Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 138

Big Lens {iOS App of the Week}

Amanda mentioned Big Lens on Instagram a couple of weeks ago when it was free, and I fell in love on my first use!

I take a LOT of photos with my iPhone — most of my photos these days are iPhone photos, honestly, even here on the blog — and this app makes it so easy to get SLR-quality photos by allowing you to change the aperture, add filters and even change lens shapes for bokeh effects.

The best part is it’s so easy to use, and it takes just minutes to edit a photo with the fingertip selection tool and automatic focus detection. Hide messy backgrounds, improve the quality of photos and add fun filters with this great app.

While I got this app free, I wouldn’t hesitate to pay for it, especially since it’s only $0.99; I just hadn’t heard of it until Amanda mentioned it!

Download for your iPhone, iPad or iPod: Big Lens ($0.99)

See all of our featured apps here.

Big Lens {iOS App of the Week} is a post from Life Your Way

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Top 10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Plan a Weekly Menu

source: petit hiboux

Editor’s note: There are a lot of great posts in the archives here at Life Your Way that don’t get much attention anymore, so I’m sharing a couple of my favorites each week. I’m an even bigger fan of meal planning now than I was when I first wrote this in 2011. If you’re not meal planning, which of these best describes you?

There are plenty of posts around the blogosphere about why you should take the time to plan your menu, but we’re going to look at the top ten reasons you shouldn’t:

10. You’re a non-comformist by nature, and since meal plans are popular, you refuse to give in.

9. You like to spend your free time staring blankly at the pantry trying to come up with dinner ideas. It’s like a hobby.

8. You prefer the “seek and you shall find” method of mealtime. You stock the shelves and the fridge, and your family is required to seek-and-find their meals there.

7. You like to test your cooking skills by looking through the cabinets at 5:15 and creating a gourmet meal out of the random ingredients you find.

6. Your family enjoys having the same 7 meals every week, so there’s no need for a menu plan.

5. You’re a free spirit and refuse to be bogged down with “organization” of any kind.

4. You want to be able to blame an empty refrigerator and pantry when you tell your extended family they can’t drop by at dinnertime.

3. The grocery store is your “happy place” and you like making extra trips to pick up last-minute ingredients.

2. You want to do your part to boost the economy by spending lots of money at the grocery store, even if the food goes bad before you use it.

1. You like to use the excuse “We don’t have anything to eat” as a reason to go out to dinner.

What are your reasons for not menu planning?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

Top 10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Plan a Weekly Menu is a post from Life Your Way

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Free Kindle Books {2/21/13}

One of the most popular features of our sister site, Jungle Deals & Steals, are our free Kindle book lists. With 15-20 free ebooks every day, these are a great way to load up your Kindle without breaking the bank, and Kindle books can also be read on smartphones, computers and tablets with the Kindle app from Amazon.

Here’s a quick list of some of the freebies that are currently available, but be sure to head over to Jungle Deals & Steals for new freebies today…or subscribe to our daily freebies email so you don’t miss a single book!

Fiction

The Secret Dreams of Sarah-Jane Quinn (Harper & Lyttle Series #2) by Sharon Gerlach


Genre: Contemporary


Reviews: (39 reviews)

A Higher Court by John L. Betcher


Genre: Literary Fiction


Reviews: (61 reviews)

Kate’s Kisses (Sweet Treats Bakery) by Mary Manners


Genre: Christian


Reviews: (15 reviews)

Yellowstone Redemption (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 2) by Peggy L. Henderson


Genre: Time Travel


Reviews: (39 reviews)

Only Forever – A contemporary romance short story inspired by true events by Kimberly Kinrade


Genre: Romance


Reviews: (6 reviews)

Return by Allison Merritt


Genre: Westerns


Reviews: (5 reviews)

Nonfiction

The 12 Essential Low Carb Cooking Skills: Plus, 49 Simple, Scrumptious Low Carb Diet Recipes by Alan Kosloff


Genre: Low Carb


Reviews: (15 reviews)

Healthy Packed Lunch For Your Kids! 30 Easy To Prepare And Nutritious Packed Food For Your School Going Kids by Mabel Roark


Genre: Quick & Easy

Children’s Books

Nobody Can Take My Happy Away by Jessica Arnold


Genre: Self-esteem


Reviews: (12 reviews)

Incredible Manatees: Fun Animal Ebooks for Adults & Kids 7 and Up With Facts & Incredible Photos (Exploring Our Incredible World Series) by Mark Smith


Genre: Manatees


Reviews: (3 reviews)

Lil Glimmer by Angela Muse


Genre: Children’s Fiction


Reviews: (15 reviews)

The Firefly by Katherine Perna


Genre: Games


Reviews: (2 reviews)

how to draw trees, flowers and more plants step by step (how to draw comics and cartoon characters) by Amit Offir


Genre: Garden Design

Toddler Books – Are You My Mummy? by Barry J. McDonald


Genre: Farm Animals


Reviews: (5 reviews)

See more Kindle freebies here.

Free Kindle Books {2/21/13} is a post from Life Your Way

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How to Quiet Your Mind

The following post is from Amanda of OhAmanda.com :

source: Amanda White

My kids are outside playing today. It’s a gorgeous day with a cool breeze and a bright sun. When I first shooed them out the door my 7 year old said, “Can we bring the iPad outside so we can have some music?” I hesitated. I really wanted them to just play. To explore, imagine, pretend and just be. I told her “Not today”, and she skipped outside. They are now playing Flying Ace and taking off from their made up airport.

I think most of us would agree that kids need to just play. They need to make mudpies, pretend to be soldiers and play house. Kids need some quiet downtime to think and wonder.

What I am asking myself today is, do I take time to just be? Do I explore? imagine? pretend? think? wonder?

Usually, I’m toting around my Kindle to get in a new book, grabbing my phone to start up a new podcast or scroll through Instagram. When the kids are in bed, I’m catching up on the DVR or cleaning out my inbox. When do I ever just sit and get quiet?

And what would happen if I did? Would I create the grown-up equivalent of a backyard battle, a cross-country adventure through our woods or a twig and pine cone airplane hangar?

How can mamas keep quiet in the middle of the noise that is motherhood?

Practice nothing.

Have you ever heard of a savasana? It’s a yoga pose where you lay on your back, close your eyes and are quiet for 20 minutes or more. That’s it.

I don’t know about you, but it kinda makes me nervous to think about laying still for 20 minutes. My mind would be going a mile a minute and I don’t think I’d actually relax!

Jen from Every Breath I Take says this kind of relaxation is a learned skill. It shouldn’t make you stressed or agitated, in fact it can, “reveal the anxiety and tension that you are normally able to ignore“. I don’t want to ignore anxiety–I want to face it and work on it. I need to practice relaxing so I can focus on that tension.

Plan to stop.

In Jen Hatmaker’s book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny of Excess, she relates rest and stress-free living to the Israelites’ weekly practice of Sabbath rest. They had to plan for their Sabbath day—get ready to have a whole day of no work, no meal cooking, no caring for animals, no sewing, no working. They set aside the we-have-got-to-get-this-done and put a priority on rest.

Isn’t that a lovely thought? Making rest a priority? Planning for it the way you plan any part of your week? Let’s face it, “rest” has never been on my to-do list. Maybe it should be.

So, I’m asking myself again, will I take time to just be? to explore? imagine? pretend? think? wonder? Will I choose to rest, recenter and regain peace this week? Will I look for some time to rest?

How do you fit quiet into your days and weeks? How does quiet benefit you?

Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

How to Quiet Your Mind is a post from Life Your Way

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5 Tips for Making the Most of Winter Light

The following post is from Krystal of Krystal Griffin Photography:

source: Krystal Griffin Photography

It’s no shock to anyone that the sun shines less in the winter.  Watching our social media feeds, we all see the world rejoice on a sunny, winter day.  While stuck in our homes during these gray days, it can be a challenge to take well lit photos.  Here are five tips to help you make the most out of that gray winter light.

By the way, there was little or no editing done on these photos.  I wanted to show you that you can produce quality snapshots without spending all day in Photoshop.

Watch your windows.

This is an observation project, and a day that you will be home for most of your dawn to dusk hours will be best to work on this.  From the time you get up until the sun is gone, watch the windows in your house.  You are looking for where the light pours in at that time of day.  Don’t just watch for which rooms are sunny but also the angle of the light.  What corner of the room does it hit?  Observing the light in your home will help you find optimal places to photograph throughout the day.

Source: Krystal Griffin

Let the light in.

I have no doubt that you will think to open the window coverings when you are taking a photo near a particular window.  However, don’t forget that every last bit of light counts at such a gray time of year.  If you have blinds don’t just turn them open, pull them all the way up.  The same goes for curtains and sheers.  Pull them as far back as you can.  If there are other windows in the same room, you should open all their coverings as well.  Each extra bit of light will help.

Use snow and other reflectors.

Most of you have seen that beautiful glow on someone’s face when they are standing in the snow.  Snow is a natural reflector, and you should take full advantage of it.  Even if you don’t take photos outside in the snow, (that’s a post for another day) you will find that the reflection from the snow adds extra light to your home.  There are other options to reflect the light: white bedding or furniture, a shiny floor, even a white laundry basket held in front of a face will add light.

Source: Krystal Griffin

Snuggle up to the light.

There is nothing complex about this tip.  You must move closer to the light source.  Is it time to open birthday gifts?  Put them in the chair right next to the window.  Do the Grandparents want a photo with the kids?  Choose the spot nearest the bright window.

Try black and white.

When the light stinks, your flash went off, or the photo is lit solely with orange hued lamps, there is always black and white.  Converting your image to black and white may go a long way in saving photos that are poor to the point of distraction.  It doesn’t always work but often can switch the focus from the horrible light to the subject in the photo.  It should also give you the freedom to brighten the photo a bit more than you could if in color.  It might get a little grainy from enhancing the exposure but that won’t be noticed as much in black and white.

Source: Krystal Griffin

What is your biggest photo challenge during the winter?

Krystal is a stay-at-home mom of four children, ages 4-9, whom she homeschools. She is acutely aware of how fast her children are changing and is passionate about keeping family memories alive through photographs. Now and then she gets to help other families’ bottle up their own memories at Krystal Griffin Photography.

5 Tips for Making the Most of Winter Light is a post from Life Your Way

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Say Goodbye to Tangled Necklaces with a DIY Jewelry Rack

The following post is from Janel of Life with Lucie and Ella.:

source: Janel from Life with L and E

For our 5th wedding anniversary, my husband surprised me with a beautiful wooden jewelry box. Although it is spacious as far as jewelry boxes go, it can no longer contain my steadily growing collection of necklaces. They just end in a tangled mess that overflows out of the box. Yeah, it’s not an ideal situation.

I got to thinking…my husband has a tie rack…why can’t I have a jewelry rack for the accessories that don’t fit in my jewelry box?!

This DIY Jewelry Rack is actually very simple to make and doesn’t require any special skills. Although you can use an electric drill to make pilot holes for your hooks, it isn’t necessary if your plaque is made from a soft wood like pine. A hammer and nail will make the pilot holes easily enough.

How to Make a Jewelry Rack:

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Supplies:

wooden plaque
pencil & eraser
ruler or measuring tape
nail & hammer
1-1/4″ cup hooks
sandpaper
wood stain and/or paint of your choice
saw tooth picture hanger & short nails

Directions:

Decide on the placement of the hooks and mark with a pencil.

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Create pilot holes for the hooks by gently tapping a nail into the plaque with a hammer.

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Take one of the cup hooks and screw it into each of the holes to make sure that the pilot holes are large enough for you to screw in the hooks by hand. If it is too difficult, you’ll want to make your pilot holes with an electric drill.

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Remove hook and erase pencil markings. Sand the plaque to smooth out the surface. Remove any sawdust with a damp rag.

Give the plaque whatever finish you desire, but make sure that you don’t fill in your holes. If paint gets in the holes, just use the nail to clean them out.

For this sample necklace rack, I used a distressed/rustic finish technique. I used a wood stain as the base coat and then an inexpensive acrylic craft paint on the top. Allow to dry completely.

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Mark the placement of the saw tooth picture hanger on the backside of the plaque. Use a hammer and short nails to attach it.

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Flip the plaque over but be careful not to scratch your work surface with the picture hanger. Screw the cup hooks back into the holes.

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Hang rack on the wall and fill it up with your necklaces or other jewelry!

source: Janel from Life with L and E

Knob Variation: Instead of cup hooks, use an assortment of cabinet knobs. Colored glass or ceramic knobs would look great!

Supply Sources: Walnut Hollow Pine 9″ x 12″ Rectangle Plaque and Craft Essentials White Acrylic Paint from Joann (use one of their 40% off coupons); 1-1/4″ Cup Hooks (18 pack, oil rubbed bronze) from Target in the home improvement department; Minwax Wood Finish (Provincial) and all other supplies can be found at a home improvement store.

Related Posts:

DIY Rustic Paint Finish
DIY Paper Woven Storage Boxes
DIY Glass Pendant out of Repurposed Paper

How do you store your jewelry?

Janel is a stay-at-home mom of two and law school wife. Raised in a budget-conscious and do-it-yourself minded family, she loves seeing something in a store or magazine and making her own version at home for less money. Janel blogs about motherhood, crafts and recipes at Life with Lucie and Ella.

Say Goodbye to Tangled Necklaces with a DIY Jewelry Rack is a post from Life Your Way

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Buy a Shirt & Help Hurricane Sandy Victims {Sevenly.com}

Have you discovered Sevenly yet? Sevenly offers a new shirt design each and every week, but these designs aren’t just pretty — they’re designed in support of a specific cause or charity, and $7 from each shirt sold is donated directly to that charity!

This week’s charity is Forward Edge International. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, many people are have been turned down for FEMA assistance due to  a severe lack of funding, leaving their families homeless. Forward Edge International is helping these families rebuild, and $7 from every shirt purchased this week will help provide the materials and labor to repair the home of a family who was affected by the storm!

See all of this week’s designs here.

Why Sevenly?

Sevenly is a for-profit company that is making a tangible difference through their giving. They offer high-quality, stylish clothing at a reasonable price and instead of pocketing all of the revenue, they give $7 from each and every shirt purchased directly to the cause of the week.

While giving directly to a charity is always the better option, Sevenly is a great way to expand your wardrobe and support the causes you care about at the same time. And your new shirt offers you the opportunity to become an ambassador for these charities as well, as the designs are sure to open up conversations along the way!

Buy a Shirt & Help Hurricane Sandy Victims {Sevenly.com} is a post from Life Your Way

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How to Juggle Working from Home When Kids Are Unwell

The following post is from Prerna of The Mom Writes :

source: Arvind Balaraman/Free Digital Photos

Last Sunday, I spent the entire day working on a video for a possible scholarship to an online course. I was bone-tired by the end of the day and looked forward to a long and peaceful night’s rest to kick off Monday on the right foot.

BUT

At 3 A.M, my 5-year old woke up with stomach cramps and severe diarrhea. From then on till 10 A.M, when she finally started feeling better, we naturally couldn’t sleep a wink and my exhaustion was nearing the point of no return.

I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t leave my assignments. Yes, working from home with sick kids can be tough.

Luckily, I had 5 years of experience to draw upon and spring the following systems into action:

1. Focus on the must-do’s.

 Go easy on yourself and ONLY focus on the must-dos. Caring for my unwell daughter topped the list, and then, I jotted down the deliverables for that day and that day only. If you have more than one sick kid, I’d recommend you print out this Sick Kids Medicine Tracker Printable to help remember dosages and times and have one less thing to focus on.

2. Take a shower.

Simple, but easily forgotten. Taking a shower and changing into clean clothes is a great way to shift your mindset and help you think clearly and get focused as well.

3. Bring out the DVD’s.

I’m not a big fan of my daughter watching television during the week, and she usually doesn’t. However, sick days call for changes in the rules and we pull out some favorite DVDs. This time it was a round of Bambi, Barney and Sound of Music. The good thing is that she can watch these pretty much unmonitored, and I can use that time to make phone calls or work on something that needs my undivided attention.

4.  Outsource the overwhelm.

Juggling sick kids, client calls, projects with deadlines means I rely even more firmly on my “outsource the overwhelm” rule. For cooking, for instance, I make simple meals for my sick child but for us, we order in, if we don’t feel like having the same bland meals that she is having. I also have hired help to clean the home and days like, these I’m even more grateful for the help. I don’t get involved in tasks that don’t need my personal attention and try to focus only of my daughter, my work and my rest.

5. Seek support.

But sometimes, outsourcing isn’t possible. So, I always seek support. My husband pitches in with household chores like, doing the laundry while I settle our daughter or take my shower. I have a supportive circle of friends who lend a helping ear or a shoulder to cry tears of exhaustion on. Support in any which way is welcome. And don’t be afraid to ask for it.

How do YOU manage working from home when your kids are sick?

Prerna Malik is a mom, a wife, a writer and woman who believes in being postively productive, parenting with love and creating a home that invites you to put your feet up and relax. Find her sharing her journey and experiences with productivity and parenting at The Mom Writes.

How to Juggle Working from Home When Kids Are Unwell is a post from Life Your Way

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Creamy Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

source: Mandi Ehman

After months of trying to find an alternative to the famous blue box, we finally have a homemade macaroni and cheese recipe that all of us love:

As funny as it sounds, one of the hardest box foods for us to give up was Kraft Macaroni & Cheese!

What can I say? We grew up eating the stuff, and it was something we all enjoyed. Our first few attempts at homemade mac and cheese did not go well, so we stuck with the box for quite awhile even after I’d started making a lot of other things from scratch.

And then I found this recipe and began tweaking it, and everything changed.

Get the recipe at Easy Homemade…

Creamy Homemade Macaroni & Cheese is a post from Life Your Way

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“Just One More Thing” Syndrome

source: Justin Grandfield

Editor’s note: There are a lot of great posts in the archives here at Life Your Way that don’t get much attention anymore, so I’ll be sharing a couple of my favorites each week. This post was originally published in 2011, and I realized when rereading it that the desire to do “just one more thing” continues to be a struggle for me.

Do you often find yourself trying to do just one more thing? Do you leave your family waiting in the car while you do one more thing before leaving the house? Do you get distracted from a task by one more thing you want to take care of really quick? Or do you consistently put off bedtime because you just want to get one more thing done before turning in for the night?

If so, you might suffer from “just one more thing” syndrome.

Believe me, it’s a syndrome I know well. I can rarely leave the house without getting distracted by one or two (or three or four…) things that I can do really quick before we leave. I almost never finish the main task at hand without stopping to do one or two (or three or four…) things along the way.

We’ve talked about the dangers of multitasking before and how trying to divide your attention between mental tasks can make you less productive, and although I’m mostly referring to physical tasks today, I’m not sure this is really that different. But I also hesitate to leave a task for later that I know I could take care of really quick on my way to do something else.

There are benefits to this syndrome, such as the fact that we rarely come home to complete chaos and disorder since I clean up all of those little piles around the house on my way out the door. It also means I don’t have to set aside a large chunk of time to straighten or clean because I’ve taken care of all the little things as I go about the rest of my day.

On the other hand, I’m sure it’s frustrating for my husband and my children when they’re waiting for me to do something and I keep saying, “Okay, one second. Let me just take care of this first.” And that’s the part that concerns me. I mean, productivity and having a neat house is good. It’s great to want our homes to be a haven for our families, but if we’re frustrating them in our efforts to achieve it, are we really meeting that goal? Or are we just being selfish in our pursuit of order and perfection?

I don’t really have an answer to that question. I think there are elements of both in my own life, and I hope that by being conscious of the struggle and aware of its effects on my family, I’ll be able to find the right balance!

Do you suffer from “just one more thing” syndrome? Do you think it frustrates your family?

Mandi Ehman is the founder and publisher behind Life Your Way and the co-author of All in Good Time, as well as a wife and the homeschooling mom to four beautiful girls. She lives with her family on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia and loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.

“Just One More Thing” Syndrome is a post from Life Your Way

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