Kitchen Battles…Reloaded
Don't you just love summertime? I do. I grab hold of the idea of relaxed summer days and look forward to more time with family and friends. In my rose-colored expectation of lazy summer days, I tend to gloss over the reality that laundry must...
A Brave New World–My First Writer’s Conference…Continued
After 5 weeks of out of town visitors and traveling, I am finally getting back to blogging. I am still learning how to keep all the balls in the air--I have never been quite coordinated when it comes to juggling. It looks so simple, but the...
The Gap Between Now and Not Yet
We have all been in situations in which things do not look like they are adding up to an answer we are going to like. For instance, when your child discovers a personality conflict with a teacher at the beginning of the year, one plus one does...
The Lesson of Letting
"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."--Colossians 3:15 The phrase, "Let the peace of Christ rule" is calling my name. Peace sounds especially good after a long, frustrating...
Living Faith is an Everything Kind of Thing
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'BUT THE...
Beat the Challenge of Meal Plannning: The Selective Menu
One easy step to feeding the picky eater and the beating the challenge of meal plannning: The Selective Menu
Find six things your family likes to eat…and make them every week! You’ll never have to plan or have meal-time battles with your kids. It’s amazing how simple meal time issues become when you serve your kids what they like! Is anybody in agreement with me here?
When you want a little variety, just change up the nights—How simple it that?
Meal planning does not have to be complicated.
The Battle of the Dirty Dish
Why don't teenagers like to wash dishes? Open dishwasher, insert dish, shut the door...it's not that hard people! This task seems to swipe off all of the appearances of the helpful child, revealing the true heart that would rather be...texting. How texting possibly compete with the joys of a clean and tidy kitchen I cannot understand...but it is true. One solution is to glamorize dish washing in the media. How about some MTV videos featuring the exciting art of dish washing rather than break dancing?
And have you noticed that there are no X-games for dishwashers? No competitions of Olympic proportions with cool uniforms. What incentive is there to train and build skills if there is no glory of competition...no opportunity to win trophies or accolades for dish washing.
What are we thinking?
There are few cool gadgets for dish washing...no crazy-fun soap dispensers, no cool noises, and no neon colors (unless you're into that color for your dishes). Seriously--a sponge, a rag, or a spray nozzle is as good as it gets. A rag?
No wonder no one gets excited about washing dishes.
Winning the Battle of Kitchen Counter Clutter
Okay...enough of the funny stuff. Here are a couple of tips that might actually help: 1. Special spot for Glasses: Make personalized coasters from 4" tiles and place them near the sink. (Home Depot or Lowe's have these) Teach your family to...
Six Never-Work Strategies for Winning the Battle of the Clean Kitchen Counter
#1 Top-Rated Trash Can Method:
The Trash-Can Method of Clutter Control
This number-one fix is rather self explanatory. The answer to Kitchen-Counter Clutter is to take a shower squeegee and sweep all clutter into the trash can. Those unfortunate souls who have left their junk on the counter will quickly learn to dump their stuff somewhere else. This solution is by far the fastest fix for the never-ending PILE.
Pro: Quickly eliminates clutter of all kinds
Con: Do I really need to go there?