Toothpaste Mess revised

In January I wrote about our constant toothpaste mess. The TouchNBrush worked fine for about a month. I had to frequently take the bottom piece off and wash it, but better than the gobs of paste I used to find on the floor, the sink, the towel, the mirror, etc. (Please remember I have 6 kids and the oldest is 10.) Changing the toothpaste was a huge pain, it simply did not work as smoothly and easily as advertised. Now for a couple where a tube will last a month or more this will probably not be an issue. We got through a tube about every other week (yes, I buy the largest tubes possible).

The big problem? The stupid thing attaches to the wall with suction cups. Initially they seemed pretty strong with a fairly secure fit. Apparently though, as it gets knocked down a few times the suction cups just do not secure as well the next time. Yes, I tried cleaning the cups, the wall, etc. But the stupid thing just falls down.

End result: $20 wasted. We are back to using binder clips.

I don't know when it happened...

but I have become a planner. Yep, me. Somewhere along the line I figured out I like nice, neat and orderly. I don't like surprises - usually. I don't like my plans to be thrown out the window. My husband calls me curious. I'm not curious so much as I am trying to see a few steps down the line so that I know if my "master plan" will need adjustment.

Yesterday had all the ear marks of potential disarray. I tried to cut off the confusion at the turn of the road. Denied. My true failing - not listening to my gut. You see, it was 4pm. Will and the kids were leaving the hospital for my house to play computer games with my crew. I said, "Should I pick up another take and bake pizza?" The answer was that, no, they were going to eat at their house. I didn't want an extra pizza sitting around, so I went against my best judgement and did not purchase another pizza. Of course they were still playing games at 6 and it looked like it would be hours longer.

I was irked. Not only because I was forced to make do with what we had - which really just means that kids didn't get to eat endless amounts of pizza. But also because I was now making food for everyone. I don't mind making for everyone, especially when I have such an easy meal planned -- but I want to KNOW that I will be making food for everyone BEFORE it is meal time.

I know I should be more go with the flow. I will work on that. And in the mean time I have my treadmill to pound my aggravation out on. :)

What has that woman been up to?

or sew sane II. I have been pretty quiet this week. So, I thought I would share some of what I have been doing - you know other than the normal mom stuff. And this week the kids have given me just a bit more mom stuff to do. Wednesday morning started off with one child throwing up in bed at 4:45 am, Thursday a different child was sick and Friday yet another child was down. Luckily, I only had one mess to clean up and as far as messes go, it was a small one. :)

So, I am still trying to exercise regularly, I wasn't as good this week. I think I missed the 'mill three out of 7 days -- but on one of those days I walked for around 3 hours total and another day I swam with the kids for about 2 hours. Anyway - on to the fun stuff!

As I mentioned in the above post, my sister not only motivated me to start taking better care of myself, she motivated me to dust off my sewing machines. I did eventually find some of the print she really liked and shipped off a big ole box of napkins to her. :) Ok, not that big of a box but I think it held something like 40-50 napkins.

While the machines were out and dusted off, I looked at the January preschool calender and realized that Merce had a pj day coming up at school. Merce didn't have any jammies suitable for preschool, so I pulled out my fabric stash and came across some cute penguins on sea foam green. I made her some pjs.

Which started the great pj month. I realized that Josh needed more pjs. He got a pair of camo flannel jammies. Steve has been wanting flannel pjs all winter. I wasn't successful at finding his size in stores, so I made him some pj pants out of some football flannel I had laying around... yep, that is jammies for three Wills, out straight out of my stash box! Then Jes said she wanted some with this cheetah fabric she saw in my box.

You see where this is going right? I have now made pjs for 1/2 my kids... Yep. Brandy was next. We picked out some fabric that I had, but she didn't seem excited about it and I had already decided to make some napkins for another friend, who happens to like Tweety. So, I had her look on the site I was going to buy Tweety from and she picked some cute pandas on blue flannel. I came next as I discovered that the elastic band of my Cookie Monster pj pants was wearing out. I made me some Dr. Seuss Thing One and Thing Two pants! FUN! And still from my fabric stash. Then Rita with some surfin' monkeys on blue (stash) and Bekki with adorable hearts on light blue (stash) - but I didn't have enough of that fabric so I ended up making her pants from a tye-dye look purple flannel (had to buy that one... darn, I had to go into a fabric store... mmmm, fabric)

So, now I am done with pjs, for now. I have made pjs for 8 people in about 6 weeks. I do know that come summer I have at least one more pair to make as my nephew was sent a pair of pjs that Josh outgrew and he told his mom he wished she could make pjs like Aunt Barb. I told sis to let him know that when we see him this summer that he and I could pick out fabric and I would make some for him. :)

I haven't even gotten started telling you about all the napkins I made... but we'll save that for another day. I'm just thrilled to be behind my machines again. And my stash box is a whole lot lighter for it. LOL.

I admit it - I'm uber excited

My oldest is a really girly-girl. I am not. She loves to shop and get dolled up, I do not.

She wrote out her birthday list a few weeks ago, and the thing she wanted most was a day with mom. "Shopping or something." I talked to Steve about it, as he would need to watch the other kids. I told him I was thinking about taking her to a spa and getting a manicure/pedicure or something. He suggested we get a hotel and make it a weekend thing. Cool. So, I told Brandy about my plans, hotel, manicure, shopping, etc. She was way excited.

While most of this is not stuff I would choose do do myself, seeing how excited my nearly 11 year old daughter is to spend time doing this with me, got me excited. :) I mean, how many daughters WANT to spend time with their mom? I know I did not! I booked the hotel yesterday and scheduled our pedicures and she is also going to get makeup applied. I figured, I don't know squat about makeup, maybe if someone else does it and I watch we can figure out how she should be doing it. LOL.

So, I think we will spend Friday afternoon at the mall, check into the hotel, swim, eat dinner, maybe catch a movie, then Saturday morning we go to the spa and get our toes done. (I picked pedicures because I hear they come with great leg and foot massages!) Then I think I will take her to Picture People and get her picture taken all dolled up. Either Friday evening or Saturday lunch we will eat at Cheesecake Factory - YUM! I'll share a meal (they are huge) but she's gotta get her own dessert. LOL.

I better be making sure I am REALLY good about working out for the next 6 weeks or so - don't want that cheesecake to hurt me too much. ;-) And I'm kind of hoping that I can make similar plans (all day together doing fun, for my child) for each of my children's eleventh birthdays! How wonderful would it be if all my children still want to spend time with me when they are eleven!

What happens to those old soda bottles?

My daughter is in need of a new lanyard for her school USB drive. I looked a little locally but didn't find anything that I really liked so I started looking online a bit. I still haven't bought one for her yet, but I did find these and these! How exciting! Lanyards made from recycled soda bottles!!! And who better to promote them than one of the main soda manufacturers? I would buy them right now, except my daughter doesn't really drink soda at all and I am a Dew drinker. Now if these were green with white words and just said "I used to be a soda bottle." I love being able to buy things that are made from reused or recycled products! :)

Vindication!

Earlier this week I posted about excitement in my world. I expressed some disappointment that my husband didn't "get it." But...

A day or so ago he came out of the bathroom and he says "Those toilet roll holders are awesome. There shouldn't be any other styles out there." UM, YEAH! I told you. I guess it takes the first time you change a roll to get the awesome-ness of that product.

But we are not done, oh no, not done at all. He vindicates me yet again with Burt's Bees. You see, he has spent much of the winter joking about how his lips go numb when he kisses me because of my Burt's Bees. I know this is the best stuff I've ever used, so whatevs. LOL. Thursday night (really Friday morning) he comes to bed and says "Will you make fun of me if I tell you I used your lip stuff?" I smile smugly and go back to sleep. Friday evening, I find him opening a new package of Bees that he has gone out and purchased for himself. Uh huh. Trust in your wife, she will not steer you wrong - unless you ask her about left and right. ;-)

N E E D more water!

As I probably have mentioned, I have joined my sister in the goal of becoming healthier in 2010. This involves eating better for me foods, proper portion sizes, exercising more and... drinking more water.

I have known for a long time that water consumption is one of my biggest failure points when it comes to my health. But, I hate water. There is no flavor, no fizz, all blah. I have noticed that when I have a bottle of water I will drink the whole bottle, but if I fill a glass it sits half full.

So I began a search for a "good" water bottle. My definition of good may very well be different than most people. For me a reusable water bottle MUST 1) be dishwasher safe 2) not have a metallic taste 3) look and feel like my soda bottle. Bonus points if it has colors or cool designs. This means at least half of the aluminum and stainless steel models were immediately discarded. Nearly all of them have a much wider mouth than a soda bottle. Sigg might be the right size opening, but a)they recommend against dishwashing b) I admit being a bit turned off by the price ($22 locally) and c) I knew that I would find that type of screw top annoying - it needs to have the soda bottle feel. LOL. Ok. Off to google searches on the internet...

I came across this baby. Hey, it looks like a soda bottle, it has fun colors, it opens the way I would like, it is dishwasher safe... LOOKING GOOD. OH! The price!

After looking around for other bottles that had the look I wanted and failing. And looking for other sites that might sell good life cheaper - and failing. I went ahead and ordered two. "Two?" you say. Yes, two. I know that I am more likely to grab a full bottle than to fill a bottle, and I need to wash them sometime, so enough for a rotation is good. Besides, shipping was the same for one or two bottles.

I received these bottles earlier this week. At first I was a little disappointed in its size. It was much bigger than I was expecting. As you can see from the picture though that the outside dimensions are only slightly bigger than the 24oz sodas that I regularly drink. The mouth is only very slightly larger than a plastic bottle. Ok. I washed them up (note that the lids are not dishwasher safe, only the bottles) and tried them out. I love them!

My water intake has at least doubled since buying these bottles. I have left a bottle on the counter over night and the next morning the water was still quite cool. I have left a bottle in the fridge for 24hours, no metal taste. Yep. These are a win. Well worth the price.

I do have to say though for a company that claims (and I quote) "...By purchasing this Good Life bottle, you have already pitched in against destroying our eco-system. 38 million un-recycled plastic bottles are carelessly tossed into America's landfills each year. Keep doing your part so we can all live the Good Life." They sure don't life up to their claims when it comes to packaging the product for shipping: Yes, those really are styrofoam packing peanuts.
UPDATE!
I emailed my concerns regarding packaging to goodlifebottles. I have already received feedback! "Thank you for the positive review regarding our bottles on your blog. I personally addressed the packaging comment with the president of the company & we are now using organic, biodegradable peanuts for packing =) & recycled cardboard." WHOO HOO HOO! A company that listens to the concerns of it's customers AND responds - quite promptly, I might add!