Helping Moms work Smarter, not Harder
We are some of the lucky ones, I guess. We chose to do school at home. I know there are many families who don't have a choice - they're forced into school at home or face-to-face, with few options in between.
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| The Stauffer Family, dairy farmers in Washington. www.thefarmerswifee.com |
I know – the title makes it sound like I’m an expert. I should be, since I am a turkey farmer (or at least I’m married to one.)
Interested in learning more about our turkey farm? Click here.
The truth is, I cook a lot of turkey. But I don’t roast one very often. In fact, I’ve roasted a turkey exactly once in my life.
But here’s the deal. It’s so easy, I promise I’ll be doing it again.
Back to school time is so exciting! After a summer of lazy, routine-less days, extra dishes and extra messes from the little bodies at home all day, it’s time for a fresh start!
You’ve all heard the back-to school tips…Start bedtime 10 minutes earlier every night for 2 weeks to ease your kids into the new schedule! Try cute little bento boxes to pack their lunch – pack them all up on Sunday night so they’re ready for the week! Create an adorable little homework station because that will magically make your kids WANT to do more schoolwork when they get home!
I was going to write a post like that. But here’s the deal: no matter what you do to prepare, back-to-school will probably offer you a few minor challenges…
First of all, you can try to ease into the new sleep schedule for weeks, but your precious children will still be exhausted and grumpy for at least 2 weeks. Expect plenty of random sleep-deprivation fueled tantrums until the zombie-monsters get so tired that they forget that the sun stays up two hours past bedtime and finally crash and burn.
Second, you know that handy bus schedule you get? It’s wrong. The bus will not be there at 7:13. One day it will arrive at 7:09 and then next it will come at 7:17. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
And that gigantic list of school supplies? With “Ticonderoga” pencils? (Because of course, no other #2 pencils will do. MUST BE TICONDEROGA.) Good luck getting everything on the list in one trip. And good luck keeping track of your preschooler while you try. (Someone should invent a school supply delivery service: type in your school & grade level and they magically send you a box with everything you need. And wine. Wine would also be included. Seems much more relaxing this way.)
Finally, let’s talk about back-to-school clothes. No matter what you buy, your children will either a) grow out of them before they get a chance to wear them more than twice or b) suddenly refuse to wear what they picked out three weeks prior. And either way, you’re screwed.
With that, I wish you all a happy September! Let’s all hope we’ll get a few weeks of sanity in October, before the candy and parties that accompany monthly holidays start up. Heaven help us.
In my last post, I confessed that I am a Jane Austen fan girl.
Well, today, I’m confessing that I’m also a Miss Mustard Seed fangirl.
Specifically, I love her signature two toned furniture look – painted base with a stained top. It makes my heart sing.
The stained wood adds some masculinity to antique pieces that may otherwise look quite feminine when painted. And since I live in a house of men, well…
I painted the base and refinished the top of this two-toned table for my antique booth, and it was so beautiful in real life.
And the infamous bookshelf dresser also had a stained top and painted base.
But if the top is already painted, stripping it can be a pain in the patootie. So I generally try to avoid it.
I have, over time, however, tried stripping a few painted pieces. And through trial and error, I’ve learned a few lessons that make the process go a bit more smoothly. So when I decided to take this old nightstand…
and redo it with a stained top and painted base on this old nightstand…
I took a few pictures of the process.
Use the right supplies. I like to have the following on hand when stripping wood:
When all of your materials are ready, apply a thick layer of the stripping gel to the surface you want to strip. Do NOT use a foam brush. It WILL disintegrate because of the stripping gel.
Cover the surface with plastic wrap. The stripping gel only works while it’s wet. The plastic wrap keeps it wet longer, allowing it to break up multiple layers of paint. Doing it this way will seriously cut down on the amount of stripping gel and time needed to get the paint off.
After a few minutes, you can wad up the plastic wrap and use it as a rag to wipe off the paint!
At this point, break out the scraper. Wrapping the end with the old sock, scrape the remaining paint, moving in the same direction as the grain.
Repeat the process if needed, using the toothbrush to get into smaller areas. Try using the water bottle to spray stubborn spots and scrub the paint.
When all the paint is gone, wash the stripping gel residue off the piece, and stain to finish!
Here’s the full before and after (feel free to pin it so you can find this tutorial again when you need it!)
I have to admit, I LOVE garage sales, but usually I’m the buyer, not the seller. In May, I reversed roles and actually had two garage sales of my own. I made over $1000 between the two sales, and got rid of multiple truckloads of furniture and “junk.” And of course, I learned a few lessons along the way.
1. Make AWESOME signs. And display them all over the neighborhood.
2. Hold your garage sale on Friday & Saturday. Friday afternoons are prime time for garage sales!
3. Location, location, location. The first garage sale was at my friend’s house in a really nice neighborhood in a larger town. And we had SO MANY SHOPPERS who were willing to pay a little bit more. The second garage sale was at my sister’s in a smaller town, and not only were there fewer shoppers, but they were thriftier, too.
4. Price things to sell (LOW!) Ask yourself what will make you feel better? Making a TON of money? Or getting rid of a TON of stuff? Both? Then price low! You’ll get rid of more and still make a amount of money!
5. Have lots of change on hand. Especially dollar bills. And if you have a lot of items that are a quarter, have quarters, too! I don’t think we used any dimes, nickels or pennies, though.
6. Use a notebook to keep track of sales. When you’re doing a sale with others (which I definitely recommend) you need to keep track of who sold what. We made columns in a notebook for each of us and just wrote down the amounts for each transaction.
7. Price everything or nothing. I suggest pricing everything, but I hate pricing things, so I usually end up with some priced and some not. An article I read suggested not pricing anything. That is very rare in our area, so maybe it is a regional thing. But I know that if you price some things and not others, you’re way more likely to sell the things that are marked! People just don’t (or won’t) ask for prices on things that aren’t marked. I think they believe that the unmarked goods just aren’t worth the effort (or price!) if they have to ask.
8. Advertise on Craigslist and your local Facebook swap groups. We posted some pictures on Facebook swap a few days before and made it very clear that we would not have any presales or sales through swap. We did not post prices or the address. The day of the sale, we updated the post with the address.
9. Have your garage sale early in the season. People are more excited for garage sales in the spring after a long, cold winter.
Both of my garage sales were held BEFORE I started my #konmari process, so I may end up having another one before the snow flies!
