I wonder...

A fantastic 13 year old follower of my blog from Oklahoma had a inspiring moment after reading my post:
"This one is for you Aubrey".  A very vivid, beautifully crafted, tablet drawing!  

Thank you Caitlin Suarez!  You are an artist!   I thank you so much for letting me post this on my blog.

You really can win GIVEAWAYS

You really can win by commenting on GIVEAWAYS! I did!

I won a book called Santa Story Revisited - How to Give your Children a Santa they Will Never Outgrow by Arita Trahan with Norma Eckroate

Not only did I receive a brand spanking new copy I have a personally autographed copy "Pati - Here's to having a jolly old time our ho-ho-whole lives long!
- Anita"

I am really looking forward to reading this book because Christmas is very important to me; and being able to give my children a Santa they will NEVER forget sounds like THE most fantastic thing I can give them!

Giveaway: Wet or Dry Floor Cleaning System

Doesn't everyone like FREE STUFF!?

I know I do! That's why I entered the Giveaway contest found at Diaries of a Domestic Goddess


Leah is offering a giveaway for a Wet or Dry Cleaning System by ProMist. This may just be the next best thing since sliced bread. Okay, maybe not, but the next best thing besides a Swiffer!

Please visit this link to enter the contest. I did! Tell her that Pati sent you!

Tag! You're IT

There must be some kind of natural instinct we gain as children to instantly know how to play games that I/we played as a child. Like Tag! You're IT, nope you're IT, nope you, you, you. It's a never-ending game of tiresome running fun!

Let's take these games for example I certainly didn't 'teach' my kids how to play they just Play. Imagine yourself as a 6-8 year old child. Here is what comes to my mind...

There are the 'tents made out of blankets'. Easy enough to explain, tents...made out of blankets stretched far across any room in the house. I've seen my kids drape blankets over kitchen chairs lined up in a row; I've seen them drape blankets over the actual kitchen table to make a clubhouse, I've seen the normal draping over the side of the couch and make sure you pull every pillow in the house inside said tent too. It's always fun to put the house back together after that.

Next, we have 'hot lava'. The game of 'don't touch the hot lava (aka the carpet) and throw all the couch cushions to the floor as stepping stones. Now you must jump on the couch cushions to make it back to safe (aka the couch). Careful! Don't fall in the lava!

A spinoff of the 'hot lava' game called 'lava monster'. This takes place when you make an unfortunate fall into the lava, and become the lava monster. Now the monster must try to pull everyone else in.

Then, there's always the 'dirty clothes monster'. Stuff yourself in your hamper or under the pile of dirty clothes. You must rise from the dirty clothes and moan like a zombie. Then walk around with dangling pajamas, towels, and socks on your arms as you Zombie-limp your way to the other unsuspecting victims in the house. True, I'd really like to see this done out of CLEAN clothes, but just think of the mess folding the drawers when you are done. Just let them use dirty clothes.

A nice spin off of this game is 'Leaf Monster' in which you do the same thing with dead leafs attached to your hair as you stumble around outside of the graveyard of leaves you bury yourself in. (Let's not think about how long it will take to get all those leaves out of their hair.)

Also, there is a good old fashioned game of 'hide and seek'. It's always more fun to play at someone else's house because you already found all the good places to hide at your own house. (p.s., No. The dryer is not a good hiding spot) <---be careful not to teach that dangerous spot to your kids no matter how funny it may seem!!

Making snow angels is another hot topic in the snow. I can't say I showed them how to do it; they always just 'did'. The making of snowmen does require some adult help in getting those really heavy middle and head sections on there.

I think last but not least is 'tea party'. My son may admit someday that he even liked to play tea party once in a while when he was around 3 or 4. I never taught him how to line up his stuffed animals, talk to them, and while he fed them pretend plastic food with cups and bowls. It's not just a "girl" thing ya' know. My girls learned how to play too around that age and they still play at age 6.

Lastly, there is nothing like a good game of 'who can scream the loudest!'
Need I say more?

These are my most favorite games I played as a kid, and then I see my children play. I didn't teach them how to play, it must have been their eerie sixth sense. Children gain this natural instinct at birth, I think, how else would they 'know' how to play these games automatically?

What kind of fun games did you play as a kid? No, I'm not talking Nintendo 64, or Atari, I did play those too. I'm talking actual games you played outside or inside. It didn't take much to make-up a game and I'm sure other familes have lots of other fun things they did. Please feel free to share!

Another way to use the coffee filter...

So I've given you one way to use a coffee filter here.

I have yet another helpful tidbit for using those fantastic paper circles!

Of course, you can use them to filter coffee. I know that, but they are so resourceful in your everyday deeds.

It's lunchtime...your stomach is growling and you mosey on over to the fridge. Yes, mosey is a word, the definition is located here at dictionary.com.
So anyway, you mosey on over to the fridge and see what's leftover from yesterday. Oh that scrumptious pasta. Huge stewed tomatoes bathed in garlic and onion marinara, with the Parmesan cheese that had once melted has now congealed over the last of the ziti pasta. I'm drooling already. It sure was good last night at dinner, and it will taste even better for lunch today! So you place your block of cold pasta on a plate and pop it in the microwave. STOP! WAIT! Did you forget about the whole coffee filter thing? Take a coffee filter, and place it on top of your pasta BEFORE you microwave it. OKAY GO! Now set the timer on the microwave for 2 minutes and walk away. You can go check your email really quick, grab a cup of milk and throw in a slice of bread in the toaster and when the chime rings, lunch is served.

So I'm sure you are guessing WHY, just WHY did I put a coffee filter on my plate of pasta? Open your microwave and see... the filter has grabbed every spit of hot pasta sauce that would usually be dangling like volcano ash inside your microwave. Throw said coffee filter in the compost (if it's an unbleached recycled filter) and you now have a stayed-clean microwave!

Feel free to be flexible with what you use the filters for, use it on pasta; spaghetti-ohs, soup, anything!

Enjoy your mess-free microwave today.

Days like these we remember...

"It's days like these we remember." The wise words of my 9 year old son.

It's around 8pm on a late July summer evening as we drive in the car heading West. As the sun begins to set on the clouded thunderous day, the large puffed clouds stand behind us as tall as they eye can see. The blue sky before us breaks apart into a peach-orange colored glow giving us a slightly eerie setting from the storms that had just passed. The low hanging clouds are whisping away as they stretch long across the summer evening sky. With their gray colored haze the outstanding sun streams into the clouds with its warming rays as the day closes.

He joins me in a quiet ride in the car and says "It's days like these we remember." I look at him with a curious smile and wonder why he just said that, so of course I ask. "Why would you say that?"

He smiled back and answered so honestly. "Because when was the last time I got to enjoy a quiet sunset with my mom? I wish we could pull over and watch the sun fall in the sky. We could spread out a blanket and just watch the cloud shaped animals pass us by. I don't remember the last time we got to do that."

With tears in my eyes I don't respond. It is days like these we remember, this particular day I will remember. When was the last time I remember watching the sunset with my son? I do remember, it was that night.

Thanks son, for having me remember those small things in life.

This one is for Aubrey...

As she pushes her tip toes with a strenuous reach, she can finally see over the railing. Her little blue eyes twinkle in the late evening sky. She reaches her chin up over the wrought iron fence and is just tall enough to see the cascade of flowers that dwindle down the embankment. The fence keeps her safe from falling down as she clenches the bars in her tight grasp still afraid that she might fall. The wind sweeps her hair up off her neck with thousands of stray hairs finding their way into a low tangle onto her shoulders again.

She looks to her left at her mom who is standing beside her as they exchange smiles. Her short haired sister is squeezing her cheeks between the bars as she tries to look down to the flowers below but she can't because she is not tall enough. She looks to her right as watches her big brother pull the few strands of spit back into his mouth as he let a big drop fall down over the bars. Her dad, sitting on the bench behind them all, just watches his family.

Another burst of air swirls around them and she feels the tingle. Then ... ACHOO. Her little face smacks right onto the wrought iron fence. At six years old the only song you long to sing around Christmas is "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".

Today, she is getting closer to singing that song this Christmas. Little Aubrey just knocked two of her front teeth loose with a single sneeze. They are only loose now, not out. But it is one step closer to singing that song this winter!

Chores, make it a game!

Chores is a book in itself. There are so many offers, tidbits, and easy methods in handling the daily load. We'll address all those in due time. You can't expect me to dump my entire blog of Chores in one post now can you? :)

One of my most fondest memories I have with my mom is learning how to do chores and how to make it fun! We would scramble to be the next one to get to pull a folded crumbled paper from the cup. Let me let you in on a little secret that she taught me.

So, today's post will help you through the jungle, or at least give you a machete to begin to find your way through the jungle of chores you want to accomplish. If you look up right now, go ahead, look up into your living room. Do you have that pile of laundry on the couch, toys scattered across the floor, that "someday I'll go through that box" in the closet, but you can't see over the mail stack that is three phonebooks tall, and you have about 1000 emails in your inbox that you probably will never answer but never delete but who cares right?

There are probably close to 1000 things that you *could* be doing right now. Chores is the never ending daily battle that we must do otherwise we'll just end up doing twice as much tomorrow, or three times as much the third day. So let's try to get a handle on them today and have the kids give you a hand doing it.

Let's begin today, not tomorrow, today.

Now do this:
Find a scratch sheet of paper and a pair of scissors and cut the paper it into even sized pieces (it doesn't matter how big or small). Now, look through your house and write down one thing you would really like to get done today and write a few words or a sentence "fold the laundry" "change the kitty litter" etc... Go ahead and write it in crayon if you can't find a working pen it's okay. Write them in NO specific order. They don't have to be HUGE Chores, or even a chore it could just be your "to-do" list today.

Now that you have about 6-8 pieces of paper that have a chore or a "to-do" item on it. Fold it up. Fold it in half, then in half again, and again and into a small squared v-shaped crumble until you can't fold it anymore. Put that folded paper in an empty cup or bowl. Add in as many as you would like to do today or this week.

Take that cup full of folded squares and give it a good shake. Here is what you have a cup full of untitled squares. Pick one out, the suspense is killing me.... you get to do what first? What does that little square say? It gives a little bit of fun into your daily routine of knowing what you have to do but giving you a variety of what order you do it in.

Now lets' have the kids play this game in their room. You can write down all the main parts of cleaning a room.
"pick up stuffed animals"
"find all the barbies"
"put the blocks in the bin"
"put board games in the bookshelf"
etc...

The kids get a big kick out of this game because they get to draw the next surprising task!

We've always gotten a kick out of the pick-a-piece chore game. I think it makes it a little bit more fun on how to clean, and not just putting our nose to the grindstone and getting it done. A little variety makes us a little happier. You can keep this cup and paper squares in the kitchen and put away and get it out every time you ask the kids to clean their room. You will be surprised how fast it can get done some days.

Have fun, shake things up!

It's snack time but all those dishes are dirty...

It's snack time!

Don't you feel like you have NOT stopped doing dishes? Yet it is mid-afternoon snack time with breakfast and lunch dishes still dirty and waiting. I know you don't want to deal with more dishes, I sure don't. Don't you wish you had a magic plate that you could just throw away without feeling guilty of extra trash? You do!

The magic plate I found is a coffee filter!!!

No matter if it is just cheese, goldfish crackers, pretzels, heck even apples, grapes, and banana's can easily be contained with these! It's a simple plate that keeps the food contained right in front of your toddler! I bet you didn't even know you had a magic plate in the cupboard did you?

The paper filters already come in the shape of a bowl. They can be flattened for a plate, and can hold those goldfish crackers in a pile. It's okay if your baby throws it to the floor it wont break! The best part of it all is that if you purchase recycled and unbleached filters you can just throw them right in your compost pile!

You can get about 1000 filters for less than $3. So to do a quick little math, 1000 filters x 3 kids = almost enough bowl/plates for one snack every day for an entire year!

Are you still in your pajama's?

Are you still in your pajama's, and it's already after-noon? Somedays, yes this is acceptable. Everyone is entitled to a pajama day. Stay inside and snuggle up on the couch with a family pile of kids all around you. The cat purring in a blanket on your lap. Oh yes, days like this are not common but completely acceptable. Although...everyday is not a pajama day.

Are you feeling like you are stuck in a rut with NOT being able to get out of your pajama's and start your day? No matter if you have children or not yet, if you are home all day alone, home with your babies, or working from home getting YOU ready for the day is sometimes hard if you do not always have to leave the house.

Here is my suggestion, on how to help jump start your day. Get up; take a quick shower, make your bed, get dressed all the way down to your socks, heck even throw your shoes on it's okay to wear shoes in the house if you are not going anywhere! Do a quick maneuver with your hair and the blowdryer and *poof* you are now ready. Now you can have a seat at the computer, pull out the school books, tend to the baby, or pour yourself a cup of coffee and sit down with a good book. You are ready to start your day!

Let's say you pour yourself a cup of coffee now but you realize you are out of creamer! The milk has less than a teaspoonful left in the bottom of the carton, and the bread end caps have nothing between them in the platic bag. You do not have to run up to the grocery store pulling the sleepy cranky hungry babies from their beds with your flannel pants and bunny slippers and your hair pulled up in somekind of twisted uncombed ponytail.

You, look good, feel good, and can go out the door in the blink of an eye and be feeling good and ready to start your day it will make you *feel* better about yourself. You are not going to keep your head low pushing the shopping cart through the store as fast as you can with your bunny ears flapping across the parking lot.

You are ready, the rest of your day awaits...

Good morning!

It was a good morning today. I think the donut fairy came by to visit. I woke up hearing the thumps and stomps of children heading up and down the stairs. At the foot of my bed was a plate of 4 little donuts. I did not hear any steps in my room, they must have tip-toed. My honey and I take turns, let's say it's an unspoken expectation, of allowing the other to sleep in. (As much as one could sleep in with barking neighbor dogs and children playing LOUDLY). They try to HUSH each other as loud as can be. "SHHH DON"T YOU KNOW DAD IS SLEEPING". Well, I'm sure he's awake now. haha. So I pull myself from the blankets and stumble downstairs with my plate of breakfast and two smiling six year olds at the table munching away. It's one of life's great pleasures to see the kindness you teach reflected into the children you raise. Mommy gets breakfast in bed today. I hope you have a great morning too...

GIVEAWAY: Do you like FREE STUFF?

How would you like a pair of RYN Shoes? I know I would! That's why I entered the contest on my friend Leah's blog: Diaries of a Domestic Goddess

She is giving away a FREE pair of RYN Shoes to those that follow her blog. You can learn more about RYN Shoes and their fantastic styles and designs. Their shoes are aimed at increasing muscles, reducing stress, and strengthening and toning. I could surely use a helpful tool like these shoes. Go ahead and check them out!

Welcome to my first post...

Hey there friends! I will go through my life triumphs and defeats, what's on my to-do list, and where my personal life and professional life take me. I've found many beneficial tips and tricks in my everyday life and I am happy to share them with you. I'm not here to stir up debate, nor to embellish political views. I just have a fun time in life and enjoy my friends and family and like to share the wealth of information that I find. Whether it be a coupon, a hint, words of advice, or just a laugh I'll share it here.

I'm a proud mothers of three children, and have been happily married for 13 years. I have an almost 10 year old son; and twin daughters that are 6 years old.

Everyday life cracks me up with little laughter funny phrases by the children, or a challenge with sibling rivalry, plus household fun of mating socks and organizing the pantry. I've got plenty of battles to share. I've got simple tricks to help with dinner, or begin or finish a project from around the house. It is my life, written for you. While I'm a full time mom, and a full time writer, and a very avid bowler I enjoy my time at the keyboard. Of course, sometimes time gets the best of me and that's why dinner is not on the table yet. Sorry Honey, the keyboard ate the meatloaf, that's why dinner is not on the table yet. I find this quote funny, and enlightening and hope you get a kick out of this blog.

Someday soon, I hope I get "found" by an agent. I have a thrilling murder/drama/suspense novel I am attempting to publish. It is my 2nd official book I've written and I have about 5 more that I could be working on at any given time. As I dive into the sea of the unknown I hope that I find a very successful career out of writing. My first novel was self-published and while I have lots of friends and family that support me and have read and purchased it, it's not enough. Of course I'll shameless promote it here: A Castle Inside I want to take the marketing and advertising of promoting my book further. While it takes time to promote I figure I'll begin another novel and find out how fun a blog can be. So that is another reason why I'm starting this blog. It will help me continue with my quest of writing, no matter if it's in my blog, or in a new novel, it helps me get my feelings out and I feel so much better when I know that all my energy is not pent up inside. I will let them explode on the keyboard, and I hope that you get a good laugh, find a useful tidbit, hear about life's battles with children and households, and enjoy our conversations.

So stay tuned everyday for a funny laugh, a kid-friendly approach to my kid's life battles, and a lot of fun along the way...sit back, hold onto the cup of coffee...and lets go!