Messes - Wine Stains

Wine Stains

Hey! Every mom is allowed to drink some wine after a stressful day. Unfortunately, this will most likely lead to more messes. My number 1 solution for wine stains is to buy a Wine Away. Go and buy this right now. It’s available on amazon for $9. I’m serious, go buy this now. As my mom always said, “it’s always better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it”. You literally just spray it on, wait a couple minutes, and blot away the mess. It’s magic, I swear.

Perhaps, you are reading this because you have a stain RIGHT NOW and no Wine Away. I’ve been there and done that. Here’s a method I used that worked.

1. DO NOT RUB THE STAIN! This will make it harder to lift the liquid from the material. After the spill, immediately blot the stain with some paper towels to lift as much liquid as possible.
2. Cover the stain in salt, and I mean a lot of salt. The salt will draw the moisture out of the fabric. Let this dry (waiting several hours, or leave to set overnight).
3. Vacuum up the dried salt. And wa-la you have a wine-free couch/carpet.

Messes - How to get spit up stains out of the couch

Milk Dribble/Spit Up Stains on Couch (also works for dog drool)

I have researched and tried multiple methods to clean my couches from the never-ending spit up stains. Most of the methods I found weren’t working; so I tried a combination of several ideas and came up with my own method! 

FYI, I have microfiber couches so I do not know how well this works on other types of materials. Also, only try this while your baby or child is napping or is out of the house as the alcohol vapor is probably not the best thing for their little lungs

1. Use baby wipes to spot clean and don’t be afraid to scrub. Don’t be afraid to use multiple wipes. (Pro-tip: do not lay dirty wipes on another part of the couch, they will leave a dirty water stain there).
2. The cushion should be pretty saturated from baby wipe wiping. Use a blow dryer to help dry quicker and prevent later marks (this step is necessary or you will be left with giant water marks all over your couch)
3. Put rubbing alcohol in a sprayer bottle and spray the crap out of your cushion. Saturate that sucker. Use a fingernail scrubber, potato scrubber, or something like this to scrub at the stains. Use blow dryer to dry.
4. Repeat steps for problematic stains.
5. Once satisfied with your results, use a large scrub brush and rough up the material. The soup and alcohol will have left your cushion feeling stiff, this will soften it up.
6. Enjoy your newly clean couch!

Messes - Getting Coffee out of the Carpet

Messes. A normal everyday occurrence in the life of a stay-at-home mom. Especially when you add two drooling dogs plus two cats who hack up hair balls every other day. With so many messes happening one becomes quite the expert at cleaning them up. Over the next several days, I will be adding some of my favorite save-all cleaning solutions for the everyday SAHM messes.

I was overcome by this brilliant idea of blogging cleaning methods after my daughter dumped an entire coffee mug full of coffee smack dab in the middle of my living room floor. She stared at the fresh stain and giggled up at me. All I could do was sigh and begin cleaning (hurriedly, as I had to leave for a play date in fifteen minutes). Here are two methods to get coffee out of carpet. (Pro-tip: Invest in some Resolve, even if you don’t have animals).

Resolve Method

1. Use some old rags to soak up most of the coffee. 
2. Wash and rinse out the rags with warm water and dab the carpet to pull up more coffee.
3. Spray Resolve on the spot and let sit for at least 5 minutes.
4. Scrub with a rag or brush and then soak up the remaining moisture with rag.

Other Method (if you don’t have Resolve)

1. Use paper towels/old rags and blot stain to soak up most of the moisture. 
2. Flush the stain with a bit of cool water and use a new clean towel and continue to blot at the spot.
3. Mix 1 cup of warm water to 1/8 cup of lemon juice. If you don’t have lemon juice, you can also use 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar to 2/3 cup water. 
4. Apply mixture with clean rag or sponge. Do not soak. Gently rub the spot in circular motions, beginning at the edge working you way to the center. 
5. Finally, rinse the spot with cool clean water and soak up using dry clean towels.

There you are! Two methods of cleaning up coffee stains that I have tried and approved. 

Christmas Craft – MistleToes

We’ve all seen the footprint gifts on Facebook and Pinterest. They have them for each and every holiday: Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, etc. Some are simple like the heart shaped footprints, yet others have become stretched into some weird shaped objects in which you need to squint and tilt you head to kind-of get what the creator was going for.

This one is by far my favorite and the only one I have ever attempted with my daughter. I plan on doing it each year until…well until her feet get too big for it to be “cute” anymore. This print is also extremely easy and the mom making it does not need any imagination or creativity (perhaps just a touch of patience). The items needed to make it are also cheap, see below:

• Red and green acrylic paint ($1 at Hobby Lobby)
• Sponge brushes
• Modge Podge to seal painting (as cheap as $4 and can be used on multiple projects)
• Paint canvas (varying prices, I got mine on Amazon for $12 for a 12pk; http://www.amazon.com/Art-Supply-Professional-Quality-Acid-Free/dp/B00GZZKIII/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449516752&sr=8-1&keywords=5x7+paint+canvas)
• Smaller brush to paint words (could substitute with Sharpies)

That’s it! Now you’re ready to attempt making some perfect footprints. This is the tricky part. Luckily, footprints are much easier than handprints; here’s my method.

1. Put adorable baby in their highchair and distract said baby with food or some type of toy
2. Use sponge brushes to paint the toes red and the rest of the foot green
3. Take the baby’s foot with your hand and gently and slowly press it against the canvas; almost like rolling the foot from the heel to toes
4. Remove foot and wa-la! The most adorable and sweet looking MistleToes!
5. But you’re not done, repeat steps 2-4 with the other foot.
6. Let your stamped feet dry then paint “MistleToes” and any other message.
7. After everything is dried, use a dry spongebrush or regular brush to Modge Podge the entire canvas.

There you are! You can either keep it to add to your ever-growing Christmas decorations or give it as a gift to grandma, dad, or an aunt!

Day 6 - The Afternoon Blues

This may not be a problem for all SAHMs, but it is for me. If you read my Day 1 post about scheduling, you will see that I have almost every hour of my daughter’s and my day planned except for the 2p-5p slot; which I dub the dreaded ‘witching hour’. 

Each day this period of time troubles me. It the time of day when Rose and I have had enough of one another and simply don’t know what to do. We could read Brown Bear, Brown Bear for the twenty-third time today, or perhaps point at and talk about the Christmas tree for the one-hundredth time, or maybe play with our farm magnets for the millionth time; but quite frankly I don’t want to.

My easy solution is to make this time into the day’s special activity time. I’ve done some research (Pinteresting) and have made a list of thing Rose and I can do together to help pass the time during the afternoon:

• Bundle up and go to the park down the street
• Finger painting
• Make cookies and let Rose “help”
• Make and play with play-snow (http://pagingfunmums.com/2014/07/13/frozen-erupting-snow/)
• Blow bubbles
• Bathtub Painting (1 Tbs Cornstarch, 4-6 pumps baby shampoo, 2-3 drops food coloring, 1-2 tsp water)
• Attempt baking soda and vinegar play
• Pom Pom Posting
• Sticking pipe cleaners into a colander

These are just a handful of ideas I have pinned to my board. So I can’t use the excuse that I have no good ideas. I will continue to try and post each ‘special activity’ we do, and let you know my experiences with it; whether it was easy or hard, if Rose enjoyed it, and/or if I would ever do it again. It’s nap time now, so I’m going to get off here and go set up for our first afternoon activity: a combination of bubbles and finger painting!

Day 5 – Make a Getaway Space

One of the many frustrating things about being a SAHM is that you never get to leave your job behind. Most people go to work in the morning and as soon as 5 o’clock comes around they leave their work and come home to relax. But what if that home is your job? What if your work follows you around whining and screaming with its sticky fingers from the moment you get up in the morning to the moment you go to bed at night (and then gets you up a couple times in the middle of the night?) Never having your own down time can make a person insane.

The solution to this problem is to make your own getaway space. Invest some time and money into a room in your house so that at the end of the day you can go and have fun and relax. My problem was once the baby when to bed, my husband and I would watch TV in the living room. The living room in which I spent most of my day hanging out with Rose. I had come to hate that room.

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I were discussing what we should get the other for Christmas. We settled on getting a joint gift for the basement that we would both utilize and love. We bought a shuffleboard! This also motivated us to put up the dart board I bought Sam two years ago. Now we have a space that we can go and have fun once the baby goes to bed at night. It has been wonderful. The basement has a bar-feel to it, so it feels like my husband and I go out each night to the local (very local) bar to throw darts, pay shuffle board, chat, and drink a couple drinks. It’s awesome!

I have also found that I have been sneaking down at nap times to throw a couple of darts. Throwing winged, sharp, needles at a wall is a great way to relieve tension. I will recommend this to any SAHM who is stressed. 

Day 3 – Pets are People

I bet you can’t guess what Day 3’s topic is about. My pets! All four of them. Yes, I said four: two dogs, Charlie and Luna; and two cats, Chester and Abby. These poor poor souls have had to take the back seat for our attention for that last FIFTEEN MONTHS! As soon as that little girl popped into our world, my husband and I have been so overwhelmed with just how amazing a little human can be that we have completely lacked in our parenting towards our furry kids.

That is going to change with this 14-day challenge. My daughter is finally at an age where she doesn’t rely on me for every little thing. She can hold her sippy cup, she can move wherever she pleases, she can feed herself at the table, and she can sit on the floor and play by herself for certain periods of time. This means I can turn my attention to my four fur-covered, snuggle-craving, (somewhat smelly), children.

Yesterday, I got the furminator out. Something I haven’t done in 7-8 months. And I brushed and brushed and brushed those puppies until they just simply couldn’t be brushed anymore. Not only did the puppies love this simple task (that took around 20 minutes), but now they’ll shed less on my couches! This is also a cute learning moment you can use for you child. Rose wanted desperately to be a part of the situation. So I gave her a regular brush and together we spent those 20 minutes loving our pups.

Today, I brushed the cats and gave them extra cuddles and pets. Also, it was so nice out today that Rose and I put on our coats and went outside and threw the ball with the dogs. I think this goal is going to be easy too.

They say people with pets live longer, because pets relieve stress. The way the last two days have gone, I can see where they’re coming from. At this pace, I’ll live to be 100. 

Kids Craft Day - Easy and Cheap Christmas Crafts

Today Rose and I invited over some friends to make fun Christmas ornaments. The kids had fun creating and it didn't break the bank account. Shown above, I purchased the gingerbread men, snowflakes, jingle bells, Christmas pom poms, stickers, and pipe cleaners from the Dollar Tree. The rest I got from Hobby Lobby at 40% off (the reindeer kids (12pk and dinosaurs (24pk) were the most expensive at around $5 each.

With some glue and some extra googly eyes, today was a giant success!

Day 2 - Less Screen Time and More Floor Time

Technology controls our lives anymore. Anyone and everyone would agree with that statement (says the blogger mom). But as a SAHM technology can get in the way of your child’s learning, relationships, and health. Today I make a vow to spend less time on my phone, on my computer, and watching TV; and spend more time on the floor playing and laughing with daughter.

My daughter isn’t the only one that will profit from this challenge, but for me my mental health and my physical health will benefit. Let’s be real, zoning out to a TV show (whether it be adult or kid) or mindlessly scrolling through the internet is not healthy. For one, you aren’t physically moving; and for another, you brain is only seeing and not absorbing. So for my own sake, I need to limit my screen time.

What should I do with all this extra time? Easy. Play with Rose. This means physically getting down on the ground and playing. It’s literally that easy. I don’t have to plan this time with her or think up of any activities. She has a billion toys that we can create and play with and thousands of books to read. It’s already 3pm on Day 2 and I have discovered that this is much easier than I thought it would be.

Here are some things that I found to help:

• Delete Facebook and other phone apps that are time-suckers
• Hide the TV remotes (I know this sounds silly, but just put them up where you can’t just reach out and turn the TV on)
• Dedicate a certain time slot to do your daily computer tasks like checking emails, blogging, etc. (for me, it’s the first 15-30 minutes of nap time)

I foresee this becoming easier with each day. We’ll se

e. I will update you tomorrow. Until then…

Bird Seed Play Date

If you read my Day 1 post, you will see that around 9:30a my MOMS group usually has a play date. Today I hosted.

Winter time makes planning play dates even harder. What should you do with a handful of kids when you can't take them outside to be destructive? Awhile ago I got on my Pinterest with a mission: research and find fun/easy inside play date ideas. While doing this, I stumbled upon bird seed play. This is where you buy a giant bag of bird seed and dump it into your child's sandbox (instead of the sand). What a great idea!

Well our sandbox was covered with dirt and I didn't quite feel like washing it off. So I pulled out two empty big totes and one under-the-bed tote and dumped the seed into those. I got Rose's sand box tools and some other toys; and from my kitchen I brought out mixing bowls, spoons, a muffin tin, and some icecube trays. Needless to say, this play date was a success! Clean up wasn't too bad, other than the fact that I still find a stray seed here and there. All and all, it's a fun activity that is Rose-approved.

Day 1

It’s Day 1 of my 14 day “become a better SAHM” challenge. Today I will be focusing on planning out a schedule that will work for both my daughter and myself. There are plenty of studies that show that schedules and routines are very important to a child’s physical and mental health. For example, routines help toddlers learn the basic idea of time and time management, help establish important habits (brushing teeth, basic chores, etc.), and can help strengthen social relationships. This entry will have my written-out schedule along with my explanations of how and why this should work.

We will start the morning off by waking up at 7am sharp (if Rose hasn’t already gotten both of us up). I will take 15-30 minutes for myself where I can either take a quick shower, pour a cup of coffee, or tidy up a bit. Then it’s Rose’s turn to rise and shine at 7:30. After we do a quick snuggle session, we will eat breakfast together. We will then brush our teeth, get dressed, and prepare for our playdate.

Most of my MOMS group’s playdates start at 9:30a. If I am hosting, I will need some time to do some last-minute cleaning up. On the other hand if I am not hosting, I will need usually 15-30 minutes for travel time. Either way I will be getting ready or traveling for a playdate. Our playdates typically last until 11 or 11:30. This is where the scheduling will vary. Depending on Rose and her mood/general-grumpiness that day, she will either eat or nap first; so these two time slots will be interchangeable. I am blessed with a good-napper and she naps for around 2 hours. Naptime will be my blogging/cleaning/focus-on-me time.

Now here’s where it’ll get tricky. The dreaded afternoon lull, which lasts from around 3 until 5:30 (when dad gets home). What to do? What to do? There are only so many activities that a 15 month old toddler and 20-some year old women can do together. This will be special baby activity time where I will get out fingerpaints or some other Pinterest activity.

So here’s my basic schedule that I hope to keep to:
07:00a-07:30a – Wake up/Mom-morning-time
07:30a-08:00a – Wake Rose up/Eat breakfast
08:00a-08:30a – Brush teeth/Get mommy and baby dressed
08:30a-09:30a – Prepare to host playdate -OR- Prepare to go to playdate then travel
09:30a-11:30a – Playdate!
11:30a-02:30p – Lunch then nap -OR- Nap then lunch
02:30p-05:30p – **Afternoon lull** Special activity for Rose/Last minute clean up/Chores
05:30p-07:00p – Daddy playtime/Cook dinner and eat
07:00p-07:30p – Quiet play time
07:30p-08:00p – Bedtime routine of bath, books, songs, then bed

Well, there it is. It’s already 3pm today (Day 1) and I kept to this schedule fairly well. I think it’s going to work. I will keep you updated for the rest of the 13 days. Until tomorrow…

The 14 Day Become a Better Stay-At-Home-Mom Challenge

My cousin just recently completed the 21 day no sugar challenge. Where, as you can imagine, she avoided (as best as she could) eating sugar. The theory is that it takes 21 days for your body and brain to become accustom to a new diet or way of life. Honestly, 21 days is extremely daunting to me and I would probably fail. So for my SAHM Challenge I settled on 14 days. Which (for whatever reason) my mind finds manageable.

So what is this “14 Day Become a Better Stay-At-Home-Mom Challenge”? (Other than a mouthful). Well, it is one giant goal made up of a lot of smaller goals. Basically I’ve decided that I want to live a more structured life with a routine to help strengthen my self-esteem, general happiness, as well as my daughter’s physical and mental health.

This 14 day challenge will consist of waking up at a certain time each day, preparing breakfast for my daughter and I, arranging and going to morning play dates, blogging during nap time, eating lunch, planning fun activities for my daughter, etc. Each day I will write about a different “mini-goal”. For example: limiting screen time, planning meals, making time for me, focusing on my marriage, etc.

My hope and end goal is that after 14 days of pushing myself to complete these tasks that it will become easier and hopefully second-nature to me to live this way. I hope that I will become both physically and mentally healthier with more energy and a better outlook on life.

Today is Day 0. The day I clean my house and get ready for the long 2 weeks ahead. Tomorrow will be Day 1 and there will be no looking back from there. Talk to you then.