Product Review: Manual Pencil Sharpener
What’s your favorite non electric office product? I have a serious love of office products. Zebra striped paperclips and pastel sticky notes make me swoon. I wrap my trademark blue tape around my brand-new Sharpies so nobody walks off with them. I wasn’t brand-specific until I discovered Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. However, for years, pencil sharpeners frustrated me. I kept bent paperclips and screwdrivers in my desk drawer to unclog them after kids sharpened colored pencils or cheap pencils down to the nubs or inserted the wrong end of the pencil in the sharpener. Grrr. Manual. Electric. New. Used. Handheld when we broke the remaining one in the supply closet. Grrr. Pencil sharpeners. Then one day I got a gift. My best friend said her husband bought a box of pencil sharpeners and wanted to give me one. She didn’t seem overly excited about this as she handed it to me. Considering mine were always breaking, I was happy to get a new pencil sharpener. Life suddenly went from good to great. I had a new office product love! Where had this gem been all my life?! I found myself teaching kids and adults how to use my Groovy Green pencil…
Chore Charts
What was your least favorite chore as a child? Who does that chore at your house now? Chores are a fact of daily life and chore charts should be, too. “Mom, it was so smart of you to try to get us to do one chore a day and not leave them all for Saturday! I’m so sorry I didn’t listen! Now I understand!” That’s what my married daughter said to me after my wise words and chore charts finally sunk in after all those years. The chore chart first appeared when my girls were in preschool. The weekly chores in the younger years involved bringing me the little trash cans on trash day and helping to dust or deliver piles of clean laundry to the bedroom. I remember once buying a new feather duster and toilet brush and bringing them home like prizes! Being young, my girls were excited about the new tools! The weekly chores grew into a daily chart that listed each person’s name and a chore that could be done in less than 5 minutes that day. (Saving them until Saturday was NOT an option then!) Dad and Mom chores were sometimes listed so everyone could…
Setting up School Year Expectations
How does setting a homework schedule build life skills that impact the workplace? Just as a classroom teacher sets expectations, parents can also use the start of a new school year to set school year expectations for homework and chores. As children grow, so should their responsibilities as these life skills may impact their future workplace performance. During the younger years, they can be expected to put their backpack in the designated location and put any “parent homework” in a certain spot everyday. Homeschoolers can be expected to return their daily supplies to a designated location. As they get to the middle years, these school year expectations can grow. To avoid the morning rush or get a few more minutes of sleep, bookbags can be packed the night before, lunches can be made, and clothes laid out. All of this can be done by the children, with some initial supervision by the parents or caretakers. By the launching years, these school year expectations should be firm and there should be little need for reminders or follow ups. The start of a new school year is a great opportunity to revisit the expectations. “Each night after you clean up the dinner…
End of Summer Fiesta
What’s your end of summer tradition? Summer fiesta. For many years, we marked the end of summer in late August with an annual Family Fiesta involving friends, food, and fun. It gave us one last excuse to hang out with neighborhood friends and energized our entrance into a new school year. If you know me you know I make a tradition of NOT doing things the same way each time which keeps everyone from being disappointed if you make changes but also keeps them in suspense about how you will actually pull things off. My Family Fiestas ran that very same way. Many years involved an assortment of tacos or enchiladas with a side of guacamole and jalapeno poppers (if my neighbor brought them). Activities ranged from piñatas (some more successful than others!), to tie dye t-shirts, to scavenger hunts, to the “never do this again” leather coin purse sewing craft completed by grumbling parents when the kids abandoned the activity. But memories were made, t-shirts were crafted, pictures were taken, and bellies were full. As I flip through the scrapbooks, the memories jump off the page! The kids were so little! The parents so young! The crafts and piñatas…
Summer Salads
What’s your favorite summer salad? BLT’s are always a favorite summer meal when the garden tomatoes are sun-ripened to perfection, but wait until you try easy BLT summer salads! Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Salad takes dinner to a whole new level of healthy summer goodness. Chop up some fresh lettuce and summer tomatoes. Add some perfectly cooked bacon (whatever your definition of perfect is) and top with homemade ranch dressing made with plain Greek yogurt and spices. If you need a side, Texas toast or potato chips are a good addition. I have a recipe for ranch seasoning that you just stir into plain yogurt or sour cream for a quick dressing or dip. This is literally one of those quick meals that comes together with the items you have on hand! Adding avocado kicks it up a notch in sophistication that leaves you wondering if you need to change the title or not. Like country farm cousin meets Manhattan city cousin in the summer. Ranch Seasoning Mix 1 t garlic powder 1 t onion powder 1 t salt ½ t pepper ½ t dried parsley ½ t dried dill Use this base recipe to double, triple, or make any…