things that are working for me right now

Beeswax candles.
I've always been a Ikea bulk candle kind of girl, but this summer we spent time at the Farmer's Market with our soap business, and we got to know the Lila the bee lady, who sells unbelievable honey - like nothing you ever tasted from a grocery store - and makes her own candles. They were $8 for a pair of them, but they don't smoke, they don't drip, they have lasted and lasted and lasted and they have a miniscule carbon footprint! One more reason to shop local.


Fun with food.
My kids eat way more sugar that I ever imagined they would before I was a Mum. (But then I was not such an obsessive label reader before I was a Mum, so may be I just didn't KNOW how much sugar there was in everything...hmmm.) Lately I've remembered 2 ideas that have been a big hit. Food faces - I give Sophia a whole plate of different cut up healthy food and she gets to make a face with it for lunch. And then she eats it! The guy above was sleeping with closed eyes and a snoring mouth


The other fun food idea I suddenly recalled from my childhood - ANTS ON A LOG! Yep, celery with peanut butter and raisins (a.k.a. ants). They also like Cheez Whiz on celery but I think anything with the name "Whiz" in it does not actually qualify as food. But alas, I love Cheez Whiz. What can I say? The occasional fake food moment keeps you from being a snob, I think. I should know, I live with a very hairy man who is a bit of snob about my Cheez Whiz. But we won't go into that, will we, Captain Crunch?

BTW, In this photo Sophia is holding her ants on a log and "beckoning" - a word she learned from the book Make Way For Ducklings, a classic. Sophia was demonstrating how when she grows up she wants to be a policewoman who directs traffic. At last count, she would like to be a doctor, a drummer, an artist, a digger [construction worker who drives a digger] and a policewoman. She says you call that an "everything worker". She used to want to be a chicken or a butterfly, but last night she explained if she was going to be a butterfly she would need to be a caterpillar first. Silly us.


Fall Changes.
Last year I did this thing of changing the covers on the pillows in my living room at the beginning of fall. In order to do that, I re-purposed a throw I already had. We had 2, so I made one into cushion covers and kept one as a throw. This year I loved having them already to go and I changed all my cushion covers, put out a couple of cosy throws, changed one picture and I have a new living room! (P.S. Thanks Kay Charlotte, this is still the best swag I ever got - bonus points to anyone who can figure out what the embroidery on the throw says.)



Letting Sophia take pictures. She's cool.




T.V. tickets!
About a week ago, I recalled a conversation I had many years ago with a girl who's parents had made her do chores in exchange for T.V. tickets. Well, as well as eating more sugar than I ever thought they would, I let my kids watch more T.V. than I ever thought I would too. We're really selective - they don't watch cable, or commercials and we watch everything closely, but boy, is T.V. ever our friend as parents. Some days it is really such a life saver to put on a show and know everyone will just be quiet and sit still for a half an hour. As Homer Simpson once said, "I was raised by T.V. and I turned out T.V."

So - last week we started a T.V. ticket program with Sophia. Thank God she is always so excited about every single thing. She has to do jobs (give the cat food, make her bed etc.) in exchange for a 10-minute ticket for T.V., and when she wants to watch a show she has to pay us with tickets for it. As part of her jobs we have started cleaning up the living room and her bedroom every night. We set a timer based on how big the space is, and we help her by giving directions or pretending to be announcers narrating what she does. By the way, you know you have a performer for a child when instead of saying, "It's time to be done now." you learn it's more effective to say "Big finish!" If she beats the timer, she gets a ticket. It has been working so well, one hairy Captain-Crunch eating guy even told me I was a genius. What's amazing is that we started the routines for Sophia but the whole house has been neater because of it, and it is forcing Wade and I to think of more creative things for the kids to do when we're tired. But every now and then if we're REALLY tired we just say, "Eleanor, do YOU want a show?".

What's working for you?