Mesh laundry bag = produce bag. Ingenious!

If you read this blog on a regular basis, I’m sure you are by now aware that I am a fan of the 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I use reusable bags 90% of the time when I go shopping, but I don’t know how to avoid using the plastic produce sacks at the grocery stores. I try to use as few as possible every time I go, and the two or three I do use make me slightly cringe.

I visit Dollar Sore Crafts at least once a day, looking for cheap crafty goodness. I stumbled upon these reuseable mesh produce bags and was, like, “DUH! Why didn’t I think of this before!” I added the mesh bags to my list of items to look for the next time I was at the Dollar Store.

I usually hit the Dollar Store on Cantrell…I can’t walk out without spending $10 or more. I looked in the home organizing section and found a 3-pack of 12 x 12  mesh laundry bags with a zipper closure. I decided these would work just fine as is.

I took them to the shiny Kroger (Kroger on Polk) and filled one with apples. As I was checking out, I wondered what kind of reaction I’d get from the cashier. He said, “Is this a laundry bag? That’s pretty cool.” No problems.

So pick up a pack of these mesh bags and keep them with your reusable bags for your next trip to the grocery store!

Photo from Skip to My Lou

Oh, I just LOVE these Bath Bombs from Skip to My Lou! Always with a ton of fun ideas for adults and parents to make, she has a whole page of Valentine’s Day gift ideas, for friends and teachers. I remember making the “stained glass” hearts as a kid, and the lollipop butterflies (downloadable .pdf included) look like a simple and cheap alternative for your child’s class valentines.

Great ideas are also to be found on FamilyFun…I am loving the Chews-a-card Valentine’s card holder and the Gnome Sweet Gnome treats. And don’t forget my last post about the salt shaker photo holders…another great gift idea. 

Have you any good ideas for Valentine’s treats, for the classroom or family? Share, share, share!

I registered the kiddo for Pre-K this afternoon. It was fast and painless, with no lines or hysteria. It was almost too fast. I had wanted to take a picture to document the occasion, but there was nothing to photograph. It was just me and the nice lady sorting the papers. No hype, just life catching up to me.

Last night, as I filled out the registration paper work by candlelight…we had no electricity between 1:00 and 11:30 p.m., after some electrical work we had done…I was a bit sad but mostly in shock.

Where has the time gone? It seemed like the little squiggly, sweet-smelling, chubby-legged 8 pound baby I gave birth to a few short years ago just got up, sat on the couch, counted to 100 and wrote his name, right before he taught me how to play Star Wars Legos on the Xbox.

I’m excited. Really I am. He’s starting a new chapter in his life, and I’m looking forward to his new friends and new horizons.

But my baby can’t be ready for big kid school, for “Prwee-K” as he calls it?

He still gets into my bed in the mornings for some snuggle time. And he wants me to carry him around, and snuggle with me before he goes to bed….holding my hand. Is that how a big kid, ready for life in the fast lane, acts?

No! Big kids in Pre-K dress themselves, and have their lives all figured out daily by 9:00 a.m. They ask questions like, “What’s blood? What does it do?” and “What are clouds?”

Oh yeah. That’s right…he does all of that. Cause he’s a big kid now.

Amazing beings, these children. How they grow so fast and change, right under your nose, catching you off guard with their wee-wisdoms and kindness. We are so blessed.

Making time for art

My husband set this up for him so right after school he could have some artistic fun while I made dinner. My heart skipped a beat.

For more Wordless Wednesdays, skip on over to Arkie Mama.

My love of bentos has been well documented, and I have this obsessive desire to share the love with everyone. We gave little bento boxes to all of the kid’s friends for Christmas; look at the little bundles, all done up:

Christmas obentos

These were done true obento style, with a cloth wrap (furoshiki) around the bento box itself (Bob the Builder or Strawberry Shortcake snack boxes from the Dollar Store,) plastic knife, fork and spoon, little picks and dishes for sides (here and here) and a magic washcloth for an oshibori. I also included a description of each item for the parent and child so it would all make sense.

I’ve keep a set of pictures of the bentos I’ve made on Flickr and have linked it from the blog, but it just does not seem to be enough of an outlet.

Let’s see if I can start something new here. I will try to share with you each Monday a little something new in my bento world.

For the inaugural Monday, I offer a recent discovery. I kept the divided formula container that I used when the kid was a wee babe. I used it for snacks as he got older, then kept it with the storage containers for leftovers.

As I was packing my taco salad bento a few weeks ago, I had a revelation….divided condiment container! Check it out:

Sweet, huh?

All of my condiments stayed in their little compartments and it did not leak. Genius, if I do say so myself. I’ve put all the pictures in the Flickr set for you to check out.

Now I’m off to scour the Internet for a good little tip to share next Monday.

Photo from WhiMSYlove.com

How cute are these? Via Dollar Store Crafts, here’s an idea from fellow bento-maker WhiMSylove…salt shaker photo holders! Check out her tutorial here for the easy and cheap details.

This could be a cute and simple Valentine’s Day idea, either for photos or for little valentines for friends. Maybe fill the shakers with candy hearts or red hots? Oh, I feel some inspiration coming on….

First morning playing in front of the "new" bed

Within an hour of falling asleep

He probably fell out about three times the first night before we got smart and put pillows around the bed and next to that red table. When he would fall out, it would wake him up but he’d go back to sleep fairly quickly. He got used to his new sleeping space in about a week. Now he’s an old pro in a bunk bed from IKEA. Do you have any toddler bed stories to share?

Wonder what was on my mind?

Months ago, when I knew I was going to be blogging some sort of crafty bit for LRM, I was listening to NPR when this little bit about children’s book author Mo Willems’  (Don’t Let Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny) crusade to get adults to draw came on the air. Here’s part of the piece-

One of the biggest reasons children stop drawing is that they see that adults don’t do it, Willems says. When he goes into classrooms, he says, teachers often ask him to get the kids to draw. But when he does, many of the teachers don’t participate. “Well, now the kids realize that this is just a baby activity,” he says.

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January 20, 2006

January 20, 2006

For more Wordless Wednesdays, go visit Arkie Mama for a bit.

Well, my heart was in the right place when I wrote my post last week about MLK Day, but my planning skills…another story.

I had intended to volunteer at the Arkansas Foodbank Network for a few hours this afternoon to recognize Martin Luther King, Jr Day. I had also spoken to my son’s teacher about a little service project the kids could do at school for MLK Day.

Well, it goes to show that when you have more than one adult helping to plan, things usually will work out.

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