St. Patrick's Day and a little Pintentionality

For our third year running, we tried to catch a leprechaun.  Chloe is so into this.  She reminds us every year.  Her first grade teacher asked the whole class to make traps this year to share with the class...Chloe could not wait to get started.

This years trap was complete with a ladder to the upper deck, bed, table/couch, chair, TV and a washer and dryer.  Chloe was hoping the comfort level would have a luring effect on the leprechaun. 

According to the letter they wrote,  they did in deed  appreciate her attention to detail

and thought it to be one of the comfiest traps in town.

While we did not catch the little guys, we were amused by their creativity in thrashing the back yard.  Hammocks all topsy-turvy, bike propped up on a ladder and lawn chairs placed on top of the pergola.  What a mess.

Our favorite evidence was the footprints and green water in the toilet. 

I saw on Pinterest that other leprechauns did the same thing...must have been a union thing. 

Guess Who is Diving Into Her Pintentional Archives Already...

Me.  That's who.

So...I have started working part time.
Mostly from home. Only one day in the office.
Only 15 hours.
And my brain has felt like mush for the past two weeks because of it.

Also-working-outside-the-home-mothers...my respect for you has only increased over the past two weeks.

How do you handle the constant feeling of forgetting something...or letting someone down??
Does this go away?? Ever? Not ever?!?

Last week I had a melt down on the eve of Chloe's Valentine Party.
In my pre-working-part-time world, remembering on Sunday night that I have a party to organize would have freaked me out a little, but I would have been comforted by the knowledge of a sprawling Monday the day before the party.  Monday would then be deemed 'party planning/party errand running' day. And all would go my kind of smooth with all kinds of bumps along the way.

So, remembering on Sunday and working in the office all day Monday lead to a tiny melt down.  Both Sunday and Monday night.  Ok. Monday's may not have been so tiny.

You know how you are mentally aware that things are going to be stressful...so you prepare yourself...give yourself a little 'you can do this' pep talk and resolve to 'hold it together.'  And then totally blow it??

Me too.  As I was out with the masses on Valentine's Day Eve (seriously...why are you people out in droves?? Since when did Valentine's Day become Christmas???) I maneuvered the crowds, thought I misplaced my phone across town, drove back across town and returned home to find my phone sitting by my computer (only after I had cursed and judged the people at the previous store who would 'clearly steal my phone if given the opportunity', and finally bought the candy hearts that I had meant to buy at 3+ stores over the past 3 days.  Once home, I assembled C's Valentine bags, did a couple hours of work and then collapsed in bed.

The rest of the week was pretty touch and go.
This week has been better, but my brain is still adjusting to the new level of activity.  I am thankful for the work...so trying to keep my head and heart there even in the adjusting.

All of that to say...lacking in Pintentionality this week. 
But Chloe and I did this back at Christmas time for her gift to her classmates.  :)

 Hope your Winter Break is REFRESHING! Love, Chloe



This Valentine's Day Is Brought To You By Pinterest: Pintentional Post #7

Is it possible to O.D. on Pinterest??

If it is...Valentine's Day has proven me a junky.

We had Love Potion smoothies for breakfast this morning.

(Which I saw on Pinterest, but apparently did not pin...)

Chloe and I made this banner last week out of cereal boxes,

twine, doilies and scrapbook paper from the $1 bin.

Chloe's class Valentines this year:

Cello bags from the $1 bin filled with Goldfish Crackers and a note:

Of all the fish in the sea...

I'm glad we swim in the same SCHOOL!

I made these cute I Love You Valentines with the students in Chloe's class for their parents.

They were all very pleased with their finished products.

Lesson in sign language and symmetry in how to make a perfect heart.

We used party ideas and printables from this site.

I spent the entire day in Chloe's classroom.

The sugar consumption was off the charts.

I may be officially Valentined out.

No big date for us tonight.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner.

Maybe popcorn and a short movie.

Baths then bed for the kiddos. (maaaybe add the glowsticks again...)

Then plopping on the couch with Kevin to watch an inappropriate amount of television.

Happy Love Day.

I found myself praying through out the day...

Thank you, Lord, for loving us first.

We love, because You love.

Pintentional Post #6: Writing In Salt

Writing in Salt

Or 'Writing in Snow' if you are Eli.
Because somehow writing in snow is waaay cooler.

If you click on the above link, you will see a very zen like box holding a very official looking letter card.
Below you will see my make-shift-found-around-the-house 'free' version.



If you continue to click down the link trail that is the beauty of Pinterest, you may risk feeling like a terrible mother....at least I did...as that Mom is clearly doing an above-and-beyond-fabulous job of educating her young children.

So hang around here and save yourself the guilt. ;)

My four year old does not enjoy coloring or doodeling or practicing writing with crayons or pencils...

But he was totally into writing with his finger in the 'snow'.

It was sweet to see how successful he felt as he wrote all his letters.  Smile from ear to ear. 

Could. Not. Wait. to show Daddy when he got home.

I actually caught him writing all on his own a couple times too! ;)

Pintentional Post #5

Reading Power Towers (click on that to get to the pin and a video)

It is safe to say that sight words are among Chloe's least favorite things to practice.
First semester, we were really struggling to make them a nightly routine...hard for both of us.

So, when I came across this on Pinterest, I was excited!

I had the bathroom paper cups on hand and simply wrote her next 50 or so sight words on the bottom of the cups.

She has to read the word and then she can add it to her tower.
The taller or wider the better! She has even made snowflake shapes with her cups.

We have been doing Power Towers for a little over a week, and I am seeing a marked improvement in her sight word success!

YES!!

The Math Power Towers also look like a great idea.  We are not struggling as much with those at the moment, but it would be great practice.  I think I would write the answer to the math problems on the inside of the cup for self-checking.  (not sure if he suggested that on the video...)

This is an easy way to make memory work waaaay more FUN!

When Ordinary PBJ Just Won't Cut It...Pintentional Post #4

PBJ needed some pizazz today...
I knew if I was feeling bummed out about the old stand-by...E was probably going to flat out refuse.

So...this is what I came up with:

Only crumbs were left! WIN!

This post was indirectly inspired by Pinterest with all the cute lunch ideas...soooo...
Pintentional??

I think yes!

Pintentional Post #3

Glow Sticks In the Bathtub

I will be buying glow sticks from the $1 bin every time I shop now.
If you have little ones, I suggest you do the same.

The only way to improve bath time for my kids would now be:

Add glow sticks. Turn off the lights.

All those glow sticks for one buck. Genius.

The kids loved this.

Adding bubbles was fun too...although it did not photograph well.

Your kids will thank you!

Pintentional Post #2

Tried this last night in the crock pot,
Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken.
I have to be honest...
It wasn't awesome.
Not sure why I thought 3 ingredients would be delish...but I still believe in miracles.
Unfortunately, this wasn't one of them.

In this 'recipes' defense, I did not make it to Target to get the actual 'Hawaiian BBQ' sauce that is listed.
I tried a Kroger knock off called - 30 Minute Marinade Hawaiian. Would not recommend...very little flavor. Kevin added salt first...then pepper.  He does not even like pepper.
We enjoyed this so little that I did not even bother to take a photo of the finished product.

But here is my optimistic first photo.
Chicken was already in the crock pot when I remembered to take the picture.
(ain't no way I am touching that slimy stuff a second time just for a picture!) ;)

I may give it a redemptive attempt number 2 with the actual sauce...or better yet a homemade BBQ sauce that does not have the high fructose corn syrup...and add the onions and green peppers that some recommended.
But...as of today...
thumbs down.

Pintentional Post #1

I, like most everyone else, am in love with Pinterest.
I spend an inappropriate amount of time at my computer pinning, pinning, pinning things that I dream about...house stuff, kids stuff, food stuff, clothes stuff.
I have to admit that a large percentage of what I pin will probably never. happen.
That wooden spiral staircase with the curly slide in tandem...yeah.  That probably will not show up in any of my future homes. But it is a super cool idea and I like to think that I would choose the slide every. time.

So, while there is a lot that probably won't get done from my boards, I am going to try to be intentional to actually do some of the things that I pin. 

Enter Pintentional posts.

My goal is to do at least one of the things I pin a week and blog about it.  I have been being pintentional over Christmas so that I have some back up posts in the event that a week gets too busy.  So don't hate me when you see something Christmasie show up in say February or March, mkay?

Would love to hear how you are being pintentional.  If anyone reading this could help me figure out how to do a link party thingy...I would love to hear about it...I think that would be FUN!

Otherwise...just leave comments about what you are up to...thanks!


Here we go:

Pintentional Post #1

Homemade Laundry Detergent from here:  http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html

She has lots of great homemade soaps...I plan to do the dishwasher detergent once I run out of the one I just bought over Christmas...

Here is me following her step by steps:

After searching several stores for the Fels-Naptha and Zote soaps before Christmas, I found them both conveniently shelved close together at Wal-Mart today.  (figures.)  I picked the Zote over the Fels-Naptha because I preferred it's scent. She suggested the pink Zote soap, I went with the white. Not sure why, but I imagine it will make little difference.

I also found the huge cookie jar and scoop (in a set of three) at Wal-Mart.  It hurt a little to spend what I would have spent on another jug of laundry detergent on what is going to hold my homemade laundry detergent...but this is a 'gift' that will keep on giving, right?

 My fancy 5 gallon bucket.

 The shredding of the soap was the most time consuming part and the only part that vaguely resembles work. Took me under 10 minutes even while serving lunches and refilling juice cups.

I mixed it all by hand and scooped it into my fun cookie jar. 

Ta-Da!!

Smells super yum, btw.

Here it is at home on top of my dryer.

While you salivate over my non-matching circa 1971 Kenmore set, rest assured that some laundry was removed from the top of the dryer and hamper for this picture.

No. My laundry room is not this clean.

Ever.

I have not tried the soap yet, so I can not speak of it's capability of making my families clothes sparkle...
but it feels great to know that I did something that I pintended to do.

Yay for Pintentionality!