Mandi Ehman's Blog, page 145

Easy Sparkly Heart Garland

The following post is from Kristina of Toddler Approved:

source: Toddler Approved

We love to find simple ways to decorate our house for holidays. After we took down our Christmas decorations, our house felt really barren and kind of sad.

This week we decided to add some color to our doorways by making some sparkly heart garlands to help us get ready for Valentine’s Day!

Contact paper is one of our favorite crafty materials because it is sticky and can be used in so many ways! Earlier this year I shared our family tree sticky wall activity and since it was a hit with my kids, we’ve been doing a lot of sticky wall creating since then! Last week we made an alphabet sticky wall, and then the idea for this banner was born when we cut out some hearts for our kindness vase and had some beautiful scraps that we had to use for something!

Here’s how we made our easy sparkly (and sticky) heart garland:

source: Toddler Approved

Supplies:

sequins or other embellishments (my kids love sequins because they are messy and feel cool, but you could use pom poms, tissue paper scraps, etc.)
contact paper
scissors
colored cardstock
markers
yarn or ribbon
tape

Directions:

First, my kids drew all over our cardstock and made colorful designs with markers.

Then, we cut out some hearts from the cardstock. We folded the paper in quarters so that we could get 4 hearts on each sheet and then we used the hearts to make a special kindness project.

We used the leftover cardstock scraps (with hearts cut out of them) and stuck them onto the sticky side of a big sheet of contact paper.

Then, we started adding embellishments to the sticky side of the hearts! You can use any materials you have around your house that your kids like to create with to make these pop. I love sparkly things, so we used a lot of sequins!

Once our sticky hearts were decorated, I cut them out and we hung them from a piece of twine with clear tape across our doorways. The sparkles and hearts make everything feel fun and festive.

If you need some more Valentine’s Day inspiration, here are a few other ideas:

Valentine’s Day Desserts
Printable Valentine’s Day Tags
Easy DIY Paper Hearts
Free Valentine’s Day Printables
7 Valentine’s Day Crafts for Toddlers

Do you decorate for Valentine’s Day? How else do you celebrate with your family?

Kristina is a mom of 2 and a former Special Ed teacher for children with communication disabilities. She blogs at Toddler Approved as she looks for ways to make life a little more fun and creative with her kids while embedding learning into everything that she does. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on FB and Pinterest.

Easy Sparkly Heart Garland is a post from Life Your Way

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Voxer Walkie-Talkie PTT {iOS App of the Week}

Today’s app is a fun one! I loved my old Nextel cell phone that offered walkie-talkie features, and Voxer is bringing that feature back with a walkie-talkie app for your iPhone (or Android).

With this app you can:

Send live audio
Listen to messages live or play them later
Communicate with friends who have iPhones or Androids
Participate in group chats
Save and share messages

Download Voxer FREE for your iPhone, iPod or iPad.

P.S. This one is also available for Android.

See all of our featured apps here.

Voxer Walkie-Talkie PTT {iOS App of the Week} is a post from Life Your Way

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Keep on Going {31 Days to Your Goal}

If you’re just joining us, be sure to start at the beginning of the 31 Days to Your Goal series!

We’re done! Today is the last day of the month — and this series — and we’ve covered a ton of information about goal-setting, from setting realistic goals and staying motivated to knowing when to give up. Hopefully you set and made some real progress toward one of your goals for 2013.

Now what?

Cliche as it is, today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Don’t wait for January 1, 2014 to set new goals. Do it today! If you didn’t hit your goal this month, step back, reevaluate and try again. If you did, use that momentum to start on your next goal.  Fun goals, necessary goals, business goals…it doesn’t matter what type of goal you set; the point is to keep trying, to keep shooting for the stars rather than becoming complacent about where you are.

I hated The Maze Runner by James Dashner because it was dark and depressing, but I loved this quote, which has stuck with me even though I’m trying to forget the rest of it: “You get lazy, you get sad. Start givin’ up. Plain and simple.”

I want to be a person who is always reevaluating, setting goals and striving to do better — through meaningful goals like regular Bible study and silly goals like reading 100 books this year. How about you?

For further goal setting inspiration, be sure to check out these books:

Better Than Good: Creating a Life You Can’t Wait to Live by Zig Ziglar


The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey


Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy


Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider


The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

What has been your biggest takeaway from this series? Did you meet your goal for the month?

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.

Keep on Going {31 Days to Your Goal} is a post from Life Your Way

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Free Kindle Books {1/31/13}

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

Secrets of the Heart (The Ravensmoore Chronicles) by Jillian Kent


Genre: Christian


Reviews: (25 reviews)

The List by J.A. Konrath & Jack Kilborn


Genre: Thrillers


Reviews: (296 reviews)

Yellow Crocus: A Novel by Laila Ibrahim


Genre: Historical


Reviews: (293 reviews)

Snoops in the City (A Romantic Comedy) by Darlene Gardner


Genre: Humor


Reviews: (5 reviews)

Nonfiction

Quotable Quotes by Editors of Reader’s Digest


Genre: Quotes


Reviews: (2 reviews)

Come Rain or Come Shine – Friendships Between Women by Linda Bucklin & Mary Keil


Genre: Relationships


Reviews: (4 reviews)

Organize The Nancy Way by Nancy Roe


Genre: Home & Garden


Reviews: (7 reviews)

Children’s Books

Farm Animal Sounds: What Do Farm Animals Say? (Children Picture Book and Word Game For Children Included) (3-7 Readers) by Leslie Garland & Sirius Seven


Genre: Games


Reviews: (8 reviews)

William’s Wonderful Wardrobe (Children’s picture storybook) – Book Oneby Adam Daw


Genre: Literature


Reviews: No Reviews Yet!

Noah, and His Wonderful Day with Bob by Richard Gomez


Genre: Sports & Activities


Reviews: (10 reviews)

See more Kindle freebies here.

Free Kindle Books {1/31/13} is a post from Life Your Way

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4 Frugal Winter Ingredients

The following post is from Kate of Modern Alternative Mama:

source: richard_north

In the winter, not much is in season — at least where I am.  It’s cold and snowy (in Ohio), and there’s nothing green for miles around…and there won’t be for a few months yet at least.

Even so, there are some ingredients that can be considered “seasonal,” largely because they are readily available in stores or because they were stored long-term from late fall crops.  Many of these are even very frugal to use!  Some you’re probably already familiar with, some, maybe not.

Regardless, you should use them, because they can help keep the grocery bill down!

Potatoes

These are one of my favorites and also extremely frugal.  I pay about $0.80/lb. for organic potatoes around here, and I’ve seen non-organic as low as $0.20/lb.!  (Since they’re on the Dirty Dozen list I only buy organic though — still cheap!)  Potatoes are such a basic food, most people like them, they have a fair amount of potassium and B vitamins, and they can be prepared in lots of ways.  Try real mashed potatoes, homemade fries, baked potatoes, potato soup, and more!

Winter Squash

There are so many varieties of winter squash — I haven’t even tried them all!  Butternut and acorn are the most popular types.  Some people really like butternut squash soup.  Our favorite variety is the spaghetti squash, which we pair with meat sauce or even just a little butter and some parmesan cheese.  Squash can also be served roasted, or even mixed with other ingredients and made into pancakes.  The options are endless!

Beef

While this certainly isn’t exclusive to winter, beef is one animal that is often still slaughtered in the winter.  The faster-growing animals, like pigs, sheep, and chickens are usually not slaughtered at this time.  (I guess that sounds weird — but I am so used to buying from local farms now that their butchering schedules seem ‘normal’ to me!)  Beef, of course, can be turned into pot roast, burgers, meatloaf, salisbury steak, stir-fry, and so much more.  Choose a tough cut and cook it long and slow, or choose ground beef for cheaper recipes.

Maple Syrup

This is actually seasonal!  The trees are tapped sometime between the end of January and the end of February, when the days warm up just enough that they are warmer than the nights.  Maple syrup is therefore on sale during February.  It’s not the cheapest, but a little bit goes a long way, making it a fairly frugal option if you use it sparingly to add a little sweetness and flavor.  Our favorite use is in ice cream, but on pancakes or waffles is awesome too!  Make sure that Mom is pouring so the kids don’t waste the awesomeness.

What are your favorite winter ingredients?

Kate is a wife and mommy to 3 and is passionate about God, health and food. She has written 7 cookbooks and is planning to release more in 2012. When she’s not blogging, she’s in the kitchen, sewing, or home schooling her children. You can find her at Modern Alternative Mama or contributing to Keeper of the Home.

4 Frugal Winter Ingredients is a post from Life Your Way

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Eco-Benefits of Staying Home When the Temperatures Drop

The following post is from Emily of Live Renewed:

source: Michael McKechnie/Flickr

Old man winter has finally visited us here in Northern Indiana this past week, with the high temperatures below freezing every day. Because it’s so cold out we have scaled back our activities and have rarely left the house, unlike the previous week when we had something on our calendar almost every day.

I tend to be more of a homebody anyway, but I noticed that this past week that staying home definitely had some benefits over going out multiple times in a week. And although it’s easy to get cabin fever during the days inside at home, if you can focus on the positives, it makes it easier.

There are several positive eco-benefits of staying at home:

Saving Gas

This one’s pretty obvious, but when you’re not out and about driving around, you’re not using up gas in your car. This is especially true in the winter when you’re car runs less efficiently when the engine is cold, or you warm up your car early and it sits idling for 15 minutes before you’re ready to go.

Cooking at Home

Not going out means you have to cook, and eat, at home with no impulsive stops through the drive through or going out to eat because you’ve been away from home all day and haven’t planned anything for dinner.  Eating at home is good for your health, and the health of the planet.

Less Stuff

Let’s be honest, those “quick” trips to Target or the grocery store usually end with more in our carts than we had planned on. When you stay home you learn to be content with what you already have and make it work for you instead of running out to buy something, which lessens the demand for new products to be produced.

Saving Money

Plain and simple, staying home saves money. All of the above things will save you money, which means you’ll have more room in your budget for eco-friendly purchases that might be a little more pricey, like organic, real food, non-toxic bath products, and maybe even some fair-trade chocolate to get you through the long days spent inside.

If you tend to be out of the house almost every day of the week, here are some ideas to help you spend more of your time at home.

Plan errands for one day.

We did go out one day last week to the doctor and the dentist, and to run a few errands. It makes for a long day, but it’s better to do all your driving in one day then to spread it out across the week.

Shop in bulk.

If you have a decent stockpile of basic pantry staples you can cook at home from scratch without having to run out to the grocery store or relying on take-out.

Telecommute, if you can.

If you work outside the home, than staying at home most days isn’t an option for you. But, what if you could work at home at least one day a week? Try to plan a day where you don’t have any meetings or appointments so that you can take care of all your work responsibilities from your computer without leaving the house.

You may be snowed in at some point this winter, take the time at home to relax and remember that staying home can be beneficial to both your budget and the planet.

How do you beat cabin fever when you’re stuck at home in the winter?

Emily McClements is passionate about caring for God’s creation while saving money at the same time. She is a blessed wife and mama to two young children, and blogs about her family’s journey toward natural and simple living at Live Renewed.

Eco-Benefits of Staying Home When the Temperatures Drop is a post from Life Your Way

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8 Ways to Make Practicing Math Facts More Fun {Homework Helps}

The following post is from Jennifer, a lifelong educator:

See all of the Homework Helps posts here.

When parents ask what they can do at home to help their children improve their math grades, here’s one of the things that I always tell them:  Make sure your son or daughter has memorized all of the basic facts!  Depending on grade level, this includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

As the pace in school continues to accelerate, your child cannot afford to take the time to count on their fingers.  They need to be able to use that time and energy to focus on answering the complicated problems that math curricula now include.

source: AForestFrolic

Repetition is the key.  Like it or not, going over math facts again and again is the way to cement them into a child’s memory.  Here are some ways to make the process more fun:

1.  Make numbered beanbags.  Add or multiply the numerals on the bean bags that land in a container, such as a laundry basket.

2.  Pick up an inexpensive workbook or make some review sheets.  You fill in the answers – some right and some wrong.  Let your child correct the paper and give you a “grade.”

3.  Purchase or make flash cards out of index cards.  Graph the time it takes your child goes through them.  Set a goal to reduce the amount of time it takes for them to get all of the problems correct.  Do something special, like a half-hour late bedtime bonus, to celebrate when your child meets that goal.

4.  Borrow a set of dice from another game. Roll the dice, then add or multiply the numbers. Record your score.  The first person to get to a pre-determined number, like 50 or 100, wins.

source: Miss Turner

5.  Make a math concentration game. Put math problems on one index card and the answer on another. Students must find a match in order to keep the cards.

6.  Play Top-It.  Shuffle a regular deck of playing cards.  Distribute.  Play the same way as Dominoes War (below).

7.  Play Dominoes War. Each pair gets 20 dominoes. Turn over two at a time. Add, subtract or multiply the dots, depending on which skill you are trying to reinforce. The person with the higher number gets to keep all four dominoes.

source: Dan4th

8.  Utilize these free sites for more math practice:

Funbrain.com
Mathplayground.com
Jumpstart.com
Coolmath.com
Sheppardsoftware.com
Academicskillbuilders.com

What kind of math games do your kids like to play?

Jennifer is passionate about children and education. She homeschooled her two sons for five years, established and directed a Christian school in Maryland for 20 years, and currently teaches in a public school in a Chicago suburb. She loves investing in relationships and delights in every moment that she spends with her family.

8 Ways to Make Practicing Math Facts More Fun {Homework Helps} is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Family Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.

Reward Yourself {31 Days to Your Goal}

If you’re just joining us, be sure to start at the beginning of the 31 Days to Your Goal series!

Our 31 days is almost up, and today we’re talking about goal setting and rewards…also known as the adult form of bribery!

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “The reward of a thing well done is to have done it,” and on some level I agree with him. Achieving your goal should be enough of a reward in and of itself.

But sometimes? Sometimes I like rewards too! The promise of a new outfit for a few pounds lost or some spending money for meeting a milestone can be great motivation to keep going when things get tough.

The key here is to choose small, appropriate rewards (no cruises for losing 5 pounds!) and to make sure that you truly only give yourself the reward if you meet the goal. It’s also important that you don’t get into the habit of rewarding every single little milestone you hit. Not only could that be expensive, but it also trains you to need that external motivation, and it’s good to be self-motivated as well.

Rewards in moderation can be a fun motivator, though!

What do you think — are rewards a good thing, or do you prefer intrinsic rewards like a job well done?

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.

Reward Yourself {31 Days to Your Goal} is a post from Life Your Way

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Buy a Shirt & Give Care Packages to Children Battling Cancer {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 Battle 4 a Cure, and every shirt purchased will provide a care package filled with toys, treats, a blanket and more to children battling cancer. This week, an anonymous donor is matching all donations, so your purchase actually sends $14 to Battle 4 a Cure!

(I already have a couple of the sweatshirts, so this week I got the purple t-shirt because I love this week’s designs!)

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 & Give Care Packages to Children Battling Cancer {Sevenly.com} is a post from Life Your Way

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How to Cook from Scratch When You Don’t Know How

This month’s Eat Well, Spend Less theme is getting back to the basics, and over at Easy Homemade I’m sharing a bit more about my journey and how I finally gained some confidence in the kitchen:

Although I dreamed of being the perfect housewife and stay-at-home mom — keeping a clean, organized home, cooking healthy, delicious meals…and always with a smile on my face — none of it came easily to me. Least of all the cooking part.

I truly hated to cook, but it wasn’t the actual cooking I hated; it was the not knowing what I was doing. I had questions about every single recipe I tried (at the time, “Google it” was not part of my vocabulary, so I called my mom…every night). And I ruined a ton of meals, which I also hated, not just because it made me feel like a failure but because I was wasting so much food in the process.

Head over to Easy Homemade for the rest of my journey, my Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies recipe and a special offer!

How to Cook from Scratch When You Don’t Know How is a post from Life Your Way

© 2010-2013 Purple Martin Press, LLC | All rights reserved - This feed is provided for the convenience of Food Your Way subscribers. Any reproduction of the content within this feed is strictly prohibited. If you are reading this content elsewhere, please send an email to contact@yourway.net to let us know. Thanks.