings.  Thought this would be a good idea for kid-friendly food later on.

Holiday Idea

1. Thanksgiving Games  (Thank you Parents Magazine Nov 2011--yes, I'm behind...at least I'm reading it!)
1. Give Thanks Guessing Game:  everyone writes down something they're grateful for, drops it into a bowl, picks out another one, and tries to guess whose it is.
2. Turkey Truth or Dare:  Questions are G-rated (come on...think of Granny people!), such as:  "What are you most thankful for...in the bathroom?", "on your last birthday?".  Dares are holiday related:  take a bite off someone else's plate; eat something you normally wouldn't.

Illness Related

1. Teaching your child how to cough cleverly.  Younger kids can be taught to "catch" their cough in their elbow, while older kids can pretend they're holding a cape and have to bring it across their face like Dracula!  Thought this was just cute and can picture Jeff doing it to teach Bennett!
2. A reader called this "hot lemonade".  Hot water, fresh lemon juice, and honey.  Use for sore throats.

Magazine Monday--On Tuesday!

Well, since the last Magazine Monday, things have obviously gotten a little busier!  I've started a new job (will post on that later), and life has just been in full swing.  BUT, I finally found time to read finish reading 2 magazines this weekend and here are the results (Warning:  it's slim pickings!!):

Children's Behavior
I liked this because, being slighly strong-willed myself, I know it's going to come back to me ten-fold with kids!

• Instead of immediately complying with a demand your child has, repeat a short phrase 5-6 (or 5-56!!) times.  Use your voice and gestures to let them know you understand what they want.  After using this strategy to calm them, do what they call "putting them on hold".  "Suddenly" remember something you need to check on and do it quickly, then return to what you were doing to help your child.  This will teach them to be patient.  (maybe my hubby should use this on me!!!)

Recipe

• S'mores Pie:  Ummmm....hello???  Who wouldn't want this???  I've been a s'mores junkie for as long as I can remember, so I'm excited to try this out when Jeff is off his diet!
• Hint:  I've torn out this recipe and put it in my recipe binder for later use, but will type it out when I try the pie.  I know hint is a stupid word here, but it's really for me later on so I'll remember what I did with the recipe!

Exercise:  Fast Breaks (do all these for 10 minutes)

• Walk:  alternate 20 paces of lunges with 40 strides for 10 minutes (can't you see me doing this in the neighborhood with a stroller???)
• Jump Rope:  for 1 minute.  Stop and twirl the rope in a figure eight for 1 minute
• Run or walk up stairs 2 at a time
• Turn on tv/radio to a fast station and dance
• Ride a stationary bike for 3 minutes.  Continue pedaling while having your arms make a T, U, V, W, and X for one minute each.  Arms down for the remaining 2 minutes
• Jog for 2 minutes. 10 jumping jacks.

Magazine Monday

In my new cleanout/organization phase of 2012, I have decided (after a lot of careful deliberation while eating breakfast at Panera Sunday morning) that I was going to have a theme day for Monday on the blog!  

I've seen a lot of blogs that have "Wordless Wednesday" where they post only pictures and I wanted to jump on that bandwagon, but make it my own.  Therefore, while tearing out and/or bookmarking pages while reading a few magazines I decided I should blog about what I found so I could go back later.  THEN, an even better thought:  Why not have a magazine Monday where I share what I find?  Voila!

Step 1:  Read magazines

Step 2:  Find things I'd like to try (recipes, activities, crafts, vacations, etc.)

Step 3:  Remember what magazine I got them from. (yeah, gonna scratch that one already since it's only been a few hours and I've forgotten!).

Here are yesterday's finds:

Ideas

• I'm a scrapbooker and loved the idea from this website about doing something with your baby's/child's old clothes, artwork, etc.  I figured I could take pictures of it and make collages or something else unique that I haven't thought of yet!  Every time I go through a stash of Bennett's clothing, I feel that I can't part with it, so maybe this will be a good idea to try later on when it's officially time to let go of it!  thegreatremember.com  Side note:  these are very expensive--at least in my book--so I'll have to see how I can modify it later on!
• What if Bennett won't take medicine well?  What if I need help with dosage and this occurs?  Here's the solution (or at least one to look into!)  http://www.sippysure.com/  Necessary??  Probably not!  But, you never know!
• This website lets you buy and sell gently used clothes and toys.  http://www.storkbrokers.com/  Apparently it's something you can join.  I know I have a friend who trades boxes of clothes through another website, so I'll have to ask her and see how they compare.  More on that later!

Party Ideas

• I'm already trying to be creative for Bennett's 1st birthday--even though he won't remember it!  This might be something fun for things other than birthdays too though:  rice krispy treat fake "ice cream" cones!  Make rice krispy treats, put them on top of a cone, and decorate!

Food

• Chicken lollipops.  Yes, you heard right! Cut up chunks of chicken, cook however you like, stick a lollipop stick in it and you're good to go!  Cute idea for making eating fun if I need to later on.  Right now B would probably eat a burger if I gave it to him!

Summertime Activities (Yes, I know it's January, but I like to have some things up my sleeve for those days where my brain isn't functioning!  These are all something I hadn't thought of already, which is why I'm listing them here!)

• Go to a farmers market
• Outdoor treasure hunt (obviously for when B is bigger....)
• Factory tours http://www.factorytoursusa.com/  The website lets you pick a state and then shows you lots of factories that are open in that area for tours.  I'm positive you can find more though!  Thank goodness Bluebell Ice Cream was #2 on that list--with the exception that it was already in the back of my head for this activity! Side note:  I remember visiting the Mrs. Baird factory in Victoria when I was little and every time I drive by one I wonder if they still do it!  Guess that's what having a kid's all about....I get to find out!
• Cloud "school"--find different shapes in clouds

I can't promise that Magazine Monday will be a weekly thing, but I hope to make it at least an "every few weeks" thing!  If you have an activity that you like, or idea you want to share, feel free to leave it in the comments section!