Assigned Seating

Some of you might remember an old WFMW that I posted last year about curing sibling rivalry. It worked for us for years but now that my kids are a little older I have had to think of a new system. They just don't care that much anymore whether or not they get to answer the phone or say the prayer before we eat. Either that or I just got too old to keep track of whose week it was.

We have a new system now that works even better and I call it Assigned Seating. One thing all parents soon discover about kids is that they will fight about anything and I mean anything. This is news to me of course because I never fought with my siblings. No, of course not.

My children are expert at it though. Even if my daughter likes to sit in the back seat of the van she is willing to fight her brother to the death to sit in the middle row of seats just because she knows that's where he wants to sit and he will do the same. With Assigned Seating there is almost no fighting. My daughter sits in the back and my son and two year old sit in the middle, exactly where they wanted to sit in the fist place but without any fighting. The also have an assigned seat at the dinner table and they each have their own seat in the living room.

Assigned Seating goes beyond just seating arrangements however. It also includes chores around the house. We do not change jobs every day or week or month. The kids negotiate their responsibilities in our family counsels, I have final word and that is what they are stuck with until a new deal is struck.

We have had a new saying at our house ever since our two year old was potty trained. "He feeds her, she pees her." Quaint isn't it? It means that my son is in charge of feeding Lovely in the car (which I'm ashamed happens as often as it does) and my daughter is in charge of taking her potty. There is no arguing or complaining about it. They just do it.

There is no argument about whose turn it is to do dishes. It's my son's turn. Every day. For the rest of his life. Until I change my mind. We don't have to wonder about whose turn it is to feed the chickens or the cats or water the horses. We always know whose turn it is to vacuum out the van or put laundry away. They are all assigned jobs.

Any time the kids think they can whine and complain to get out of doing something they will. Once they know their fate is sealed there is no reason to argue. They just do it.

I might sound like a tyrant but any time I ask my son if he would like a different jobs besides washing dishes he tells me, "No way! Washing dishes is way easier than cleaning the rest of the house!"

And we live happily ever after.

Till the brother smacks the sister upside the head the next time he passes her in the hall. Does anyone have a cure for that?

Try it and see if Assigned Seating works for you too! Check out more WFMW tips at Rocks in My Dryer.

More tips on teaching kids to work.

Thou Shalt Not Overschedule Thyself

A couple years ago I was tired of making bad scheduling decisions and my husband was tired of hearing me complain about it so he finally laid down the Law.

Thou Shalt Consult Thy Husband Before Making Any Plans with Friends and Family

Of course I don't always follow Stranger's Law but I save myself a lot of frustration when I do. Stranger isn't a controlling husband, he just wants my life to be as happy and stress free as possible so here's how it works.

Alice calls and asks if I would like to use her extra tickets to take my kids to the Symphony the next day and by the way could she and her kids catch a ride with us because her car is in the shop? I would love nothing more than to go to the symphony and Alice's life might end if I don't take it upon myself to drive her there so instead of checking my planner to see what I already have scheduled for the next day I say, "Of course!"

But then I looked down at the *tattoo on the top of my right hand that says "Thou Shalt Consult Thy Husband First" and say, "Oh wait a minute Alice, I need to talk to my husband to see if that's going to work for us."

So I call Stranger and he says, "What else do you have planned for tomorrow?"

"Oh, I didn't think of that. (Because that would be too easy.) It looks like I'm having a root canal in the morning and then I'm babysitting the neighbor's two year old triplets for six hours while she has her hair and nails done. I guess I can't really fit the symphony into any of that." Apparently I didn't consult with Stranger when I scheduled babysitting after a root canal. See what I mean?

So I call Alice back and tell her that the symphony isn't going to work for our family tomorrow. (Who can argue with that?) She cries for a minute and I offer to pay for her to rent a car to ease my guilt about not being everything for everybody and then we're both happy again.

Now that's just one scenario. The other one would be where Alice asks me to join her six person team in running 157 miles to raise money for some great cause. After I tell her I need to talk to my husband about it first, I sit and think about all the good that will come from raising money for such a great cause and then I think of all the good that will come from my staying alive to raise my three kids and I don't even have to call Stranger. I just call Alice back and tell her that my premature death isn't going to work for our family this week. She cries for a minute and I offer to pay for the ambulance should anyone need it during the run. This eases my guilt about not being everything for everybody and then we're both happy again.

Discussing and planning my life with my husband works for me. If you don't have a husband to consult I suggest a good friend or buying a **parrot named Bill. "I would love to Alice but I need to talk to Bill about it first." Hey, you'll never know what good advice Bill might have for you if you never ask.

*I don't actually have that tattoo yet but I seriously considering it.
**I'm not suggesting that a parrot is as useful as a husband but in some cases one may be. Don't tell my husband I said that.

More posts on planners and schedules.


If you're here for WFMW you might want to move along now before things get out of hand but if you want to read footage from an actual conversation to see how Stranger's Law really works in our family keep reading.

Stranger - We're going to call that lady to tomorrow.

Lazy - Kay.

Sranger - Are you just saying that?

Lazy - Yes.

Stranger - No you're not. We really going to call that lady tomorrow.

Lazy - Kay.

Stranger - Are you just saying that again?

Me - Yes.

Stranger - Don't get mouthy with me because I'm running the show here and we are calling that lady.

Me - Kay.

Stranger - What?

Me - Kay. You run the show and I'll run the mouth.

Stranger - That's not funny. And you're not blogging about this either.

Me - Kay.

Apparently Stranger's Law is easier made than followed.

Sugar N Spice

Looking at my two girl's hair in this post, one blond and one brown, made me think of sugar and spice. Not only does it describe their coloring but their personalities as well!

Karen at Family Briefs asked me to show how I do the ponies in their hair. It made me laugh that someone asked for my advice on hair because I am not a primper, on myself or my girls!

Two High Ponies

I see so many cute girls wearing ribbons and bows with everything coordinated but the most I can manage is a few pony tails to keep their hair out of their eyes. Persistence is growing her bangs out so it's a necessity and Lovely wants her hair "pretty" too.

Four Diagonal Ponies

I found the elastics at a hair supply store for half the price I was paying at Walmart and was so excited to find clear and black and brown for a change which look good with any outfit.



The elastics are so cheap that I just cut them out of their hair at night. It fast and easy and painless. Just make sure your girls know not to try this themselves or they will be growing out more than their bangs. Ask me how I know!

Five Diagonal Ponies

Yes those are tweezers Lovely is picking her nose with. What else would they be for but booger extraction?

Two High and Two Low

I use a rat tail comb and a spray bottle and with the little Lovely I have to work FAST! That means things aren't always straight and even but I'm getting better at it.

And she is getting better at holding still. Well, I wouldn't say holding still but at least she's not climbing off the counter. I sit her in front of the mirror while she "organizes" our baskets of clips and elastics. It's great practice for her to learn how to put the basket of clips away before she gets out the elastics or the "Barbie" pins. (Do your girls call them that too?)


Cleaning the mirror with the spray bottle and a wash cloth is also a great diversion.

Three and Two Bigger Ponies

I've even been known to hide a baggie full of Craisins in our stash for her to munch while she gets pretty.

Three and Two Smaller Ponies With Side Curls

Three Two One

I'm sure all you creative types can come up with your own fabulous versions of these ponies with ribbons and bows and the works. Show me what you've got!

I forgot to mention how cute it is, when you have a tiny girl, to make little ponies all over her head. Especially if her hair has some curl to it. I did this a few times with Lovely's hair but I never got a photo of it. If you start when they're little they get used to having things in their hair and they don't complain. One year olds are the worst at pulling things out!

I keep remembering new things to tell you!

If your girls are going to be outside with these hair styles make sure you put sunscreen on every single part.

I try to be as careful as I can when I'm doing the girls hair but it still hurts them sometimes and they would like to cry. What I have taught them is to say, "Ow!" instead, which doesn't hurt my ears as much. Just because their head hurts doesn't mean my ears should have so suffer! I always use conditioner in their hair to make it easier to brush the snarls out but I will still often hear, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," and on and on. Which I can handle!

Oh, and one last tip. I put a tiny bit of regular, not leave in, conditioner in our hair when it's wet and I don't wash it out. It's very dry here so our hair needs it. If you have dry hair like we do this may work for you too. The bonus is that one big bottle of conditioner lasts us for years!

For more fun tips visit Shanon at Rocks In My Dryer!

Well If You Would Read The Manual

Heard frequently at our house, "Yes Dear. I know you have been telling me that for years but I do read manuals. I just don't memorize them like you want me to."

I got out my camera manual again because I was determined to learn some new things about it. I cannot be photo illiterate forever can I? No! I didn't figure out what I set out to learn but I learned some other cool stuff while I was at it. I'm so excited about it that I have to share a few of them with you today and I hope I can make some sense with my limited photography knowledge and vocabulary.

Remember this photo of my kid's bathroom?

When I took the same photo on the Auto setting it looked like this. A huge difference!

The camera reads the light from the window and makes the rest of the photo too dark.

This is how I fixed that on my Fuji FinePix F30. You might have to get your manual out (gasp!) to find out how to do it on your camera. I turned my camera to the Manual setting, pushed the menu button and found a little thing called Photometry. I can only guess that this reads the light coming into the camera. Pretty smart, eh? I have three choices, Multi, Spot, and Average. I like to pick the Spot setting which makes the lighting just right for whatever I focus the camera on.

In this next photo I focused directly on the window. (To focus you push the button down half way and hold it, then position the photo the way you want it and push the button all the way down to take the picture.) This would be fine if I wanted a picture of the window but I didn't.

In the first photo I focused on a spot on the wall to the left. The camera didn't read as much light there so it lightened up the photo quite a bit and gave the details of the bathroom the way I wanted. The window is a blur of light but that's ok and actually looks kind of cool.

So play around with your Photometry button to see what you can do with it. It also works great for taking photos in the shade or of people with their backs to the sun. It brightens their faces instead of making them too dark.

Another little option I have started using is the timer button. I don't like using my flash so that means the shutter has to slow way down when I am indoors in order to get enough light. The slower the shutter speed, the blurrier your picture will be. You can try to hold as still as you can but every time you push that button to take the photo you are moving the camera.

This isn't such a great options with kids who can't hold still but it works great for still photos. I set up my camera the way I want it and then push the 2 second timer button. That way when the photo is taken two seconds later the camera and I are holding as still as we possibly can.

I took this photo without using the timer. See how fuzzy the beads are?

I took this next photo using the timer button. It's a lot more in focus.

In this photo I used the Sharpen option in my editing program.

So there are a few ideas for your next photo shoot. Let me know if they work for you and head over to Rocks In My Dryer for more WFMW tips.

Organize your Squeezy Shaky

Several months ago someone posted a WFMW that I loved. Thank you whoever you are! She said to put sour cream in a squeeze bottle to squeeze on tacos and burritos. So fun and not messsy! We go through a lot of sour cream and jam on crepes so my kids love our Sour Squeezy. Apparently we eat way more crepes that the average person should be allowed to eat. I hope it's a phase that my seven year old is going through.

The only problem I had was getting the sour cream into the small bottle opening. Help! Then I came up with a solution to spoon it into a baggy, cut the bottom corner off and then squeeze it into the squeeze bottle. That is a lot of squeezing!

Squeezing the sour cream onto the crepes was so thrilling that I got the idea to fill a squeeze bottle with jam as well. I dumped the jam into the blender and blended it smooth. That made it easy to pour into the squeeze bottle and kept the bottle from getting plugged up with fruit chunks. I bought more bottles at a dollar store, 3/$1, so I could get the entire jar of jam organized at once. Yes, you can organize jam! I can't really think of anything more organized than squeezy jam. I'm sure you can buy it already squeezy but blending your own squeeze is a lot more fun.


My other idea for today is a Raisin Shaker. You never knew you needed a Raisin Shaker did you? I didn't either until I found this bottle in a box in my pantry and was determined to come up for a use for it. I bought it at a garage sale to use for salad dressing but I think it makes a much better Raisin Shaker.

You can shake your Raisin Shaker and you can shake your booty but please don't ever shake your Crack Baby.

(You can stop watching after the Raisin Shakin because the excitement is pretty much over at that point.)


How exciting is it that I didn't clean my kitchen for this production? And I don't know why we did this on the floor except that we wanted you to see all the dust and garbage under the kitchen cabinet.

Kids Can Hang Up Their Clothes

Years ago I decided that if a three year old was old enough to dress himself then he was old enough to learn how to hang up a shirt. I tried and tried with my oldest but he just couldn’t seem to get the hang of it until I came up with a system for him that is fast and easy. Now we all use it.

Lay their shirts in a neat pile. Have your child count them and then get the same number of hangers out of the closet. Teach them to slide the hanger in without picking up the shirt. They will fold the hanger forward and then do the next shirt the same way. After there is a hanger in every shirt they just grab the hangers as a group and hang them in their closet.




Just so you know, this doesn't work with a two year old but we are going to keep practicing. (note - A two year old can do it!)



A three year old can learn it after a couple tries. Since I don't have any three year olds my nine year old is demonstrating it for you. Try it. It is fast and easy!



If you're new to my blog, check out my articles at GNMParents on how to teach kids to work.
Part I, Whose Job is It?
Part II, Getting Rid of the Clutter
Part III, Let Them Help
Part IV, It Takes Time
Part V, Work Together
Part VI, Learn to Practice
Part VII, Make it Easy

I have to make a plug here for Smart Habit Saturday. If you want to change your life by making positive new habits then come play along!

Find other great tips at Works For Me Wednesday!

Organize Your Crib

And by that I mean the baby crib. Lovely always has a few books and toys in her bed with her when she sleeps which I’m not sure is a good idea, especially when she wakes up with an imprint of a mini spatula on her cheek. A few months ago I read about a blogger who had a shelf next to her baby’s crib where she put toys and books for him to play with when he woke up. I wracked my brain trying to figure out a way to implement the concept without installing a shelf or buying a new piece of furniture and look what I came up with!

I’m in love and so is Lovely! It gives her lots of ammunition when Persistence wants to sleep in instead of getting Lovely out of her crib in the morning. From what I’ve heard she has a good aim with a board book.

I keep a hand towel under the basket to keep it from rubbing on the crib. It works really well because I can move the basket while she’s going to sleep if I need to and then sneak in and put it back before she wakes up. I think I’m going to put a puzzle in it for her tonight.

I always have her help me put away all the toys and books up when I go in to get her. Now that I think of it I’m going to have her start straightening her pillows and blankets too. We must start those Smart Habits early mustn’t we?

Visit Shannon for more WFMW posts.

Keep Snacks Fresh

You know my obsession for bags right? I couldn't live without them! When I have anything in the kitchen that comes in a box, I throw the box away and I used to use a clothes pin to close the bag. Well, we don’t go through bags of chips very quickly so they were always going stale.

I finally got smart and started transfering my chips, cereal, pasta, beans, tea bags, etc. into gallon sized resealable plastic bags. I line them up in a wash tub in my pantry or in the snack drawer in the kitchen. The bags work better than using a clothes pin that can fall off, allowing the contents to get dumped in the bottom of the snack drawer, although I still use clothes pins to close bread bags and such. I just wash the plastic bags when they're empty and use them again.

Do you know the fastest way to get a baggie dry after you’ve washed it? Stuff it with a dry dish towel and before the next meal, it will be ready to store.

This has worked wonderfully for us. There is no more mess and snacks stay fresh forever!

Click here for more kitchen tips from The Lazy Organizer.

Go to Shannons place for more WFMW tips for the kitchen.

What are you waiting for? Join us for Smart Habit Saturday!

Disposable Bibs

This is going to be a short and sweet Works for me Wednesday. Did you know that a plastic grocery bag works great as a disposable bib on the go? Just stick a couple in your diaper bag to have on hand, tie the handles around your baby's neck and you are all set!

I keep a stash tied up into bundles in a drawer by the door so they are ready to throw into my purse, my car and my diaper bag. They are one of the many things I keep in my Purse Organizer. They're great for dirty diapers, muddy shoes or collecting leaves, rocks and sticks on family adventures. I couldn't live without them and their million uses!

Organize Your Socks

“I KNEW you were wearing my socks!”

“Why do I have to keep telling you I don’t wear your socks?”

“Then how come I can see them on your feet?”

“Well, of course I’m wearing them NOW. I mean, normally I don’t wear your socks.”

“Then why don’t I ever have any socks in my drawer?”

Taking him by the hand and leading him into our bedroom to see at least a dozen pairs of sock littering the floor, “I think I have solved the case of the missing socks.”

A few days later I excitedly show him my new idea, The Sock Basket! He doesn’t seem impressed.

“Look! I put a basket right here next to the bed for you to throw your socks in!”

“That’s just dumb.”

“What do you mean? Now they won’t be all over the floor.”

“Well, it’s dumb that I throw my socks on the floor. You should tell me to stop doing it.”

I’m speechless. That is something I have never considered. If you don’t want your husband to throw his socks on the floor then you should ask him to stop doing it? I think that is going to be my next “This has never worked for me Wednesday but you should definitely try it for yourself.”

The sock basket has worked for me though and you really should try it. And then when your husband walks in the bedroom and sees a pair of your socks laying on the floor next to the bed he can laugh at you and make fun of you for being such a slob.

So I have shown you dirty socks in a basket. Now you are going to see a real treat: stockings in a bag.

You know how I feel about organizing with bags. I put my nylons into their own separate baggies to keep them from getting snagged in my drawer. If you have a larger collection than I do you could label the bags or (and I just thought of this) you could attatch the bag, using a clothes pin, to the outfit you wear the nylons with. I don't know. Now I'm probably just getting too crazy for you.

Here is one last sock tip for you. Instead of keeping your kid's socks in their rooms, find a spot for them by the back door. That way they can grab their socks and shoes and be on their way in a hurry. Not that you would ever be in a hurry. You are too organized for that!

Find more wonderful tips at Works for me Wednesday!

For more of the wonderful world of Organizing Bags click here!

Stuffed With Love

*Edited

Sew some adorable little Valentines for your family and friends. I like to make a basket full to pass out on Valentines Day. They're sweeter than candy!


First of all you will draw some hearts on a white piece of paper and cut them out. Don't make them perfectly symetrical. I like them oddly shaped with lots of character. Make different hearts instead of using the same pattern for all of them.

Place two pieces of fabric right sides together and trace your pattern with a pen onto one side, leaving enough room for a seam allowance all the way around.

Cut out the fabric 1/4" beyond your pattern line. You will sew directly on the line so you need a seam allowance beyond that.


Next you will sew around your heart right on the line you drew, using a sewing machine or a needle and thread. If you are using a sewing machine you will need to stop and turn your fabric after every stitch or two as you sew around the tight curves. Don't forge to leave an inch open so you can turn it right side out.


Clip to the V in the top of the heart before you turn it. Clip right to your stitches but not through them.


Turn your heart right side out using a flathead screwdriver to help push out the curves and points. Then use the screwdriver to stuff it as fat as you can get it.

Once it is completely stuffed you will stitch up the opening.


Add a pin to the back and a button tied on with linen string to the front if you'd like.

Can you feel the love?

*I forgot to mention that it's fun to pin these hearts to a card you are sending someone. It's a wearable love note!

Find more Love, Sweet Love at WFMW.

Join us this week for Smart Habit Saturday to make lasting changes in your life!

Playing With Fire

I just spent the afternoon *designing some new Organizing Bags and I thought of a WFMW tip that some of you might not know about.

Usually the seams in gym bags and backpacks are left unfinished (that means they are left with the raw cut edge) and they can start unraveling with washing or wear. Especially if it is thin fabric.

If that starts happening, all you have to do is scorch the edges of the fabric (especially the cut end of zippers) with a lighter to melt them slightly and they will never unravel again.


I risked my life to take this photo for you. I had to hold the lighter with my left hand while holding the camera and taking the picture with my right hand and hope I didn't burn up the bag or the entire house in the process. If I was a little smarter I might have figured out how to set the camera down while taking the picture. Next time.

Look for organizing tips in my sidebar.

*You can find my original Organizing Bags at laragallagher.com/bags/.

Organize Your Measuring Cups

I keep measuring cups in my baking supplies so I don't have to wash them every time I use them because I don't know, I'm lazy? I always use a 1 cup for oats so that's what I keep in my oat container. A 1/2 cup works in my brown sugar, granola and rice.

I keep four sizes in my flour and sugar drawer and use them for both.

I even have room to keep my sifter right in my flour container. Looks like there's room for more flour in there too!

Don't even think about it.

Just buy some extra sets of measuring cups from a garage sale or thrift store. You could even buy them new since they're not that expensive. I usually use the cup and the 1/2 cup. You can give the extra 1/3 and 1/4 cups to your kids to play with in their kitchen, sandbox or bathtub. You definitely don't want to clutter up your baking center with them like I did! If you use this method you do not need several sets of measuring cups. One set in your baking center is plenty. If you use your 1/2 cup but you need it again for another ingredient, guess what? You can wash it out and use it again or you can pull one out of your flour bin and use that.

Have fun organizing your measuring cups and don't forget to join us for Smart Habit Saturday this week!

I'm addicted to WFMW. I wish I had time to read and comment to every post because all of your ideas are so great!

Sleep Training

*Updated

She’s sleeping through the night and let me tell you, it’s about time!!! I know sleep training can be a controversial subject between Mothers but I had to do something. She was cranky and tired all day. Naps helped a little bit, when she took one. If she was able to fall asleep for a nap, everyone had to be perfectly quiet or she would wake up and be even more irritable than before. Night after night of her waking and not being able to put herself back to sleep was really taking its toll on the entire family. I had to do something. I needed some sleep!

Lucky for me, Stranger came home with the perfect cure just a few months ago and it has worked like a charm. Why couldn’t I have discovered it 10 years ago with my first baby? Just think of all the years of sleepless nights that I have suffered. At least there won’t be any more. Thanks to stranger I am finally able to put myself back to sleep when I wake up at night. Um, I mean SHE is.

Ok, it’s me. Lovely has been sleeping through the night since she was a week old. Well, why shouldn’t she? She doesn’t have to worry about library book fines or how to keep chickens from pooping on the front porch. She’s never built a house and lain awake at night wondering why the builders would put a door where the bathroom window was supposed to be and why the plumbers thought she wanted handicapped toilets.

I used to be a good sleeper. I spent my high school and college years traveling with sports and music. I could fall asleep anywhere and any time; on a bus sitting straight up or on a cold gym floor at the sidelines of a volleyball game. All of that changed when I got pregnant with my first baby. Suddenly my ears developed super human sensitivity to sound. Suddenly my brain refused to turn off for 8 hours in a row. Suddenly the night time hours turned into nights of sleepless horror with every tick of the clock. I dreaded the sun going down because I knew I would have to spend another exhausted night trying to sleep while my body refused to cooperate.

A few months ago Stranger brought home an MP3 player after I had mentioned it might be nice to have one to use at the gym. Of course it was on sale! You didn’t think he would just buy one out of love for me did you? It originally cost $100, it was on sale for $60 and then it came with a $40 rebate bringing the price down to $20. Apparently 80% off is almost as good as free to Bruno who was happy to show me how much he loves me while at the same time getting a good deal.

That is my WFMW. I have used my MP3 player to re-train myself to sleep through the night. I have a play list on it called Sleeping that plays thirty minutes of soft mellow music and I leave it ready and waiting right next to my bed every night. If I wake up in the middle of the night or even just an hour before I want to get up in the morning, I can put the ear phones in without disturbing Stranger, turn it on and fall blissfully back to the land of all you can eat cheesecake and kinder, gentler librarians who are actually delighted to share their sanctified books with you. I can dream can’t I?

My new Sleep Trainer works for naps, sleeping in hotels or visiting the cousins with their crowing roosters and crying lambs. I even took it to my physical therapy appointment today and took a 15 minute nap while I lay on a table undergoing some kind of wonderful shock therapy treatment. So in my usual way of overstating my point, get yourself an MP3 player, if you don’t already have one, and start dreaming again.

*Go visit Ann Kroeker. She has another great tip for using your MP3 player.

Here is another little detail for effective sleep training. If I'm using my player to fall asleep at night or to go back to sleep in the middle of the night then I set it to play through my 30 minute sleeping list once and then it turns off so I don't waste batteries. If I wake up an hour before I want to or if I want to take a nap in the afternoon then I set it to repeat one song over and over until I wake up and turn it off. The reason I do that is because the repetition of the same song keeps me sleeping when lights or other sounds would otherwise wake me up.

Can you tell that sleep is a very valuable resource in my house!

Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad

Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting an Eating Well edition of Works For Me Wednesday and I had to play along because I love new recipes even though I do not eat diet food. If I try a recipe that calls for low fat sour cream you know I will be using the real stuff, just ask my butt. Besides, people eat twice as much food if it’s low fat and that’s a scientific fact! Or at least it should be.

It’s also a scientific fact that lemon juice cuts grease. So if you ever eat anything high in fat then all you have to do is drink lemonade with your meal and it wipes out all the fat. True story.

This is one of my all time favorite recipes. I know I always say that but come on. Food? There is so much good stuff out there and so little time! I can never pass up anything that has fresh basil in it. I never measure the ingredients in this recipe. Just buy everything you need and start throwing as much as you want in the bowl. It will be good.

Caesar Chicken Pasta Salad

3 cups skinned and boned chicken breast, cooked, cubed
3 cups penne pasta
2 cups romaine lettuce
1 1/2 cups cherry tomato (I usually just use chopped tomatoes.)
1/2 cup basil, fresh, thinly sliced
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1/3 cup fat free (ha!) Caesar salad dressing
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 clove garlic, minced

Combine ingredients in a large bowl; toss well and serve immediately.

Have you decided what your new goal is going to be for this week’s SMART Habit Saturday? I think I have mine all figured out and let me tell you, I have one clean toilet!

Organize Your Rock Collection

Do you see what a special rock this is? It's a heart rock. I brought it all the way home with me from Pismo Beach last week and I even found it on Christmas day! We spent hours looking for lost hearts on the beach that day. Every Mother knows the joys of having kids that come home with their pockets full of rocks and sticks and dirt after every outdoor excursion. Each little thing has so much meaning. Each treasure is so precious. Every beloved item is one of a kind. But let’s get real. You can only allow so many rocks in the house before you have to start smuggling them back out to the garden with the rest of the one of a kind rocks and sticks, especially those that find their way into the wash and turn the dryer into the moon’s surface. Those REALLY have to go!

A few years ago I came up with an ingenious plan. I told the kids I wanted to start collecting heart rocks and I invited them to join me in my quest. Did you know that heart rocks are pretty scarce? Yep! You can hunt for hours and never find a really good one. “Don’t be disappointed,” I tell the kids while I rub their dirty little heads and eye their empty pockets, “There is always next time.” In the mean time they have forgotten all about the other magical rocks that surround them. For some reason they don’t hold as much wonder as they used to. Nothing compares to the magic of lost love. Except for a heart with a perfectly round hole in it If you are ever lucky enough to find one like that then hold on to it tight. Or send it to me for my birthday!

P.S. I find that the soil in my various house plants is a lovely place to keep our rock collection. The rocks feel right at home there in a little bit of earth.

Another Member Of Our Rock Family

Does anyone want to name him?

Giving my kids something to collect keeps them from coming home with and entire rock garden in their pockets. It works for me!

Another heart rock collection

Perfect Your Pie Crust

Don't recipes always say to cut strips of foil for the edge of your pie crust to keep it from over-browning? So I have spent years fumbling around with strips of foil that never stay on just right (I must be some kind of foil dummy) until last month when I made a turkey potpie with Thanksgiving leftovers. For some reason I got the idea to cut a SQUARE of foil big enough to cover my pie, fold it into fourths and cut a circle out of the middle of it. Wouldn't you know it but the dang thing fit perfectly over my pie crust and stayed put as it should!

No burned crusts here!

Check out more amazing ideas that will work for you! Not that this idea was amazing. It was pretty good though so I'd give it a 7 out of 10. What do you think? Is this going to be a life changing experience for your pies?

Organize Your Sibling Rivalry

I have a wise older sister. She’s short but she’s wise and she is the mastermind behind *Organize Your Sibling Rivalry. Well, I don’t think it has ever had an official name but I thought, with its importance in our lives, it needed its very own important sounding title. The concept of OYSR is that each child has his or her very own Week.

Let’s say it is your Week. You are the lucky winner of “You get to answer the phone!” In addition, you will receive the fabulous prize, “It’s your turn to sit in the front seat!” But that’s not all! You will also receive the following prizes.

You get to retrieve the baby from her naps!·
You get to unlock the van doors!·
You and you alone, will get to pour Mom’s water!·
You get to choose the video we rent!·
You get to push the shopping cart!·
If someone has a runny nose, you will get to wipe it! (That just slipped out. I don't think we've actually ever had a fight about who gets to wipe someone's nose but I wouldn’t be surprised if we did since the kids will fight about anything!)·
If there is a bug to squish, you will be the squish-er!·
You are the treat chooser!·
The food cutter!·
The timer setter!·
The this-er!·
The that-er!

There is really no end to the loot that you will be receiving for this extraordinary Week of your life but that still isn’t all! If, when your Week is over, it wasn't enough to bring life-long happiness to your tiny child-sized heart; you will also receive another special Week just like it in seven more days! That’s right! Every 14 days, for a Week, you will resume your rightful place as the center of the universe!

*Official Contest Rules
1. This contest is open to any children receiving food, shelter and life from the judges. Contestants who mope around the house refusing to answer the door or the telephone are excluded from this contest.
2. The prize is not redeemable for cash or pizza and must be accepted as awarded.
3. Decisions of the contest judge (Mom) are final – no