Time as length

Speaking of abstract concepts like time...

A couple of years ago, the kids and I invented a way for them to better understand time which worked surprisingly well for them. I thought I'd pass it along in case any if y'all have younger kids. (Actually, I'm lying. This is less about me wanting to be helpful and more about me not wanting to be perceived as loony if you see me do it!)

Time is one of those kind of abstract concepts that my kids had a tough time grasping. And I think it is even harder now that we are not always surrounded by analog clocks. JJ especially needs ways for ideas to become concrete (just imagine our conversations about God!)

I started showing them time as a measurement of length. I arbitrarily picked 1 foot as the measurement of an hour because it is easy to estimate. Then it followed that a half-hour is 6 inches, and ten minutes is 2 inches.

When they ask how long something is, I just show them the distance between my fingers. I was surprised at how quickly they caught on to it!

Now that KK is able to tell time on a clock, she doesn't need the system anymore, but JJ still uses it quite frequently.

Oh, and a side note: don't teach them how to tell time until you have to. (Spoiler alert: it happens in grade 1, sigh ;). When mama's having a bad day and just! needs! bedtime! it's a lot harder to sneak the kids into bed early once they can read the clock. Just sayin'.

WFMW: Cleaning by accident

This week's WFMW is the backwards edition. Bloggers link up with a problem they are having and ask for advice (instead of vice versa).

My problem: dusting.

It seems I get a lot of cleaning done by accident around here. Other than the laundry and dishes (which just keep getting worse if left), the only way I get anything else cleaned is by accident.

Like the bathtub fiasco.

Or changing the bed because someone threw up in it.

Or washing the bathroom floor (and all the household towels) because the toilet has overflowed.

But I can't figure out how to dust by accident. And now that the sunshine is streaming through my windows every third day or so, I'm realizing how long it's been since I dusted properly.

(Let's just say it was when I was nesting just before JJ was born.)

(I'll let you figure out the math)

(Because it's downright unacceptable).

So how do you fit it in? What kind of catastrophe is it going to take to get the dust off my shelves???

Head on over to We are THAT family for more WFMW tips.

Wfmw - Cutting Onions

Ok, I might be the last person on earth to have noticed this, and if so, then this post is just so you all can congratulate me for finally figuring it out... but just in case there is someone else out there who hasn't...

I realized recently that I have not been using the fact that onions have layers to my full advantage. Yes, onions have layers, as do ogres, cake, and parfait. (Shrek has been known to babysit my children more often than I'd like to admit.)

If I cut the onion in half, from end to end, (instead of parallel to the ends), it takes advantage of the onion layers.



I can then take one of those halves and cut it in slices, and then cut the slices cross-wise and the layers all fall apart into perfect sized little pieces. If I want smaller pieces, I just cut smaller slices.




This has greatly reduced my tears related to frustration, although it has done little for those tears related to onion juice droplets in my eyes. (If you've got tips on that, leave me a comment... PLEASE!)


Another simple tip I discovered is for green onions. I cut the length in half, and then in half again. Then I cut all these smaller pieces at the same time instead of cutting a skinny little onion from one end to the other. I may only be saving myself seconds, but for some reason it feels better on my knife to be cutting a larger amount at one time. I'm strange like that.




For more great tips, head on over to Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer.

WFMW - Our Favourite Bedtime Stories

Here are two of our favourite bedtime stories right now. The first is "A Bedtime Story" by Mem Fox. It's about a little girl waiting for her parents to come read her a bedtime story because her friend, Bed rabbit, can't read. It goes through her entire bedtime routine and ends with mommy and daddy reading her a story and tucking her into bed. It has a lot of repetition which my daughter LOVES. She has the entire book memorized!

The second is "So Sleepy Story" by Uri Shulevitz. This is KK's absolute favourite! Everything in the house is "sleepy sleepy". (Except the walls, as KK surprisingly noticed. She corrects me every time I read "sleepy pictures on sleepy walls" because in the picture, the walls actually aren't sleepy!)

Say "sleepy sleepy"over and over and it definitely has a calming effect. Unless of course you read it at break-neck speed, like my husband. Then it's just a book.

For more great ideas, head on over to Works for me Wednesday with Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer. I'll see you there!

WFMW - Chore Schedule

This may seem over the top for all my in-laws anyone who prefers to play things by ear, but this is what works for me...and that's what this is, works-for-me Wednesday.

After loading myself with guilt over not being able to balance my roles as mommy, housekeeper, friend, wife etc., I came up with a chore schedule. It helps me get the essentials done, so that I can keep my home relatively clean sorta tidy clean-ish. And hopefully then, I'll have time to be a better mommy, friend, wife etc.

So here you have it, my chore schedule:

Monday: laundry and groceries (groceries sometimes happen on the weekend)

Tuesday: banking, garbages and recycling. I also have "library" on the list, but I think we've actually only made it to the library once on a Tuesday.

Wednesday: laundry including our sheets/towels, and kids'/cat's nail trimming. Yes, it has to be scheduled. And sometimes, this happens:


Thursday: next week's meal planning and bathrooms (alternating bath and shower every second week.)

*gasp* I KNOW mom. You taught me better than to only clean the bathrooms once a week. But actually once a week is my ideal and it really is more like once every two weeks....but two weeks MAX, I swear! And I'll look the other way if from now on you bring waterless hand wash and lysol wipes every time you come to my home...


Friday: budgeting and laundry

*We now interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging for an unscheduled poop explosion. I'm not sure how long my 6-month old, JJ, was happily jumping in his own poop. This was a bad one. Probably worse than KK's great-poop-all-over-mommy's-pants-at-church-explosion of 2006. It's making me re-think the "great" deal I got on diapers at Save-on-Foods*

Anyways, I also have two rules built into my schedule:

1. If I had a bad sleep, or the kids are extra needy or something comes up and I get too stressed about getting everything done, I have permission to drop today's chore and focus only on the kids and meal prep.

2. I have to do today's chore first. If I have extra time, I can go back to what I missed the day before, then the day before etc. So, if I missed laundry on Monday, I have to wait until Wednesday to do it again, unless of course I have extra time on Tuesday. It keeps me from getting overwhelmed which usually leads to crying, compulsive list-making and notactuallygettinganythingdone!

I know. A little over the top. But that's what works for me. Click here for more great tips (I'm talking hundreds of great little ideas) with Shannon at Rocks in my dryer.

Works for me Wednesday - overwhelming laundry

Ever since I started thinking about starting a blog, my mind has been filled with ideas for "Works for me Wednesday". Here is my first WFMW post! (So excited!)

Sometimes Often Lately the laundry has been overwhelming for me. It's not so much the washing and drying part. That's easy enough to do and to keep going. It's the folding and putting away part that sneaks up on me and brings on significant panic attacks, causing me to obsessively start writing to-do lists. It seems I keep turning around to find that another load has been added to the pile of clothes that need to be folded.

Instead of continuously chipping away at Mount Laundry and never making any progress, I've found a way to break it up so it feels like I'm actually getting somewhere.

First I get out my second laundry basket. Then my daughter KK and I go through Mount Laundry and find everything that goes in her room. We make it a game.

I hold up a pair of her pjs, "Does this go in KK's room?"

"Yes!" she shouts gleefully and in the basket it goes.

I hold up a pair of Daddy's pants, "Are these KK's pants?"

"No!" she shouts and we laugh uproariously because what could be funnier than mixing up Daddy's pants with hers?

And on we go until everything is sorted into two piles "KK's room" and "Not KK's room".

If Mount Laundry still overwhelms me, then we continue to sort into smaller piles until I feel like I could tackle ONE of them. That's the key. I only have to fold and put away ONE PILE. But suddenly, that didn't seem so hard...and that sense of accomplishment felt really good. Maybe I'll just do one more pile.....

Next thing I know, everything is folded and maybe even put away.

I didn't know it was possible to use such trickery on oneself!

For more great ideas, head on over to "Rocks in my dryer" where Shannon hosts "Works for me Wednesday" weekly.