When I got to the grocery store, the last thing that I want to purchase are cleaning supplies.

They are expensive.

So what do I do?  Probably what a lot of America does.  I pick up the cheapest thing that I can find.

However, in the past few months, I have been bitten with the green bug.  I’ve not gone all tree-huggery, but I’ve been a little more conscious about what I use in my home.  I’ve already turned to a natural laundry detergent and love it.  The inconvenicence to me wasn’t great, none at all really.

And so, over time, I’ve been working on it and I’m trying to only buy green cleaning supplies from here on out.  It will take me awhile to use up what I have since, you know, I never clean… ha ha.

Kidding.

Kinda.

But, GreenWorks has a new website called 30 days to Natural and it’s a great place to start in taking yourself natural in the cleaning supplies department.  On the site you can follow the video diaries of three women who have traded in their traditional cleaners for Green Works natural cleaners for 30 days.  The women vary from a small town mom to a single mom in an MBA program and cover various regions of the United States.

The site also offers tips that can be delivered to your cell phone or via email to help you work your way toward green in 30 days.  There’s even a handy kitchen checklist that you can print out.

Want to know how you can get started?  It’s simple!  Just visit http://www.30daystonatural.com and plant a daisy.  Planting a daisy puts you among all the other people in the world who are taking the challenge right along with you.

And who doesn’t love a good challenge?

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Remember how I told you a while back that the 70s called and they want my stove back?

Well, I still haven’t returned it.  The Smithsonian calls daily but that piece of history is still located within the walls of my overly tiny kitchen.

It still cooks everything hotter than it should and it still only has one working burner.

I’m waiting on my friend to remodel her kitchen so that I can buy hers.

And I’m waiting.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Electrolux Appliances is ponying up a brand new stove and I want it.

I think it would make me want to cook and cook well.

See?  Wouldn’t you want that too?

Well, you can enter to win it just like I did by popping over to http://www.electroluxappliance.com and enter your best Turkey Tale.

For me, I’ve got lots of tales of cooking, but shockingly enough, I can cook a turkey.  Don’t ask me why the cooking Gods have bestowed this gift on me, but they have.

So, if you’re looking for something funny, not here today, but my entry was about defining the perfect turkey.

Let me know if you have one!  I’d love to hear about it!

Gobble Gobble!

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As a child, I believed, wtih all my heart that all I needed to solve anything was faith, trust, and pixie dust.  Seriously.  I even had Pixie Dust, which was comprised of special dust that I collected from the fairy patch behind the shed that housed the “man tools” outside of the house.

The Fairy Patch was a special place.  Tinker Bell’s relatives lived there; it’s where she hailed from.  And from there, I would collect my Pixie Dust, scooped up with a special scoop that was absconded from my mother’s kitchen and stored in the “man shed” for times when I need to collect.

I would collect my Pixie Dust, put it in my purple velvet pouch, which was purchased at the Smithsonian with rocks in it.  The rocks found a home in the bottom of my toy box the day that I realized that I needed a special pouch to carry my Pixie Dust around.

My Pixie Dust went everywhere with me.  It was in my backpack when I went to school.  It was in my pocket when I was outside playing.  I took it to the store.  I took it to church.

And when things got rough, or I needed a change in the events surrounding me, I would simply pull my purple velvet pouch out of my pocket, state that all it takes is faith and trust and pixie dust, sprinkle some around and go about my merry way.

It was that simple.

My pouch was never empty.  As soon as it got low, I would make sure that I had time to escape to the back of the “man shed” and collect my dust.  I would alert the fairies that I was there, even though I couldn’t see them.   I didn’t want to scare them off though as I was afraid if I became the enemy they would desert their home, taking their pixie dust making powers with them.  And I needed my pixie dust.

Eventually, over time, as I got older, I out grew my pixie dust infatuation.  Perhaps the reality of life set in and I realized that pixie dust didn’t make a difference.  Or maybe it was the fact that soon I was being made fun of because I would sprinkle what was really saw dust from my dad’s big saw and call it Pixie Dust.

But for many years after I rid of the purple velvet sack from the Smithsonian that once contained polished rocks, I would still mutter the phrase “faith, trust, and pixie dust” to calm me in a situation that required it.

Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust.

Wouldn’t it be nice if things were that simple now?

This is a compensated post as part of the BlogHer Reviewers.  Look for the new Tinker Bell movie to be released on October 28th.

Buy the Tinker Bell Movie now or in Blu-Ray

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Growing up, there were many things that were important to my parents, but the biggest to my mother was all four of us, sitting down, at the table, for a meal.  This often meant three of us sitting there while the food got cold cooled off, waiting for my dad.

But it didn’t matter.  Happiness to my mother was all of us sitting around the table.

To this day, it still is.

My mother is known to make a Thanksgiving meal days before the actual holiday to accomodate having the family together for the meal.

While I hated this act as a child, often showing up to the dinner table with my Walkman knock off brand of a tape player, I can now understand WHY this is so important to my mother.

Long ago, I realized that the three of us, my children and I, were just not in a situation that we could sit down for dinner together, so I decided that it didn’t matter where we ate, just that we ate together.  It bothers me if I’m eating in my office and they are eating in the living room, so we just don’t do it.

But what I didn’t plan on was that I would actually look forward to dinners at the actual table.

With football season in full swing, eating together is not an option most nights.  Matthew often has to eat at 4pm and Samara and I aren’t hungry (take away the fact that there’s no way I can get a meal prepared by 4… shoot… it’s tough for me to get a meal prepared at any time of the day.)

I miss out meals together.  I miss sitting there and talking.  I miss hearing how days went or just laughing.  I even miss, kinda, Samara whining about how she doesn’t like what I made.

Libby’s created an interactive website called Get Back To the Table that’s filled with recipes as well as tips and information for getting the most out of your grocery dollar to create delicious meals the whole family can enjoy together.

Seriously, y’all.  There’s stuff on there that I can even make.

The next night that no one has anything to do, which very well may be in ten years, the kids and I are going to work together to prepare a meal… and get back to the table.  It’s where we belong…

I never understood why it was so important to my mother… but I do now.

And I’m looking forward to it many family dinners around the table…

Until next time…

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Communication is super important to me. I can’t begin to stress to you how important it is.

For most of the people I know, communication is important.  And when you have multiple children, involved in multiple sports and activities, things can get hectic.

As a coach of softball, soccer, and ::gulp:: cheerleading, in addition to being a youth leader for the church, it’s my job to keep parents up to date on when we have practices, games, team pictures, and other assorted events.

And for whatever reason, parents don’t want to talk to other parents.  I’ve yet to figure out why.  I also can’t understand why parents who take pictures at the games don’t email them to the rest of the parents.  I have very few pictures of my daughter when she is playing a sport because I’m coaching… and I can’t coach and take pictures at the same time.

It’s nearly impossible.

So what if we had a place where we, each group, could view dates, pictures, contact information of other families as well as be able to send messages to everyone?

We do!

Someone else, someone who I had the pleasure of meeting at BlogHer this year thinks communication is super important to and she’s created a site that called Qlubb.com and it’s an amazing resource for any type of group, whether you’re a family trying to keep up with one another, a sports team, or a youth group.  If you’ve got a club of some sort, then you can utilize the features of Qlubb.com to organize it for you and enhance communication.

Oh wait.  Yes, I know.  No one wants to register and create yet another user name and password.

So what if I told you that with Qlubb.com you don’t have to.  There is one group password.  That’s all they need to remember!

I set up a page for our youth group (and I’ll keep it private because I don’t have permission to share those photos and contact information with you) but so far, it’s worked out famously.  Perhaps I should’ve set one up for soccer as there have been quite a few who have not been able to figure out when we have practice and when we have a game.

Next year.  I’ll set it up next year.

And now I’m wishing that all of the other things that we are involved in had a website set up like this so that I know what’s going on and when.

The only thing that I don’t like about Qlubb.com is the events feature.  I would love to have a place where I can denote the time of the event, however, I found a work around and just typed it in the event description and what’s neat is that I can have people RSVP right there and sign up to bring something if need be.

The key when working together for our kids, or for the betterment of any group is communication and the communication between the parents I work with just got a whole lot better… and easier.

Oh, and did I mention Qlubb.com is free?

It is.

Now, go… set one up… be the hero.

You can thank me later!

Until next time…

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Did I ever tell you about the time that I had a major dating faux pas? I don’t think I have. I’m not overly proud of it, but had I had a blog at that time, I probably would’ve blogged about it. It was a typical “Heather Moment”.

You see, I was very much involved in the dating sites at that time… the time being late 2006. I was talking and “playing the field” I guess you would call it and there were two men who were at the top of my list. We’ll call them Stalker and Guy I Should Have Picked (GISHP for short).

You can see where this is going, can’t you?

I thought so.

So, on two occasions I had dates with Stalker and GISHP in the SAME NIGHT! I’m crazy, I know. I don’t know how I pulled it off, I’m shocked I did pull it off, but I did.

I liked both of these guys, but wasn’t serious or committed to either of them. Stalker wanted me to swear off other men, but I wasn’t ready.

Stalker and I decided to allow our kids to meet and decided that we would take them to the Circus, the Ringling Bros. Circus to be exact. We thought it would be a great way to introduce the kids in a setting that wouldn’t leave room for disaster and as far as the kids go, there were no disasters.

The kids got along famously, and Stalker had an 11 month old and I fell in love with her instantly. She was adorable, and a baby, and we all know about my “wanting another baby” fascination. I carried her all.day.long. while Stalker took care of the older ones, mine included.

At intermission, we took the kids down to ride the elephants. I carried the baby and of course ran into 5 gazillion people that I knew who wanted to know when I had another baby. After explaining ALOT that it was Stalker’s and that we were “dating”, (I still don’t know how to define that), I finally just said that she was a friend’s baby and because I was engrossed in chatting with so many people, I lost Stalker and the kids.

They were getting popcorn. And soda. And toys that no parent WANTS to take out a second mortgage on to buy but will because it’s the circus and it will quiet the kids down.

When it was time for the show to resume, we herded the clan, all 6 of us, back to our seats. As we were getting ready to turn into our aisle, me managing a baby on my hip, trying not to trip, because I’m sure Stalker’s ex wouldn’t appreciate knowing that the new “girl” dropped her child from the nosebleed section at the Salem Civic Center, I hear someone call…

“Hi Heather…”

I look up.

There, in the stands, with his totally adorable six year old, sat GISHP.

Now tell me. What do you do/say in a situation like that?

Let me tell you what NOT to do…

Don’t reply with “Hey! How are you? Just came out with a friend to bring the kids to the circus…call me later, k”

Wanna know why? Because Stalker, who wants to be a family NOW, will over hear you, get insanely jealous and spend the rest of the three ring spectacular unfolding on the floor below marking his territory and speaking loudly about all the dates you’ve had and what he wants to do together with you and the kids.

No, I’m totally not kidding. Please heed my advice.

Needless to say, GISHP never called. Never emailed and in hindsight, I really don’t need to tell you how it all turned out because I think you know based on how I named the two men in my story and knowing that I am currently SINGLE.

However, despite the debacle that occurred, I can tell you that the show was spectacular. The trapeze artists, the clowns who made me roar with laughter, the animals that they had trained to do things I struggled to get my kids to do… like, ride a bike, jump through flaming hoops, etc.

I am continually amazed at the talents that these people have and my kids were engrossed in everything that was going on, anxious for the circus to come back.

I can tell you that I have NEVER been back to the circus since that date however, I’m considering it.

I’d really consider it if there were a 20% coupon for tickets, like Ringling is offering in these select cities:

Grand Rapids, MI - Sept. 18-21, 2008

Denver, CO - Oct. 2-13, 2008

Boston, MA - Oct. 8-13,2008
Cleveland, OH - Oct. 24 - Nov. 2
Chicago, IL - Nov. 6 - 30, 2008
St. Louis, MO - Nov. 6-9, 2008
Auburn Hills, MI - Nov. 12 - 16, 2008
Highland Heights, KY - Feb 27 - Mar. 1, 2009
Cincinnati, OH - Mar. 4 - 8, 2008

Want to go? Want to go for cheaper? Simply go to www.ringling.com and enter code MCC when you’re purchasing any ticket that costs $24, $19, or $13.

While you’re there, check out the Baby’s First Circus program that allows babies to receive a free ticket voucher that can be exchanged for a free ticket to any performance, any time, anywhere and never expires.

As for us, we’ll go back.  I know that we will.  Even though the kids are getting older, the circus is one of those events that spans the generations and makes for great family time… and dating horror stories.

Until next time…

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As a parent, it’s our job, our responsibility, to show our kids how to be responsible.

They don’t want to be responsible.

Shoot, let’s be honest…

*I* don’t want to be responsible sometimes. I just don’t.

The responsibility doens’t only fall on us, as parents, although I do feel that it starts here. But teachers, youth leaders, pastors, coaches, mentors, etc. are also responsible for passing that responsibility on.

And whereas I feel that you can’t complain about the country, the economy, or those in political office if you don’t vote, I don’t think you can complain about the “unruly” children of the times unless you’re attempting to do something about it.

I’m impressed that Liberty Mutual is stepping up and doing something about it.

Liberty Mutual launched The Responsibility Project, after a huge response to one of their TV commercials where people do nice things for strangers, in an effort to provide parents with tools to share with their children on what it means to be responsible.

Somehow, over time, we’ve lost that. We’ve become a WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) society.

It’s time to bring it back to doing unto to others what you would have them do unto you.

It’s not called the Golden Rule for nothing.

At the Responsibility Project website, you’ll find videos, resources, and a question poised to make you think: What’s your policy?

What is your policy on responsibility?

I shared this website with Matthew and Samara. While I do try to instill the values that were taught to me, times are different. What worked when parenting me, won’t work when parenting them.

So in an effort to try to speak to them on their level, with what they are interested in, I’ve used the Responsibilty Project.

Our favorite video is this one… Mandy & Lester. Poor Lester. He went through alot. He could’ve given up at any time. He could’ve eaily done the WRONG thing, but he didn’t. He continued, time and time again, to do the RIGHT thing.

That’s the message that I want my children to hear.

Take a minute and check out the Responsibility Project. Watch the videos with your children and take a moment to see what other parents think, what stance others are taking.

As the website states, and I wholeheartedly agree with, “We believe that the more people think and talk about responsibility, and even debate what it means, the more it can affect how we live our daily lives. And perhaps, in this small way, together, we can make the world just a little better.”

Will you do your part?

Until next time…

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