Between a four-year-old, a toddler, and a husband who routinely peels off his dirty socks while he’s watching the evening news and tosses them on the living room carpet, since apparently that’s the cue for his personal magic cleaning fairy to swoop in and whisk his laundry away to the hamper, my house has a bit of a clutter problem. Toys, books, shoes, crayons, and forgotten half-chewed waffles tend to accumulate on every available surface throughout the day, making it a real challenge to do the deep-cleaning I so greatly enjoy.

(Note: by “deep cleaning” I mean “sitting on the couch eating pretzels”. But the point is, if I really did want to vacuum, it would be hard to do so when the floor is three inches deep with LEGOs.)

I like to exact revenge on my husband by 1) power-nagging in that oh so attractive fish-wifely tone, and 2) draping his various discarded clothing items over his computer monitor (sometimes with a note: “OH HAI WE GOT LOSTED CAN YOU HELPS US FIND THE WASHING MASHEEN?”), and as for my four-year-old, I’ve started being more strict about having him pitch in. He’s definitely capable of putting away his things and carrying out other small tasks around the house, and I’ve been thinking it would be helpful to have a chore chart for him.

In poking around online, I’ve noticed that chore charts tend to have one common theme: they are butt-ugly. I know the home decor aspect of a chart isn’t really the point, but still, it doesn’t seem like it should be so hard to find a chart that’s both useful and non-hideous.

Here are a few chore-organization-solutions I eventually came across that I think are pretty cool-looking:
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(Winner in the Worst Mother’s Day Gift contest: Jana, who was commenter #9. Yay, Jana!)

This is the fourth in a series of periodic posts in which I test out easy, inexpensive, low-mess, low-parental-involvement activities for young children to do. In the first, I tested, um, dry pasta in cake pans. In the second: painting with water. The third: marshmallows and toothpicks. Today’s test: unspilly stuff in a bowl.

Intention
The preschool-aged child will satisfy her seemingly endless Stirring Impulses, without wasting food or getting any more flour behind the cupboards.
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This is the third in a series of periodic posts in which I test out easy, inexpensive, low-mess, low-parental-involvement activities for young children to do. In the first, I tested, um, dry pasta in cake pans. In the second: painting with water. Today’s test: marshmallows and toothpicks.  This would be, of course, for children who are no longer in the young “trying to kill themselves with everything that exists” stage; my test children were both aged 3.75 years.

Intention
The children will make structures with the marshmallows and toothpicks, without eating the marshmallows or poking themselves with the toothpicks, and will thus justify my impulse buy of pastel, bunny-shaped marshmallows
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Lately I’ve been realizing that even though we’re trying to cut back on our expenses, it’s worth the cost to plan for eating dinner somewhere other than our house at least a couple times per week.

I don’t know about your household, but mine drops straight down the rabbit hole between 5-8 PM or so. The kids are restless, the baby is cranky, my husband and I are wiped out, and yet life must march on, hopefully with a minimum of screaming. So it’s in our best interest to get the heck out of Dodge, and since spending time outside isn’t a great option yet, this usually means heading out for a meal.

We usually go to a nearby mall, because that’s the easiest place to manage small, loud, messy children, but even in the noise and chaos of a food court it’s a real challenge to keep the kids at least marginally entertained (and stationary) long enough for the adults to bolt our teriyaki bowls or whatever. Assuming we ever ate in a real restaurant like civilized people, I’m sure it would be even harder to keep the distractions coming, and as most of you probably know a baby will only play quietly with a spoon for so long before everything goes to hell in a (tantruming) handbasket.

So, are there products that can help make dining in public with kids a little easier? Happily, the answer is yes:
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It’s December 22nd, and I’m feeling a little festive, a little sappy, and a little . . . tense. I mean, I’m trying to get my fa-la-la-la-la on, but either I need to get my entire house cleaned and the kitchen stocked for the grandparents’ impending visit and host the Best Darn Christmas There Ever Was this week — or they’re going to be unable to make it at all due to the crazy Seattle snowstorm. Between the two scenarios, I greatly prefer the first, but they both require at least twelve cookies to even consider.

(I have eaten a LOT of cookies over the last few days.)

In between fretting over holiday-related tasks and being snowed in (FOR FOUR DAYS AND COUNTING) (WITH TWO SMALL CHILDREN MIGHT I ADD) (SORRY FOR THE CAPS LOCK BUT I ASSURE YOU, THE SITUATION WARRANTS), I’ve been thinking about 1) kid-distracting activities, and 2) handmade gifts for certain people on your list who you were going to buy a gift for but hello, SNOWED IN FOR FOUR DAYS, etc.

So! If you’ve got some last-minute gifts to pull together and you’d like them to be of the homemade variety, here’s a list of easy, non-lame crafts you and the kids can whip up in short order.
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This is the second in a series of periodic posts in which I test out easy, low-mess, low-parental-involvement activities for young children to do.  In the first, I tested, um, dry pasta in cake pans.  Today’s somewhat more promising test:  using paintbrushes (instead of the included water pens) with Aquadoodle mats.

Intention
The children will paint using water, and therefore satisfying their painting instincts without making me crazy with THE PAINT THE PAINT MY GOD IT’S EVERYWHERE
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It is pouring rain as I type this, and I have two 3-year-olds to entertain indoors. Hee. Do you like how I’m implying that if it weren’t for the rain we’d be out in the healthful fresh air? Even if it weren’t pouring rain, I’d still have two 3-year-olds to entertain, and for at least part of each day I’m looking for ways they can entertain themselves while I get some work done. A girl can dream.

And so this is the first in what I hope will be a series of periodic posts in which I test out easy, low-mess, low-parental-involvement activities for young children to do. This is new territory for me, so I hope you’ll have mercy with the lameness of ideas. And could you please generate some of that mercy right away, because the first activity I “thought up” was Dry Pasta in Cake Pans.

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Here is how crafty and artistic I am:  not crafty and artistic.  And so if you have been wondering to yourself, “Goodness, how DOES she do craft projects with FIVE children?,” the answer is “HA HA HA HA HA!”

Still, the children do like to do crafts, and so now and then I make an effort.  I don’t have much patience with messes, and it’s best if nothing watery or painty or glittery can be spilled by a wandering toddler or careless older child.  And I don’t want to spend much time on it, either.  Here are a few crafts that have satisfied even my picky, reluctant nature:

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