Trick of the Trade–Keep Your Fonts Straight

First world problem here.

I have an unhealthy love of fonts.

So much so, that when I’m putting something together and am pondering which font to use, I can’t even grasp my favorites because I have so many.

Here’s my solution…

WORD FILE WITH FAVORITE FONTS

I keep a word file with an alphabetical list of my favorite fonts IN the font so I can readily see it. This way I don’t have to sort through my other fonts I use seldomly in the font drop down. I just open the word document and quickly scroll through to spot the perfect font for said project.

Here are my non-script faves…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my script favorites…

Trick of the Trade - How to Apologize

I don’t know how apologies run in your household, but in mine, it frequently involves a mean-spirited “Forry” (that’s right, they can’t even take the proper time to enunciate the word sorry) blurted in the siblings face and then they proceed to run away in the opposite direction.

No seriousness, no actual meaning behind it. I generally work to get some sort of authenticity behind said apology, often times with a hug instead of words. But there are many times when it simply does not seem worth the battle.

Quite frankly, because the child simply is not sorry. *sigh*

About a month ago I came across this article on Cuppacocoa.

I’ll let you read it over there, PLEASE do, it’s amazing and has great examples of how to teach your children how to properly apologize. But in a nutshell, it has the following guidelines for how to properly apologize:

I created this to put on our refrigerator, as well as one upstairs in the hallway. We just used it and went through why for the first time after my daughter hit my son, for…no apparent reason.

Here’s how it went down:

I’m sorry for hitting.

This is wrong because it hurts people.

I can make it right by kissing brother’s ouchie.

In the future, I will keep my hands to myself.

Brover, (again with the pronunciation, although I am kind of in love with this mispronunciation!) will you forgive me?

That simple! I might even have to use it for myself when I find myself in a place where I owe them an apology. Anywho, I know I’ve been absent from the blog for quite awhile, but I just had to share this and need to remind myself that my blog doesn’t have to be about perfection, simply sharing things that help me as a wife and mom. So, I hope this helps the pitiful apologies in your household turn into something a bit more…sincere. =)

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–Baby Names

First off…no, I don’t have an announcement.

Baby names…they’re so tricky, aren’t they?

They can’t remind you of that awful bully from school…

or that clinically insane patient of yours…

and it can’t be a complete failure in the name song (so long Tucker)

BOTH parents have to approve…

it has to be a name you won’t mind repeating over and over and over and over and over…

it has to “jive” with your last name (so long Nicholas)

it SHOULD fit with your previous kids’ names (Hmm…Cooper, Allison and Beauford?? Maybe )

maybe you consider it’s meaning (So long Calvin – Meaning: Bald (Latin). I don’t know, perhaps it might be fitting?? Love you hun!)

watch those initials lest they be taunted down the road (sorry Patrick Michael Sanders…at least you brought a chuckle to our small group, if it’s any consolation, mine isn’t far off: Becky J Nicholas, hehe)

some family names are just out…wouldn’t it be awkward if you named your kid after your sibling’s kid? (Shane, like ya, but no longer an option for our family)

See? Super tricky, right?? Well let me clue you in on a little secret that contributed to both our kiddos names.

*************MOVIE CREDITS************

Yes, as in…

See Allison up near the top there?

It’s no secret that my husband and I love to watch movies together. You could say it’s one of our favorite past times.

Our son’s name, we totally agreed on after seeing it in movie credits. We obviously chatted over many others, but kept coming back to Cooper. Don’t ask me which movie. I have no idea at this point, don’t even think it was from a Bradley Cooper movie (although I do know that it was Cooper as a last name, not a first, but I still love it!).

But knowing how crucial picking the right name is, if I’ve got the time, I’ll scan credits as I watch them in hopes of catching the right name. I may or may not even have a running list of names I like in my phone. I know, potentially laughable if we don’t have anymore kids. hehe

But hey, you could even do it for dog names!

So…there’s a reason for you to watch the credits…plenty of VERY “unique” names, if that’s what you’re looking for. Tolga, Ferdi and Mach just 3 from the credit page up above.

Good luck with your own baby name ideas!

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–Put a Twist on Gifting Gift Cards

For those of you who know me, it doesn’t come as a shocker that I’m not the best when it comes to gifts (or thank you cards). I’m not sure why, I think I dwell on getting the PERFECT gift, and then just end up scrambling.

So when I recently attended a double baby shower, I again, waited too long to go pick out something super cute. Plus, it was the third and fourth for these two cute mommy friends. So really, while it’s nice to get new things, they NEED very little at this point.

So I thought what I might enjoy.

STARBUCK’S!!! What new mom wouldn’t, right?

But, how boring to just gift a gift card. So I came up with a clever little card to accompany said Starbuck’s card…

Here’s the front:

Really? You HAVEN’T gone through the Starbuck’s drive through to get your older child milk because you ran out and didn’t want to have to get out at the store?! Well, kudos to you for having it all together. hehe

And the inside:

Much more fun than just getting a gift card, right? Well, maybe a little. So, below is the free printable! If you just print it out on a normal sheet of paper, then fold like a card in fourths, you’re good to go. Hope somebody out there can use this in a pinch, too!

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–How to cut mango

This picture was taken awhile ago, with the intent to post this as a trick of the trade, and here we are, well…quite a few months later. Anyhow!

My good friend Mary taught me how to cut a mango. Remember my blog description? My journey of becoming comfortable in the kitchen? So yeah, I needed to be taught how to cut a mango.

My kids LOVE to eat mangoes this way! (YES! Even my picky eater Allie!)

Instead of shooting a video myself, here’s a pro to show you how. Just click the picture to take you to the link.

By the way, I use the second method he shows, and you don’t have to make quite so many cuts. If you see in the picture of my son above, I think I made 4 slices each way, but you can even get away with only 3 and just have some BIG bites too. Enjoy your mango!

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–10 Uses for your Phone Alarm

Some background regarding this post…and just some fun FYI material. My maiden name was Roach (not as bad as you might think, but yes, I was excited to get married). And the Roach family, well…we weren’t the most punctual of families. Nothing horrendous, but we ran late more often than not. My brother and I would actually place bets on what my mom’s excuse would be when she was late picking us up from school. We thought it was quite humorous. So, naturally, I myself have this “running late” tendency. BUT…alas, there is hope!

My trick is to use the alarm on my phone….FOR EVERYTHING!

Here are the following things I use my alarm/timer for:

1. Morning alarm(s) for wake up

2. Reminder to drop off/pick up Cooper from preschool

(okay, it’s not like I’d FORGET…but this way I have a 5 minute buffer to actually get in the car so I’m not seriously late!)

3. Reminder to take medications (for me or my kids)

4. Time outs

(1 minute/year of age. Cooper’s is seeming awfully long these days)

5. Reminder that it’s time to leave the park, or play date, etc.

(you know, when you tell your kids 5 more minutes, and a half hour later you’re finally leaving? With the timer, it’s the fun little robot voice that’s the “bad guy”. And OCCASIONALLY, they actually are excited to hear said funny little robot voice and leave happily! Gasp! Imagine that!)

6. Reminder that I myself have an appointment!

7. Timer for dinner

(‘cuz let’s face it…sometimes you’re playing outside and won’t hear the oven alarm)

8. Timer for when my husband has to stop playing video games

(hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!)

9. Motivation to see how much cleaning I can get done in 10-20 minutes. Set the timer and you’ll be surprised (or not…sometimes it’s a bust, but more often than not, I work faster when timed).

10. Reminder to start crockpot meals. It’s the worst when you have it planned, and forget to start the crockpot and that day’s crockpot use is a bust. Man, oh man, what a disappointment!

*****************************************************

There you have it, folks. 10 more ways to utilize your phone alarm. May you be ever more on time my friends!

TTFN

Becky Nicholas

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–“Delivering” Laundry

If you have young kids like I do, you probably find yourself folding laundry while the kids are asleep. Then, I end up with a stack of folded laundry on my coffee table, or my bed, or my washer, wherever I happen to have been folding for that day. Then, inevitably, my kids came dashing out of their rooms when nap time has finished, only to knock over my nicely folded stack of laundry.

So, what I most often do is “deliver” their laundry just outside their bedroom doors, stacked in piles of where they need to go in their rooms. That way, when they come dashing out, I dash right in and quickly put them away where they belong. For some reason, the laundry isn’t so tempting when it’s up against the wall on the floor. Hope you enjoyed today’s little tip! Happy Home Making. =)

See my little helper? Ready to go put brother’s socks away! =)

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–Photo Gallery Organization Tutorial

2 weeks ago, here, I shared that I like to layout my photo gallery plan in Microsoft Publisher. I figured I’d give you a step by step of how I did it. Perhaps slightly embarrassing to admit how OCD I am, but…I know I’m not alone.

Step 1

Measure all your picture frames and the area of wall you hope to hang said photo gallery.

(if you’re OCD like me, measure the size of the mats, too, so you can really get a visual of what the whole she-bang will look like).

Step 2

Open Publisher and change the View to about 25% (more or less depending on how large your wall area is). Click the View tab, and change the percent to 25. It will then look like this.

Step 3

Create a shape the same size as your wall space. Mine was huge, about 42” x 85”. Click the Insert tab, Shapes, and my wall space is a rectangle. Change the measurements in the upper right corner to match your wall space. See? Because mine was so large, I changed the view to 10%.

Step 4

Begin putting in the size/shapes of your frames. So, for example, one of my frames is 10x12, the mat was 8x10, and the frame opening 5x7. I put in a rectangle to be 10x12, filled in black. So, Insert, Shapes, rectangle, adjust the measurement. Next, click Format, Shape Fill, black.

Then, I added another rectangle that was 8x10, Format, Shape Fill, White, and centered it in the middle of the first “frame”, and wa-la! You have your first “matted frame”.

Then, add your picture in a 5x7, center it, and you’ve got your first framed picture!

To keep that whole picture entact, use your mouse and select all 3 layers, both rectangles AND your picture. Then, from your home tab, click group. Now you can move the whole image together. See?

Step 5

Continue this process until you have all your frames and pictures. Don’t worry about placement just yet, you can move it out of the “wall space area” until you’re ready to lay out your frames in the gallery design you’d like.

Step 6

Now, toy with what pictures you want where, and where you’d like each frame placed. It helps with color layout, etc. It seems like a lot of work getting it set up, but now, each time I want to put in new pictures, I can just add the picture in the correct size, and see how it fits. Does the color mesh with the others, etc. Easy peasy. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try and answer!

Enjoy your new gorgeous photo gallery!!

Trick of the Trade–Communicate!

communicate with your spouse

I am FAR  from an expert in this department, but I’ve come a LONG way in our almost 10 years of marriage.

Let’s begin with how I USED to communicate:

I’d pretty much expect my husband to read my thoughts, and know exactly what I was feeling. I would often get mad, clam up, and expect him to know I was mad and figure out why, all on his own.

Sound familiar? Thankfully, our pre-marital counselor caught on to this (I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that every other women in the world is this way) and pointed out that I needed to start talking to Ryan, telling him what I was feeling. My initial excuse was, “Well, I still haven’t sorted out my thoughts, and it may come out wrong” pshaw! Yeah right. So what if it does?! That’s all part of marriage.

So…NOW…if Ryan does something that bothers me, I always work hard to tell him as soon as I get a moment, calmly is key! Try not to insert emotion, just state what it is. If we don’t say anything, nothing’s going to change! Don’t fool yourself into thinking he’ll get it from subliminal messages, or maturity down the road, that’s idealistic wishful thinking that I apparently had at one point. INSTEAD, talk to him so that you two can grow together as a couple. And when all else fails, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY. I guarantee you that is why my relationship with my spouse is as good as it is. Prayer, and God working in us.

Now that we’ve discussed conflict…there is more to communicating with your husband solely regarding conflicts! And the advice is the same – TELL HIM WHAT YOU’RE THINKING, FEELING, AND WANTING!! There are SO many different examples for this line of thinking. For example, if you want an extravagant trip for your 10 year anniversary, TELL HIM! If you don’t, TELL HIM! Don’t secretly desire a gift for your birthday or Valentine’s day, then be disappointed when you don’t get it. I know it sort of takes out the “magic” of it when you flat out tell him, but think of how much happier you will both be!! You won’t be disappointed, and he won’t feel like he’s in the doghouse because he didn’t read your mind. Win-win ladies!

Now with all this said, don’t get all demanding and needy. I mentioned above that God is what grounds my marital relationship. And the Bible states,

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21

So while it’s great AND okay to tell your husband what you’re thinking, feeling, and wanting, you need to do the same for him. Try do observe what he’s thinking and feeling. Try to predict what it is he wants. And when you don’t know, ask! What’ve you got to lose?

I hope this equips you in your marriage this week…particularly with Valentine’s quickly approaching. Change your Valentine’s this year! Don’t be disappointed, tell your hubby what it is you would like. =)

Trick of the Trade Tuesday

arranging pictures for a photo gallery

Okay, okay…I realize this is MAJORLY OCD. But, it makes me eerily giddy! And my photographer said she loved that I did it, so that has to say I’m somewhat normal, right?

We all have a photo gallery somewhere in our homes, right? Well, how often do you print out a picture, only to find it either doesn’t fit the feel of your space, or the opening in the frame itself?

What I’ve started doing is arranging my frame layout in Microsoft Publisher, but you could also do it in Word. That way, I have all the sizes to the openings of the frames saved and ready to look up when I’m ready to swap out photos.

The other bonus is I can arrange the pictures to see how I like them best. How the colors play with each other, how they look altogether, etc. I have two “galleries” that I’ve done this with so far. The first one, up above, is the layout that I have above my couch in my living room. And yes, I even measured the mats, etc. so I could see EXACTLY how it would look. This also helps me in purchasing pictures from photo shoots we’ve had. Makes sure I put our gorgeous pictures UP ON THE WALL (instead of keeping a digital copy on my computer for nobody to ever see).

The second gallery I’ve done this with is one in our hallway, as seen below (shown that it’s actually done in Publisher).

Let me know if you want a “tutorial” on how to do it. But otherwise, hope the tip helps you and your photo arranging successes! =)

Trick of the Trade Tuesday

This is a pretty basic one with the idea stolen from a medicine bottle on Pinterest. If you’re a contact wearer like myself, you may or may not have a sketchy memory of when you’re SUPPOSED to switch out your contacts. And you may or may not end up over-wearing them.

So, this past year I decided to purchase exactly what I would need for the year at my annual appointment. When the shipment came in, I wrote the dates to change on each package, like so…Easy enough, right? Makes it a breeze to budget, my eyes are happy, my optometrist is happy. Go mark your contacts yo!

Trick of the Trade–Storing Trinkets

 

trick of the trade #28:

storing trinkets

This post relates to my party favor post here. I have these lovely storage bins I got on the cheaps at Costco, similar to the Expedit shelving units at Ikea! I promptly decided what would go into each bin and labeled them, with tiny pictures at the bottom so my kids remember what goes where. One of them I decided to label “Trinkets”. And since then, these little “treasures” have been far less annoying.

You know those little “treasures” I’m talking about. Your kids may have picked one up at the dentist’s office, or received them as party favors, Christmas or Halloween parties at school, probably some of your stocking stuffers (at least mine are for sure!). Here they are…

Those toys that have no…well, place, or label they belong to. Before my little “trinket” box, I would begin to pick up around the house, I would grab these mindlessly and stand there thinking, “Where in the world?” Now…I know exactly where they go. It makes clean up waaay easier! And, these “treasures” are no longer the bane of my existence. So, bring it on party favors! =) Ready for a quick game of I Spy? Can you find these 5 items:

Slinky, Jacob’s Ladder, a broken purple Easter egg, Angels sundae hat, and a Sophie the giraffe teething toy (that’s no longer needed for teething, i.e. is now a trinket)

So, what are you waiting for? Go collect those “treasures” and create your own trinket bin! It’ll make you smile. And…if you can’t find an item in the trinket bin, just find your daughter’s latest hoarding run. Check her out…hilariousness!

Trick of the Trade Tuesday–Christmas Tree Stand

 

trick of the trade #26:

Christmas tree stand

First off, pardon the very child-like looking tree. My mom always used our memory filled ornaments and that’s a tradition I will always hold and cherish. So, all our ornaments hold some sort of memory. No fancy trees in our house. =)

Now..onto the trick of the trade!

This clever trick came from my mom! She always used a Christmas tree stand to not only make the tree taller (meaning, cheaper!!), but it also created great space underneath the tree to place all your presents. Brilliant! We made ours out of 5 – 18” pieces of 4x4, and 2 sheets of plywood (cut to however big you’d like your tree stand to be). We just drilled 4 of the pieces to the corners, and one in the middle for support. See horrible diagram below:

trick of the trade #27:

clever way to water your Christmas tree

Use a piece of PVC pipe to place where the water should go, then use a pitcher to lead the water down the pipe. No more getting down on all fours to shimmy underneath the tree. And having to either use a tiny little cup of water, or awkwardly trying to tip a pitcher underneath all those branches! Seriously, waay easier. And my son loves watching below to see when it’s full of water and tell me when to stop. So…what are you waiting for? Go find an old piece of PVC in your garage and make something a bit easier in your life during this crazy holiday season! =)

TOTT #25–Luggage Tags

I’m excited to share this one with you for SO many reasons!

#1 – They make me smile every time I see them.

#2 – It’s perfect for this season! Traveling, and gift giving.

I made these luggage tags as gifts a few years back for Christmas, worked great as stocking stuffers. I have the “I heart Baggage Handlers” on my HUGE suitcase and my “I could fly first class if I wanted to” on my carry on luggage. And now that I’m re-visiting them, I’m pretty sure I need to print out an “Are we there yet?” one for my son’s carry-on. Every time I travel, they make me smile. And I think they would make the airline workers chuckle, knowing they’re appreciated as they “toss” my pushing-the-free-50lb.-scale bag onto the plane. My husband (you know, the glass half empty in the relationship?) says yeah right, instead of chuckling they probably give it a good bang on the side of the plane before “tossing” it in. Either way, they make me smile, and provide important information lest my bag be misplaced.

So, here are your free printables! Feel free to attempt to line them up and print back to back. I just do it old school style, print them both out, cut and glue ‘em together. Just seems faster. I included a bag of zip ties with the stocking stuffer, something similar to this.

Probably the easiest thing to do would be to add the image to your document, put a text box to include your info, then print.

And here’s one more for any of you shoe lovers!

And, I’ve never asked my readers this before, but if you decide to use them, do me a solid and leave a message. It’s always nice to get feedback! =) Happy, smiling traveling!

TOTT–Airplane Gifts

Traveling…with kids…we’ve ALL been there (and if you haven’t, you’ve at least observed it)! I often wonder why people aren’t more, shall we say, thoughtful? understanding?

This fun little idea was inspired by my mother to help some of my friends who were flying cross country with their kids. I purchased almost all of the supplies at the Dollar Store, but I’ll try and include links for some of the uncommon items. Below is an explanation, as well as the free printables to recreate them yourselves! Just click on the image to enlarge, then right click and save image as. Hope this makes traveling with littles slightly less stressful.

Step #1: Purchase all necessary toys, gifts, and wrapping. The shopping list for each group of 4 items is listed below.

Step #2: Wrap each of the items, placing the correct # label on each.

Step #3: Print and cut instruction sheets and put into an envelope for mom to reference, label with “For Mom’s Eyes Only”. They will fit in a business envelope.

Step #4: Place all the wrapped items in a bag labeled with the child’s name and deliver to the traveling kiddos. Watch a bit of stress dissolve from the parents face! =)

Shopping List: wiggly snake: socks, yarn, googly eyes, felt, pipe cleaners, super glue (or velcro strips): Cars coloring book or felt coloring page & crayons: Pipe cleaners and small beads 

Shopping List: party favor sized spirographs (or fun stencils), paper, writing utensils and a roll of scotch tape roll: Annie’s bunny fruit snacks and plastic pop-ups (I will admit, not the best on the plane, but you could do it at the end, and say that if they can behave until you land THEN they can play with them. They’re SO fun!): 2 silk flowers: Cars water color book (and a paintbrush if it doesn’t already come with)

Shopping List: M&M’s, pretzel rods (both in ziplocks), peanut butter (I put it in a tupperware): some type of Bible story book: party favor sized spiral graphs (or fun stencils): roll of scotch tape

**Yes, I realize the bottom two are repeats, I included them in case you would rather wrap them as two separate gifts.

Shopping List: princess posters (or coloring book) & coloring utensils: princess glow-in-the-dark wand: princess stamps & stickers & paper

**I first made it for 2 boys, then for a girl. So the last one is in case you want to add some girly ones to the mix.

And lastly – here are numbers (I put two in case you’re making it for 2 children, or if you want to put a label on each side), a label for the bag with ALL of the goodies inside (without the name so you can write it in), and a label for the envelope with all the instructions – “For mom’s eyes only”.

Here was Cooper all ready to deliver our goodies! He didn’t mind helping so much because he got to keep some that had extra in the package. Fun, fun! Remember, you can keep it relatively cheap – check out your Dollar Store, or browse the dollar aisle at Target or Michaels. Ironic that I have yet to do this for my kids. I think it’s for two reasons:

Reason #1: I haven’t had a long enough flight with old enough kids.

Reason #2: My kids have an attention span the size of a gnat are perfect on airplane rides!

There you have it ladies and gents. Use some, or all! If you’ve got time, leave a note letting me know if you used them, I LOVE hearing from you!