Friday, February 21, 2014

Local kids activities!

   I realize this is the world, wide web. But I'm sure there must be a few of you local to me in the Green Bay area. So I thought I would compile this list just for you! It's a number of places that are just for kids, or very kid-friendly. I tried to stick within about an hour's travel time of Green Bay.
 
   Check their websites for seasonal times and prices. Some even have certain days that are discounted or free! A few of the play spots are also play and eat. (They serve food.)

LINKS INCLUDED;
 
 
Zoo/Farms/Gardens
 
 
Story Times/Crafts
Museums/Historical sites
 
Movie theaters/Drive-ins

Play spots/Amusement Parks


Water Parks
 
Sports
 
Shows/Events
 
   There are some great shows and events in our area for kids, but you will have to keep an eye out at places like;
 
   Shows and events include (but not limited to) the following list;
 

Do you know of any other spots I forgot to mention? Please, let me know.
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Monday, February 17, 2014

...Thoughtful day....

   As I'm sitting at my computer to write on my blog, my hair is being viciously attacked made "beautiful" by a 3 and 4 year old. I have more clips in it than any one human should have. The amount of detangling spray in my hair is astounding and I'm pretty sure my hair will smell like watermelons for a whole month. My kids are enjoying every moment of it, as I am wincing at every hair I feel break.

  I can't help but love the laughter I hear from them as the decide which crazy way to make my hair go up. "NO-this way is too fall-y",

  Some days I get so caught up in everything I have to "accomplish" for the day, and I realize how much I miss them at the end of the day because I didn't take the time to just...sit and let them break brush my hair. But those days I take them time to appreciate their quirky little personalities are the most rewarding days and I find myself full of stories for my husband when he gets home and we spend time giggling over their antics.

  Yesterday I took the time to dress us all up in our winter apparel, and we just rolled around in the snow and went sledding on our own little hill. I've found that since having little ones, I'm not so crazy about going out in the cold. But I don't want them to miss out on all the fun you can really have out there. I spent my childhood sledding and playing "king of the hill" on this giant snow pile left behind in an empty parking lot a block away from my house (yeah-surprise! I grew up in town!), and I loved it. Nowadays, that doesn't seem like it would be as safe to let my kids go out on their own as it was back then, which means I need to make the effort to let them have as much fun by going out with them.

  All this rambling to say, I don't want to miss out on my kids and I regret the days I do. Take the time today to let them ruin brush your hair.

  What fun things do you do with your little ones?
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Homeschool cirriculum list

   I've been searching and searching through different homeschool companies. We are Christian's and are looking for a faith-based curriculum for teaching our kids. So this list is compiled mostly of faith-based companies.
   Search them out for yourselves and make a educated decision (pun not intended) on your child's future education.



Christian Curriculum Links

Do you know of any others??
Teresa
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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Why I don't use bleach

   People have been using bleach for a long time in their homes. Everything from cleaning their bathrooms to whitening their laundry.

   I however- choose not to use it in my home for many reasons that I've listed below.


1. The odor. Oh how I cannot stand to inhale that odor. It stinks terribly and takes forever to disappear, feeling burned into your nostrils.

2. The health issues associated with bleach.  These include respiratory problems, burned skin, and damage to the nervous system. In many cases, the use of bleach and cleaners with chlorine irritate problems that people have including allergies and asthma. These are caused as a direct result of the product itself and can be serious.

3. Potential chemical reactions. Often times the direct physical health issues aren't caused from the product itself, but rather the results of chemical reactions.
  • Chlorine easily mixes with ammonia (urine which contains ammonia). This can happen when mixing cleaners (on purpose and by accident) and even while cleaning the toilet. The results is a toxic gas which can and sometimes does cause the lungs to stop functioning. Usually the fumes are noticeable, but sometimes people don't even notice that they are breathing in a potentially life-threatening gas.
  • Mixing chlorine with dish soap produces mustard gas, the same gas used to kill many people during World War I. Many people mix chlorine with dish soap while cleaning the kitchen (again, on purpose and by accident).
  • Chlorine also mixes with organic matter creating chloroform. This is a toxin and a known carcinogen. This happens in the house while cleaning the kitchen, the toilet, washing the laundry, and cleaning up food, blood, or other organic messes. This is dangerous to the inhabitants of the house. However, chlorine also mixes with organics in the environment building these toxins up all over the world.
4. The toxins. By using these harsh chemicals in homes, people are dumping them in the water supply which gets recirculated (even with their filters, they cant catch everything!)

5. Accidents. There are a large number of accidents that happen with household cleaners. In 1997 there were 217,989 calls to poison control for household cleaner accidents. Of those, 54,453 were directly related to bleach and 7,570 were from household cleaners that contain bleach. That means that 28% of household accidents involving cleaners were from bleach alone. Using "green" cleaners can help prevent accidents from household cleaning supplies and bleach from happening in your home.

6. It's bad for pets. Particularly birds. It builds up in their lungs much faster than ours and can kill them.

7. If none of these can convince you, then how about this: Stay-at-home moms are 54% more likely to get cancer than those that work outside of the home and it is believed to be because of the harsh chemicals used in household cleaning that they are exposed to for longer periods of time than those who work outside of the home.


   Instead of using bleach for common cleaning in my home, I've switched to Orange Infused Vinegar. I don't normally whiten my clothes, but there are multiple ways to be a little more green for your whitening needs;

  1. Vinegar (3/4 cup with your regular detergent)
  2. Baking soda (1/2 cup with your regular detergent)
  3. Hydrogen peroxide (1/2 cup with your regular detergent)
  4. Sunlight (the BEST for cloth diapers, BTW! Not to mention saving on the electrical bill with a clothes line.)
  5. Borax (1/2 with your regular detergent) -Borax is a natural mineral
So what do you use instead of bleach?
Teresa
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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Cleaning Grout

   We bought our first home December 28th, 2012. (SUPER EXCITING!) I LOVE our house. It's been such a blessing, to us and others (which I hope continues throughout our lives here, and every other home we own!)

   Over half of our house has ceramic tiles. (Which, they are SO cold in winter - so if you're buying a house with tile, rugs are a MUST!) When we moved in, and many times since living here, I have scrubbed my tiles with a mop, and a rag on my hands and knees and just assumed (with all that cleaning) that our grout (that hard cement-like stuff between each tile) was a dark brown. Then I heard somewhere about scrubbing grout with a bristled brush to get out dirt (apparently grout is VERY porous). I figured I'd give it a try.


 
 
   I ran to the Dollar store and picked up a handled bristle brush, or if you prefer to order online you can always get one off of Amazon.com, and I used my Orange Infused Vinegar Cleaner and some disposable shop rags my husband left behind (Guess you'll need more of those, hun, hehe.)


 
   (WHOA! Can you see the difference???)

It didn't take much. I sprayed on the orange vinegar water, scrubbed each section of grout for a few seconds, and wiped it up. Turns out - I have beige grout! (NOT dark brown!) Kind of gross, isn't it???? Unfortunately, over have of my house (which the total square footage is 2,300) has ceramic tile, so I have a few days worth of scrubbing left to do. Yikes. My wrist does get sore after about 30 tiles, so I end up taking regular breaks.

   Hopefully by the end of February, this project will be finished!! It looks pretty funny right now in patches.

   How clean is YOUR grout?
Teresa


(This post contains affiliate links.)
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Going green: Orange Infused Vinegar Cleaner

   I love making my own things, particularly household cleaners. My common favorite is simply vinegar water! I do about a 50/50 mix in a spray bottle for everything from toilet bowl cleaning to floor scrubbing to counter cleaning. It's amazing, removes orders (that vinegar scent evaporates quickly), disinfects, and is less dangerous than most (nearly all) of your common household cleaners bought at the store, particularly bleach.


   A few months ago, I heard of infusing your vinegar for a citrusy scent, and a gloss that only the oils in citrus rinds could provide.


   I decided to give the orange peels a try and I must say I'm really liking it! I basically just peeled one giant orange (usually two average oranges) and stuffed it in a quart sized mason jar, then covered with vinegar and let it sit for 3 weeks to really absorb all those rind oils (ONLY the rind by the way, NOT the fruit-great repurposing eh?). Then I put it in the spray bottle. I still mixed it with water 50/50 (if the vinegar is still too strong for you just change your ratio! Maybe 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water). And it's a GREAT cleaner. It leaves things just a little extra shiny with those oils in it, not to mention a faint orange scent.

 (I broke into my vinegar before I took a picture! I had some major cleaning that needed to be taken care of!)

   I have dogs and toddlers - so I REALLY appreciate an odor killer, something vinegar is great at. I like the orange infused vinegar for an all purpose cleaner but if you use lemon rind, I imagine it would be GREAT for wood furniture leaving it look polished! I'll have to let you know when I try it.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Teresa


(This post contains affiliate links.)
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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Maintain the mess...

I'm a mom of three little children. We have 2 dogs. We constantly have people over, play dates, family living with us on and off. We also have a mini homestead (it's growing! Especially this spring when we get more chickens and our goats!) so we are constantly tracking in the outdoors. As you can guess, cleaning is my current past-time, my worst enemy, my pet peeve,...I love it...I loath it. It's really a love-dislike (I'm cautious with the word "hate") relationship.
There's nothing I like more than a clean house. But cleaning it??? UGH! Especially after play dates, or holidays, or anything that just messes it up in a day! Sometimes it takes me up to two weeks just to get it back in order! So no-you're not alone when your home is a mess and it seems to take FOREVER to repair the damages done-mostly by little hands.

This isn't a post about how to clean up that GIANT mess. Or even a post specific to cleaning a certain thing/area. But I thought I'd give you a tip to MAINTAIN the mess. Stop it from suddenly jumping up on you when you least expect it.

One hour. Per day. That's it.

It's that simple. It can seem like allot, or not enough depending on the size of your home. I, personally have 2,300 sq ft (and kids think it's ALL for their toys) and it's just enough time for me.

When? Well, I break into my cleaning closet after lunch, after nap/rest time, but before I need to start supper when my darling husband is on his way home-usually from 2:30-3:30. (It seems like a cheat..) BUT it's so relaxing for my husband to come home to a clean house! If I do it early in the morning - it's wasted before it's even 12pm! I tried doing it before bedtime, but with cleaning up after supper, getting the kids ready for bed, nursing an infant, making my husbands lunch for the next day, soon there will be evening chores, it just doesn't work out.

Mid-day has been the best. You can get rid of the bulk of the mess, and the kids can pick up any other toys and their mess before bedtime without it seeming overwhelming to them. I prefer waking up to a clean house. It gives me more free time during the day to cook, blog, play and do school with the kids, really anything that's been on my list.

You don't have to make it spotless either. I set the timer (or just watch the clock.) And that whole hour is mostly spent just picking up the mess! With the occasional break to get the kids snacks, wipe someone's bottom, change a diaper, nurse a baby,...whatever comes my way. And I prioritize. Notice the toilet bowl needs a scrubbing? Do it during that hour! There's always tomorrow for another deep clean spot.

Happy cleaning!
Teresa
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