Chores and Boys

My brother and I were never assigned chores.  Not for very long anyway.  Maybe I should say, not that I can remember.   Hubs and his sister, however, were assigned chores.  Hubs and I had many discussions about what to expect from our boys as they grew.  And I'll tell ya, as the boyos grow the messes grow with them.  The kitchen messes, the food messes, the laundry messes, the bathroom messes, etc., etc., etc.  And I don't like being responsible for everyone else's messes ALL of the time.  It's so easy to grow resentful.  I soon agreed with hubs that we needed to expect certain things of the boys on a regular basis.  Here are couple of  our ideas.  We've been using these for a little over a year and they've worked well.

This is our "To Do/ Done Did" chart.  This chart goes up on the fridge every Friday and the boys know they have all weekend to get the jobs done.  The list has been tweaked a couple of times.  Never hurts to make improvements!  So it works like this.  All of the clothespins start on the "To Do" side of the chart.  The boys divvy up the chores depending on what they want to do and what they did last weekend, or even what they haven't gotten to do in a while!  Then they get to work.  The clothespins get moved to the "Done Did" side as the jobs are completed.  Pretty easy and it works well.  I don't have to assign chores.  They don't have to do the SAME JOBS every time.  Some they do on their own, some they work together to complete.   I just made this out of layered scrapbook paper, some punch out letters and then I glued the same paper to clothespins.  Easy and fun!

This picture didn't turn out so great.  Bummer.  What I want you to see is the 3 pocket wire organizer.  I found it at The Container Store but when I searched their site for a link, I could no longer find the product.  Closest things were  here and here. But this piece was just what I needed at the start of last school year.  One pocket for each boy.  All school papers and homework goes in their pocket.  They can find what they need for school each day, including signed papers that need to go back (assuming those things did not make it into the backpack already).  Then the pockets get cleaned out every weekend.  They learn to throw what's not needed anymore and find a permanent home for what's really important.  It works for me!

BINGO!

I mustered up some of my old creativity with JoJo's help the other day.  We filled out a summer Bingo sheet together.  Here is what we came up with:

You'll notice some of the activities are repeated.  Some of them are more educational than others.  Some are just plain silly.  Like the first one the two little guys chose to do: "read for 15 minutes in a weird place."

Here is where JoJo ended up.  I thought he was headed UNDER the table.  Silly me.

Mouse liked the idea of the tub.  Wash your hair while you're in there!

I don't have any specific goals in mind.  Summer bingo is just something for the boys to turn to when they're bored.  And when they get a "bingo" I'll let them pick something from their own prize box.  Of course, those prize boxes don't exist yet.  But at the rate JoJo is going, I better get his filled first!  I'm thinking stuff from the dollar store:  silly string, squirt guns, gum, whoopie cushion (!).  Maybe some fun certificates like a trip to the ice cream shop in town, lunch with dad at Subway, a picnic in the yard, a trip to the pool. 

I wonder what else we might come up with to fill our summer...





French Toast Sticks

What do you do with a loaf of bread you make on Sunday and forget to take out of the machine until Tuesday?   (Smacking myself on the forehead!)

You turn it into french toast sticks! 

First, use a good bread knife and saw...err, slice the bread into thick pieces, about an inch.  Then cut those dried out...err, sturdy pieces into thirds. 

Then you're ready to dip those sticks into your egg and milk mixture.  Just use what you normally would for french toast.  Add yummies like vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg.  Anything you like.  But let those dried out babies soak for a while! 

Then lay them out on a baking sheet and bake until they look done.  Don't you love my accuracy?  I just wing it a lot in the kitchen with things like this.  Oven temp?  350 is probably good. And watch them till they are brown and lookin' good. 

Then when they are cool, throw them in a freezer bag to surprise your kiddos at breakfast one morning.  Tomorrow maybe!

The English Muffin Bread recipe I shared is great for these sticks, too.

A Little Baking Prep

I don't use a baking mix too often.  But lately I've been considering buying that famous box just to have on hand.  But in my love of surfing cooking blogs and Pinterest, I knew there had to be a homemade recipe out there that was good.  And better for you than prepackaged.  So, I went and found one!  On Pinterest, of course, right here.  Just mixed up a batch to stick in the fridge. 

While I worked, I thought of the time I used to put together bread bags to store in the freezer.  I don't know why I don't do that anymore!  I started again today.  Just one bread bag, but it's a start.  My bread bags are simply the dry ingredients needed for a loaf of bread, stored in a freezer bag.  I write the name of the bread and the wet ingredients needed on the outside with a Sharpie.  Then when I want to make a loaf, I take it out, dump it in the bread machine, add the wet ingredients and yeast and I'm good to go.  Here's the one I did today.  LOVE this recipe.  So good toasted, then smothered with butter and jam.

English Muffin Bread

1-1/4 Cup water
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 Cups flour
3 Tbsp dry milk
1-1/2 tsp yeast

Add to bread machine in the order directed by the manufacturer.

Now I'm going to make some granola bars.  New recipe.  Still looking for that perfect recipe that just amazes me, you know?  We are going camping today through Friday and I need to make some good, camp friendly snacks.  Go-bars and trail mix are always a hit.  And of course, S'mores!  ("S'more of what?"  haha!  name that movie...!)

Works for Me

I read somewhere that cleaning is the item on the To-Do list that most women would have someone else do, if they could.  I don't know.  I don't mind it.  I'm not very faithful about doing it, but I don't mind it.  Ironing is the To-Do I would gladly hand off to someone else!  (shudder)  I detest it.....

But cleaning I don't mind.  As I said, I'm not very faithful about it though.  That's a problem especially in the bathrooms, wouldn't you say?  Gross.  Three boys using said bathrooms.  Double gross.  So I decided to put together this:

My Bathroom Bucket!  Isnt' it pretty?  Feminine, flowery, spring colors.  Just what my home needs more of!   I used to keep the needed cleaning products in each bathroom thinking that would make it so easy for me to whip something out when needed.  And it did.  It worked, for a while.  Thing is, I always put off the scrubbing of the tub until "Later".  And I don't know why, but Later never came.  I waited and watched but, alas, Later never came and my tub was seldom scrubbed.  Time to change my strategy!  A set day on the cleaning routine for bathrooms and this neat Bathroom Bucket were just what I needed.

 Here's what's in my Bathroom Bucket:

The bucket and the cute gloves I picked up at Dollar General.  The scrubber, at the Dollar Tree.  I have glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner (I make myself) and disinfectant (just vinegar).  And the remains of a pumice stick to get out the hard water stains on toilet and tub.  That's it!  Sometimes I'll use baking soda in addition to the cleaners to scrub at the tub.  The brush really comes in handy.  I just spray the tub, dip the brush in a plastic container filled with soda and scrub away.  The fizzing makes me feel good!  Like I'm really attacking the scum and grime!  When I pull this bucket out of my broom closet I also toss in a couple of rags for cleaning and then toss them in the wash when I'm done.

Now, is my bathroom always spotless?  Oh, no.  Have the boyos learned better aim?  Um, no.  But I like my bucket and it makes my job a little less of a drudgery.  And I really love my pink gloves!