Can’t have Christmas without sugar cookies.

Tip #1 Acquire two willing helpers.  It may not make the process go any faster but it will bring a smile to your face more than once.

Tip #2 Buy a package of these:

They will allow even the most amateur cookie dough maker to roll out consistently perfect dough.

Also, rolling your dough on a floured dish cloth makes even stubborn pieces easy to pick up.

Tip #3 Parchment paper.  Lots of parchment paper.

Tip #4 Use every last bit of dough even if it means switching to a smaller cookie cutter.  These will be the cookies you’ll use when your helpers beg to have some before they are cooled/frosted.  Being able to say, “Sure you can have one now.” will earn you major Mom points.  Besides there’s no point in wasting.

Tip #5 Decorate, decorate …. because plain sugar cookies look lonely and because it’s fun!

**This post backdated for chronological reasons.

Currently I’m thinking that online shopping is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  I’ve been an Amazon shopper for a long while now and an Amazon Grocery shopper since they’ve had the program but recently I discovered that my local market finally, FINALLY offers its own online experience.  Tonight while the children took baths and brushed teeth and got into their pajamas I did my shopping for the week.  Tomorrow morning my “personal shopper” will transfer the order from computer to cart and by tomorrow noon I’ll have picked up my stash and be back home putting things away having never set foot in the grocery store.  I love it. … I think.  Any new experience carries with it some trepidation.  This is no different.  Will my eggs be cracked? Will my bread be squashed?  We shall see.

Has anyone else done the online grocery store thing?  What did you think?

   It looks random but it’s not.

   Horse.

Surfing Man.

BTW, a stainless steel fridge make a great dry erase board for short people and big people that don’t want their notes erased can write with wet erase markers on the freezer.

Brother insists on playing Parcheesi.  It’s his favorite game and yet in all the times we’ve played we have yet to make it to the end of a game in one setting.  It just takes too long and the attention wanes.  Neither child seemed to mind the lack of closure but it was driving me nuts.  So here are some game time strategies I’ve started using to keep me sane. (not just with Parcheesi but with almost anything we play)

Set a timer - We play until the timer goes off (usually 15 to 20 min) and whoever is “ahead” at that point wins.  Be sure to establish what “ahead” means before you start.

Play with fewer pieces - In the case of Parcheesi we often only play with 2 pieces each which automatically speeds the round.  This principle can be easily applied to Candyland (remove the picture cards), Battleship, Uno (deal fewer cards) and a myriad of other games.

Use House rules - If the real rules say a piece can only be played on a roll of five then house rules might allow you to play on fives or ones. Or house rules might allow play on even numbers or multiples of 3.  Besides speeding up the game this is great way to sneak math into everyday fun.

Take a break - If you absolutely must play by the rules consider taking a break before fun turns to frustrating.  Sometimes we break for a few minutes but more often than not around here it’s a few days.  For that kind of break you either need a phenomenal memory or a digital camera.  Here’s a picture of our current Parcheesi game taken over a week ago.

Finally,

Pick short games - Gamewright creates terrific age appropriate games. (We love Rat-a-Tat-Cat and Hiss.) while classics like Connect-Four and SET move so quickly that you can easily play more than one round at a sitting.

Click on over to Shannon’s for more Works For Me goodness.

A set of keys for the new house, a set of keys for the apartment, a key for the car and a sundry sort of membership/discount cards conveniently designed for travel, these are the current contents of my keyring.  I have even more keys.  The parents’ houses, other people’s cars, safety deposit box, an office.  It seems my circle of friends is a very secure lot. I wish I could scale down but every key I own is necessary in some way so I have developed a few rules for managing them all.

1. I do not need every key all the time. This means I only carry keys that are used daily.  Ones that are called into service less often remain at home until I need them.  On occasion I have been somewhere that I wished I had a key with me but these times have been few and don’t justify lugging around those extra ounces in my purse.

2. Keys that are not used every day must have a label.  A few weeks ago I saw that the key cutting station at Lowe’s had some custom key designs available.  (flowers, a college logo, or even the word “home”)  This is a good idea IF you can remember what designs signify what locations.  I try to be specific enough with my labels that anyone ”in the know” can find the right key quickly but vague enough that they mean little to a stranger (eg -”Grandparents 9410 back door”, “Will’s Cutlas trunk”).

3. Purge excess, out-of-date, or unknown keys annually.

4. Each set of keys has its own ring and each of these mini rings is stored on a carabiner. Here’s a visual for clarification.

This has been soo helpful.  Dropping my car off for maintenance, I can easily hand the mechanic what he needs while safely keeping the rest in my possesion.  On a hot day, I can start the car cooling and still keep house keys in hand to lock up. 

5. Finally, all of my membership cards are on their own ring and also get purged periodically.  This keeps them from getting in the way of my keys and from multiplying out of control.

This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about keychain management but it works for me.

Works-For-Me-Wednesday is hosted by Rocks In My Dryer.  You should go there.

Because at 375 they can right my world in 8-10 minutes.

Throughout the years we have owned cats off and on.  The “off and on” is important because during every “off” time we gave all our kitty stuff away and purchased anew at the next “on.”  And that is important to explain because I want to you understand that I have tried a LOT of litter boxes. … Well, not me personally … the cats have tried a lot … well, actually each cat only tried one but that’s not the point.  The point is:  I know about litter boxes.  (I put the point in bold in case you got lost in all the rambling at the beginning.) I also know the two most important questions to ask yourself when purchase a new litter box.  Is it easy to clean?  Will the cat be able to kick/track litter everywhere?  One hopes the answers will be “yes” and “no” in that order but only time will tell.  Last week, I discovered for the first time ever a perfect “yes/no” combination.  The Omega Paw Self Cleaning Litter Box is incredibly easy to clean (”self-cleaning” is a bit of a misnomer) and it’s completly enclosed except for the entrance so litter stays in.  For the little bit of litter that gets tracked out, I added a simple, litter mat and voila!  No more mess.  All told I spent about $35 dollars on the solution which is quite a bit more than your standard litter box cost but I figure I’ll make up the difference in headache medicine.

If you haven’t already, click on over to Shannon’s for more Works-For-Me-Wednesday tips.

Since moving to Bartlesville, I have been with both children (and occasionally Will) almost 24/7.  Last night the stress of joy of all that togetherness began to run over.  Will assessed the caged animal look in my eyes and sent me out the door sans children.

Wow -  unexpected time alone - perhaps if I were anyone else I might have gone shoe shopping or spent the evening at a local coffee shop but being me, I pulled out the to-do list I’d been struggling through all day.  Finally, progress could be made.

First stop: Karate studio.  A few weeks ago I asked Sister if she could learn about anything, what would it be?  I threw out several options (dance, gymnastics, piano, horse-back riding etc.) but made it clear that she didn’t have to pick from my list.  If she had something else in mind, she should say so.  And say so, she did - without hesitation, “Karate and dog training.”

“Uhm, Ok.  It’s good for me to know what you’re interested in,” I said.

Well, the dog had to find a new home before the move so that left her other choice.  My pretty, little, make-up, high-heel, skirt lovin’ girl wants to learn karate. Oh the sweet paradoxes of parenting.

Second stop:  Dance studio - a mum can hope can’t she?

Third stop:  Wal-mart - your one stop shop for all things consumer-y.  We love to make smoothies so item #1 on the list was a blender, followed closely by milk.  After these two essentials were taken care of I rambled around the isles. Looked with sympathy upon the mom telling her child through clenched teeth, “Would you please just sit down already?” Found some beads for Sister on sale and finally ended up in Health & Beauty.  This is NOT a section I frequent.  Usually, I rush in only to grab toothbrushes or razors or some other practical item.  But on this occasion, I found myself tossing fingernail polish, nail buffers, brushes, hair clips and other sundry items into the basket.  At the eyelash curlers, I realized the insanity had to stop so I raced for the nearest checkout.  The twenty or less lady eyed my 30 something cart dubiously but let me through just the same.

Outside I tried to get my bearings.  Where did I park?  Oh yes, that row there, on the left.  My eyes scanned the cars looking for my distinctive, green Cavelier.  Halfway along, I spied it … on the… right?  Okaay.  I pushed my treasures right up the trunk, inserted my key and turned.  Well, I tried to turn but nothing happened.  I closed my eyes and sighed.  Only last week $200 had flown from hands into auto repair shop for just this problem.  “We replaced the entire lock.  You won’t have any more trouble getting that trunk open, Little Missy.”  (The ”Little Missy” part was unspoken but it was there all the same.)  It was almost 8pm.  Will had been alone with the children for over an hour.  I was beginning to fear for their his well-being. “I’ll just have to put everything up front and deal with this later.”  I looked up and caught site of a Dunkin’ Donuts cup on my dash.  Wait, I don’t have a Dunkin’ Donuts cup….or a pair of fuzzy dice hanging from my mirror…  Feeling as if I’d just stepped into some sort of twighlight zone, I cautiously turned around and looked straight at …. my car… on the left … just where I’d thought it was.

This Little Missy then walked sheepishly past some inquistive bystanders, loaded her bags in the trunk that opened perfectly and sped back to her family where her madness could be hidden behind the guise of motherhood.

No, I don’t mean parking ON the sidewalk… that’s just silly.  I mean parking NEAR the sidewalk and for good reason.  Two young children getting out of the car in a crowded parking lot or on a busy street can be a very scary thing indeed. (to the mom… the children usually don’t care at all)  Sidewalk parking is my attempt at safety.  Most places have at least a few spots in front of the sidewalk.  Sometimes these parking spaces are not obvious.  They may be far from the door or even around the corner from your destination.  To me it doesn’t matter.  I park, remind the children to “go to the sidewalk”, then it’s a free-for all to see who can get there first.  Okay, not really.  Sister gets out and waits on the sidewalk while I help Brother.  Once we are all together again I let them run ahead to a specified point (you can go to the lightpole, or that red line, or the second bush or the door with the blue letters).  Not only do I not have to worry about them running out into the street; they get to release some extra energy before we enter a store.  This is especially helpful on days with many errands.  Sometimes it takes a little longer but overall there is less stress and that works for me.

I had two problems.  First Grandma had me order an acrylic tea bag holder from an online catalog.  Unfortunately, it arrived chipped and Grandma decided to return it.  Rather she decided to have me return it.  I HATE returning things.  It’s such a hassle.  So the box sat and sat and sat and would have sat some more except for my other problem:  too many little girl hair clips.

Look!  Here’s the solution we all liked.

Sister loves the box because it’s pretty.  I love it because she is actually using her hair clips now that they are not tucked in the dark recesses of some drawer.

There’s more (and even better) tips over at Shannon’s!