My Children Made me This Way

Organization. I get asked often, by people with not so many if any, Monsters of their very own how I do it. I usually answer I just do. There are no hard and fast rules. No grand and wondrous secrets to pass along. But tonight I as I was getting things settled for the night, last little…okay not so little one…tucked in I realized there is one rule that makes things easier when I do it, and harder when I forget. And thats being organized. That made me think of a great tip that a friend on a message board offered up to me after I had my youngest and the two oldest where in school.

Two little ones at home, 4 and 22 months old, and I was having a heck of a time getting the older two ready and fed before the bus came. Breakfast was insanity and we missed the bus a lot. And then we tried her trick. Sunday night we sat down and made a breakfast menu. This helped becuase they would get to pick and know what was coming. I usually didn’t do well with menu’s at the time..but it turned out to be a great tool.

And next? After the Monsters have brushed thier teeth, and gotten all their things together for the morning, we set the table for breakfast. It’s on less thing we have to do in the morning, especially with blerry eyed Monsters, and it also means that some things, like cereal or breakfast bars or fruit, anything non perishable, is right there for grabbing and munching while they wait for me or everyone else to get the rest on the table.

Simple as it is, thats one of the best tips I’ve ever gotten.

Five year old, Crayons, Flat Screen TVs.

Lets use those words in a pair of sentences that might be true.

My five year old is such a sweetheart, drawing me beautiful pictures with his crayons on a piece of paper while he watched cartoons on the flat screen TV.

My flat screen TV has black crayon scribbles all over the screen, no wonder my five year old was so quiet this morning.

Guess which one is true in my house?

*ding ding ding* You guessed it. I woke up to black crayon all over the front of my Flat screen TV. (Yes M, you were right..again) And I flaked. I tried window cleaner. Didn’t work. I wasn’t about to try soft scrub, it might take crayon off white walls and wood furniture, but I wasn’t chancing the TV. So I flaked out a little more. And then I Googled.

And what did I find about cleaning LCD flat screen TV? (do they even make the old kind anymore) You shouldn’t clean them with window cleaner. Apparently it will tint your screen yellow over time. (The things the internet teaches me!) Instead you are supposed to use uber expensive LCD screen cleaner kits and or sprays. Or you can mix your own with isopropyl alcohol and distilled water. (I haven’t used that since college chem.) Or for those of us who are not into the spending $30 techno-geek cleaning supplies, or mixing our own, apparently a soft cloth dampened with plain water will work fine too. And you are not supposed to press hard on the screen. (I did know that at least. Something about the way the screen sort of ripples when you press on them kind of tipped me off there.)

How To Properly Clean Your LDC Screen

How to Clean Your TV Screen (diffrent types of screens)

I tried a damp cloth. Nada. Big old scribble of black crayon still on the screen. And I flaked some more. This TV is brand new. And expensive, not the sort of thing I can just go out and replace. So I Googled some more.

And I found a miracle. People recommending Mr.Clean Magic Eraser , and singing its praises. So I went to the store. Its relatively in expensive, I think I paid $3.50 for a box of four of the original type. (They have ones with Fabreeze and one with a scrubby side as well.) I had seen the commercials for these, and being a cleaning supply skeptic I had never tried them. I get the box home, I open it. Nice sized block of sponge like material. Very soft. I read the direction, wet the sponge, squeezed out the water and went into my living room. (Yay for things that are easy to use!)

The crayon came right off. I didn’t have to push at all. I was impressed.

I tried it on the marker on the side of my fridge that has been there for a year. Took it right off. I’ve been using it like crazy ever since. Totally a Mommy must have!