The Ultimate Freak Out

I'm a cardiac nurse. 
I've seen ridiculously disgusting things.
I've seen open incisions with guts fully visible.
I've packed gauze into infected chest wounds where a sternum should be.
I've seen things that would give any rational person nightmares for weeks. 
I've taken it all in stride. 


But show me a tooth precariously dangling from a 7 yr old's cutie patootie mouth and watch me squeal, freak out, dance in a circle on my tiptoes and scream "Ewww, ewww, ewww!"


And watch my little girly laugh and giggle that she could make her Momma sweat and want to pass slick out.


S/N: This tooth losing extravaganza reminded me of a tip my Mom gave when I first had children. She said to always have a RED washcloth stocked in the cabinet. When a child loses a tooth or nicks or scrapes themselves, use the red washcloth to "hide the blood" and this knocks out a lot of their anxiety. Works.

Note to Self....

I have an entire bathroom drawer jammed full of lotions and smell goods rarely used. I decided it was time to exploit their splendid scents even if I share them with no one else for the day. After showering I lotioned up, found the corresponding spray and pssshh, pssshh, pssshh- sprayed it circling around my front side, neck and around and down. Whooooo hooooo hoooo... OH MY!!! Certain freshly shaved areas don't appreciate an alcohol based spray. HOOOOLY mother of pearl, y'ouch!!! I didn't know smelling so good could burn so bad!

Drop the H

Ever notice how whine and wine sound exactly the same but are at opposing ends of your mood spectrum? Keep the H in happiness and out of your wine!

Secrets of the House

It's been a while since I blogged, I've had the thoughts but not enough time in the day. Summer is here, school is out, the kids are wild, and I'm putting a deck on my house. You get my drift... you're probably on the same pattern as well. Shewww! I'm tired! Just wanted to share a few shortcut "secrets" tonight:

I would love to scrapbook adorably cute, forever memorable albums for my children to browse through with their children. However, I've succumbed to the fact it "ain't never gonna" happen. Sooo, my second best alternative is to buy cute photo albums with a memo section built in preceding the picture slot. Here I put cute little scrapbooking stickers and write little notes from that day. It's more personal and sure beats an album packed with photographs but omitting its story. You could go yet another route and print those in book form through snapfish and the like. I, however, would end up with 400 books and it's just too costly for that!

My friend let me in on a fantastic idea she does with her children's artwork. She takes a favorite and has it made into blank notecards. Do you need to send a quick thank you to Auntie for your child's birthday present? How perfect is the notecard for that! Note to the teacher? Even better! (Brown-nosing points included.) The only problem I am running into is: how on earth do you choose just ONE per kid?!

You know, with digital cameras I take entirely tooo many pictures. I really do. I was originally trying to clear out "less than stellar" photos before transferring pictures to a thumb drive. Then I started thinking about how my kids will never be THAT age again. That day has passed. What's one more picture? That's the joy of digital photography. You can keep every single moment and you don't HAVE to print every picture. I look at my babies and can't believe how much they have changed since we moved here. Time flies. And I'm going to keep every precious moment I have, so what if the picture isn't "perfect." Someday all these silly times will be just perfect memories.

Secrets of the House

Paint toenails with metallic nailpolishes for warmer weather. The metallic hides imperfections even when the tootsies need another coat. Small chips are nearly undetectable. It's all about easy breezy.



Skip the overbearing car fresheners. Slip a fabric softener sheet under your car seats to have a light and airy smell.... I'm currently obsessed with the lavender scent. Double duty if you find yourself with a static problem, swipe it from under the seat and run it along your clothes. Presto! (I realized today leaving spearmint gum in your car works pretty darn good too!!)

Use dry erase markers to leave notes on the bathroom mirror and windows. The marker wipes right off and the kids think I'm neat. Wink, wink. (DO make sure your kids know it's not a normal marker. THAT could be trouble!)

For my first apartment, Mom and I made curtains out of sheets. We used a twin size flat sheet as one panel. While redecorating my living room on a tiny budget, I found discount fabric to re-upholster pillows, but couldn't find coordinating blue curtains in my budget. Walking through a large chain store, I headed to bedding. I love it that they 1. had the perfect shade of blue 2. sell each bedding component individually and 3. had enough full sheets to split and make two panels. We're talking 6 curtain panels for $24. After laundering: split them, finish the raw edges, zip a stitch on top about an inch down (to create the "pinch" on top and pocket for the rod), iron and ta-da, big changes on a little budget! The nice part is the LOWER the thread count, the better- super soft sheets don't make for great curtains!

Secrets of the House

Prepare for the random:

Shave anywhere you want with hair conditioner. Skip expensive shaving creams/gels and the like. Wonderfully great, smooth results and a lot cheaper.

I am a huge fan of Suave's "works as well as Matrix" Sleek Conditioner for shaving AND deep conditioning hair. I love it so much, here's a pic. Go ahead and buy the big bottle. Wash and towel dry hair, glob Sleek in, loosely pile it and cover with a shower cap. Then LEAVE IT for an hour or two. Seriously. You will be amazed.

Bring back the not-so-energy efficient dishwasher. Seriously. My mid-priced dishwasher sucks and it's just too new to replace. I have to rinse clean dishes otherwise food will remain- and be baked on. The powder cleanser works better than liquid, but still. I want the "too hot to touch" glasses and plates back. I have better things to do than dishes.

Old sterilized toothbrushes work perfect for cleaning bathtub jets. Scrub, scrub, scrub what you can see from the outside, then fill the bath up, add some of the above dishwasher powder and turn 'em on. Cleans from the inside out.

I use my kid's shoe boxes to organize drawers. They are perfect dividers for ponytail holders, nail polish, kid socks, etc. No reason to go buy new plastic dividers when these are free!

On that note, I use old baby wipe containers for a myriad of things: one holds crayons, another- batteries of all sizes, another- puzzles to keep the pieces together. The possibilities are endless.

Today is January 25th. I finally threw out the Halloween candy. Scary stuff. No worries, the chocolate has been gone for months. Yeah, I'm definitely "On It." =)