DIY Traveling Art Supplies Book

Art Supplies Book To Go:

My 5 year old loves creating, coloring, tracing, drawing, you name it; we go through paper so fast in this house it's ridiculous. As my husband and I were gearing up for a trip with the kids, I knew we were going to need something to keep our budding artist busy while we traveled. I figured that having his stuff with him would do the trick but I didn't want to just toss all that stuff in his bag and hope for the best. I saw a bunch of different ideas on how to organize art supplies, like these from Color Wheel Meals and One Orange Giraffe 

Color Wheel Meals

One Orange Giraffe

but I know my child and after using something like this the crayons, markers and pencils would all be mixed together and dumped in the bucket, making it pointless. On top of that I wanted something that we could grab and go with as well as something he could put out of sight when not in use. I found this great notebook idea. It's an art supply notebook, good for traveling and your basic everyday organization as well. 

I bought a few items that I know he uses on a regular basis: Crayons, Markers and Pencils ($5.29)

I picked up 4 clear binder pouches that fit in a 3 ring binder ($1.88)

A spiral notebook of wide ruled paper with his favorite characters on the front ($1) and I found a random 3 ring binder in our basement (Free).

I started off by placing the different art supplies into each of the plastic pouches. This helps if you're using the notebook for basic organization, it keeps the supplies separate, neat and easy to put away.

I ripped the front and back covers off of the spiral notebook and cut the spiral fringe off so that I could use it as the cover to the binder.

I took a few pages of the spiral notebook so that he could continue practicing his letters and writing his name while we were away.

I added some plain white paper, a copy of the flash cards we've been using for him to learn his sight words, coloring pages that I printed from the internet and the rest of the lined paper. I ripped the pages out of the spiral notebook because the wire took up too much space and I really just wanted it for the Avengers cover. Here are a few shots of the final project.

Once all of the items were placed in the notebook I just made sure it wasn't too heavy for him to carry in his book bag.

You can definitely use less stuff, especially if you're traveling (8 crayons instead of 28, 2 pencil not 7) but my child doesn't listen when I say "color lightly, you're going to break the point" so we're bringing extra.

I used a small 3 ring binder so there's not tons of stuff  in it. You can get very creative with these notebooks and pouches if you use a larger 3 ring binder. Other art supplies you can stash would include:
Scissors
Glue Sticks
Pencil sharpener
Protractor/Compass
Paintbrushes
Chalk

Bellies and Babies Pt. 3

Maria Kang, a mother of three young boys is “apologizing” after causing an uproar on Facebook, and other social media platforms by posting a picture showing off her flat abs and asking other moms, "What's your excuse?"

Many people took offense to her picture and some even retaliated with their own. 

Though I hate Fox News, I saw that they gave her an opportunity to respond to the backlash and Maria says she was just trying to inspire people.

When asked if she was suggesting to other moms that in order to be happy, healthy and beautiful they need to look like her, Maria is quoted saying “No, that's absolutely not what I'm saying. I'm saying, what is your excuse for not working out? People can take it how they want to. My intention and where I stand my ground is, you know, if I can do it, so can you. Here I am with three kids, 3, 2 and 8 months. I'm able to make fitness a priority, maybe not my first priority. Maybe it's my fifth, but it gets done…”

I hear what she’s trying to say but I feel she could have gone about it another way. When I look at her photo I hear I have kids too, three of them, but I still found time to work my ass off, literally. This, to me, is not inspirational. You know what would have been inspirational…Let us see the pictures of what you looked like right after you popped those kids out, when your stomach was flabby and you maybe tried to hide it by putting on a body shaper. Let us hear how you felt about your body after you had your first kid; if you loved what you saw in the mirror and embraced your stretch marks or avoided seeing yourself naked because you didn't want to face your new mom body. Show us and tell us what it was like to be pregnant 3 times back to back. Let us hear about your struggles to find time to work out and eat well while working a full-time or part-time job, caring for three kids under 4, keeping a relatively clean home and maintaining your sanity. 

It’s not about feeling inferior, as she put it, it’s about feeling judged. No one is privy to all of the individual struggles that we each deal with on a day to day basis, so to sit back and ask moms “what’s your excuse?” comes off as judgmental and smug NOT inspirational; moms don’t need this crap they need support

Sorry Maria

Check out the interview  auto and transcript- Fit Mom of 3 asks “What’s Your Excuse?” 


Thanks for stopping by
Niki

 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Connected Posts:
Bellies and Babies Pt. 1
Bellies and Babies Pt. 2

My Mom Bag - Modernizing the age old diaper bag

If you’re already a trendy mom or dad this post will seem like old news to you but if you’re like me and you sometimes struggle when it comes to looking “trendy” or “hip” (geez I can’t even believe I just typed that, I’m old) anyway, if you're like me then this post will be right up your alley.

I’m not big on purses, mostly because I’m afraid it won’t “go” with what I’m wearing or even worse, that I’m going to leave it somewhere. Usually when I’m out with the kids I stick my wallet and keys in our diaper bag and keep it moving but last month when I saw my husband's cousin not only “wearing” his son but also sporting his backpack stuffed with diapers, wipes and other kid stuff I thought to myself, why don't I do that?  Not the backpack per se, I'm not a backpack person, but a bag that I like and that could work double duty.

So one day while roaming the aisles at my favorite store I came across this beautiful red bag and when I opened it up I HAD to buy it, these are my favorite colors.

Zebra!!!! :)

It’s now my “mom bag”, basically a large purse that I also use as a diaper bag for quick trips when I don't need a bunch of kid stuff.

I'm able to get a good amount of stuff in this bag:

3 diapers, wipes, travel size diaper cream, teething tabs, a burp cloth, a change of pants, a magazine and all my personal stuff. Stop wondering why I have so many keys :)

This particular bag has lots of pockets to store my things separate from theirs and that comes in handy when you're trying to keep it all together. 

Little eternal zipper area for makeup, gum, etc.

Mommy's side of the bag

Kid's side of the bag

There's also a zippered area in the middle where I stash a gallon sized zip-lock bag for any dirty or wet clothes, a must.

Like I said earlier, my cousin pulled this same concept off using his book bag, so there's really no need to buy some fancy designer diaper bag system that you don't really like, you can make your own. My next bag will be a basic black so I can avoid the whole "does this match" drama, I have enough to deal with :)

Thanks for stopping by

Niki

To Prep or Not To Prep? This Should Not Be The Question

I debated making this my next “soap box” post because I don’t want people to look at me weird or label me as one of "those" people but then I thought about it and decided that I do want people to look at me differently. I want people to see me as the person I am, a prepared mom dedicated to keeping her family safe and who’s open to talking about it with others who want to do the same.

Right off the back let me just say that I do not believe in the zombie apocalypse and I don't consider myself to be a "doomsday” prepper but I do believe in being prepared in case sh!t happens. I know it may sound a little crazy at first but when you give it a second or third glance it makes sense, especially given all the crazy stuff that happens these days.

Around this time last year people were putting up Halloween decorations, picking out costumes and buying candy. Within a weeks’ time that turned into removing all lawn ornaments, stocking up on nonperishables and bracing for hurricane Sandy. Many families, ours included, were not prepared for the magnitude of Sandy and therefore were not as prepared as they wanted to be. We realized that we needed to be more proactive about our safety and the well-being of our family.

Job loss, power outage, fire, flood, natural disaster, so many things can happen in the blink of an eye and people need to think about what they could do to be prepared for it. Of course you can’t plan for everything but a brief plan is better than no plan.

When I go into work I’m usually very intentional about where I put my personal belongings just in case I need to get out of there ASAP. I began doing this at my last job when I started to hear stories about people getting shot because of one of the services the organization provided. I always keep my keys and wallet in my bag and my bag sits on the floor right next to my feet, I almost never use the cubical locker they provide or lock my bag in my filing cabinet. I plug my phone into my computer so that it’s charged and right in front of me to grab and go. Nothing else on my desk has any personal value and I know where my closets two exits are.

Last week while I was sitting at my desk the entire office suddenly went black; I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face because we don’t have windows where our desks are and the backup lights didn’t turn on either. For a brief second I panicked and worse case scenarios ran through my head, then I closed my eyes (not really sure why) and reached for my phone. Just as I was about to grab my bag and get the heck out of there the lights came back on. The power was only out for about a minute but during that minute I was scared. Luckily I had a plan and it made me feel good to know that if something had gone down, I was prepared to get out.

Since I’ve started being a more prepared mom (I’m no expert or survivalist) I find myself, both at home and at work, creating “What if” types of scenarios and asking “can I quickly find xyz in the case of an emergency” types of questions.

Ex: What If I’m at home and suddenly I need to leave the house ASAP, in a blackout, can I find a working flash light, my wallet with cash in case the ATMs don’t work, my keys, coat and shoes? Then on top of that can we grab stuff for our kids as well, rushing and in the dark? Crazy right….I know, but the answer is YES, I can and you could to if you had a plan.

What if:

You had to leave your house in a hurry…

You weren’t able to go back to it for a day, 2 days, 3 …

There’s a fire…

Your car broke down in the dead of winter and you had to wait...

Your basement, where you keep your important docs, started to flood…

You’re at work and something terrible happens…

You lost your job and couldn’t find work for a month, 2 months, 3…

Your life partner left you…

We all have what if situations that could disrupt our lives but we also have the ability to think about them and to try and formulate a plan so that we aren’t up shits creek.

So, as the title of this post states, to prep or not to prep, this should not be the question.

If you’re looking for some basic information the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management has a great interactive website with tips on being prepared and know that you can always leave your questions or comments here.

Thanks for stopping by

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).

Saving for Christmas Year Round

I come from a pretty big family and I married into an even bigger family, so for a while the Christmas holiday season started to stress us out a bit. One year we tried doing a Secret Santa gift exchange, another year we said we'd only buy gifts for the kids. Needless to say both of these ideas were a flop financially because we still ended up spending more than we had originally intended; there's no way grandma is not getting a gift when she takes care of our little ones M-F, rain, sleet, snow or sickness.

So three years ago we decided to start saving for Christmas at the beginning of the year in an effort to lessen the blow of the cost of gifts, food and holiday shenanigans we'd partake in. As we come close to the end of year 3, I'm so glad we did this.

It's really simple to do, every week on payday we set aside $12 as a priority for the holidays. We take the money out of our general account and put it in an envelope that we are not to touch, unless an emergency comes up of course. At the end of 50 weeks we've effortlessly saved $600. With that we buy gifts to donate to Toys for Tots, gifts for the family, take nice day long trip to NY to see the tree and lots more.

Two years ago we decided to bump it up to $35 a week and plan, not only for Christmas but for our kids birthdays, a fun summer event, and Halloween. 

We started off in January with $13 in the Christmas envelope, $13 in the birthday party envelopes and $9 in the summer fun event envelope and we gave a savings cutoff date for each, except for Christmas, which continues year round. Once one event passed, we moved the money to start saving for the next thing.

Here's the breakdown for the year:
$13/w Christmas (January 4th - December 20th)
$13/w Birthday (January 4th - August 23rd) then move this $ to Halloween
$9/w Summer Fun Event (January 4th - August 2nd) then move this $ to Halloween
$22/w Halloween (October 4th - October 25th)
Once all of the years' events are over we continue to save the $22/w in case of an emergency like when the heater decided to blow out in January

For some people $12 is lunch for 1 day, so bring your lunch one day and set aside that money for the holiday season. Before you know it you'll have a ton of cash and it won't feel stressful spending the mone wwhen it comes time to do your shopping. 

Give it a try it can’t hurt.

Happy Holidays

Niki
 (If you'd like to read more about me visit my post on A Bit About Me).