DV is growing up!

DV is growing up! I know, they all do that- but sometimes it is really hard for me to be losing my "baby" and gaining a preschooler.

Yesterday we went to an open house at the school where DV will attend pre-K 4 next year. I can't believe it!

I am really quite sad about this, I love staying at home with DV and I don't think I'm quite ready for him to be a big independent boy.

He already is an independent boy. Just look at him hanging that ornament all on his own. He is potty trained, mostly dresses himself, and is working on his pre-reading skills. At least he still lets me carry him around, sometimes. I'm not giving that up until he says so.

Anyone have tips? How do you get over your babies growing up? What am I going to do next year when he's in school half the day? (Of course I'll still be working part time so I won't be bored, just sad.)

Easy Cinnamon Ornaments WFMW

I have always wanted to make homemade ornaments with DV. You know, the kind that look like cookies but bugs, dogs, and kids don't like so they can actually hang on the tree for a season.

This year we did it! DV's magazine "Your Big Backyard" came with a recipe for Cinnamon ornaments. I figured that cinnamon would not be too attractive for eating and would be great for smelling so we gave it a try. I have only modified it slightly.

The only ingredients you need are cinnamon and applesauce. I recommend using inexpensive cinnamon (we get ours from Sam's). You will need about 4 oz of applesauce and 2 oz plus of ground cinnamon.

1. Mix the cinnamon and applesauce together in a small bowl. I used one of the snack size applesauce containers (4 oz) and then filled it half full with cinnamon for measurement. My applesauce was pretty wet so I ended up having to add quite a bit more cinnamon to get the right consistency dough. The dough should be like a sugar cookie dough.

2. Roll out the dough until it is 1/4" thick and cut shapes out using cookie cutters (We used the small 1" Christmas cutters that Wilton makes.) Place the cut shapes on a cookie sheet. Next time we do this I will use parchment paper on the cookie sheet. When you re-roll the dough you may have to add more cinnamon to keep the consistency.

3. Use a toothpick to make a hole in the top of each shape.

4. Bake at 200 degrees F for 20 minutes.

5. After the shapes cool thread an ornament through the hole and hang them wherever you need a cinnamon scent. It is great in combination with our fresh tree smell!

This recipe makes 30 1" ornaments.

Cinnamon ornaments work for me! For more great ideas visit Shannon's Rocks In My Dryer for her Works for Me Wednesday.

Best $170 we ever spent

In an earlier post I said we were going to be installing our new dishwasher... without professional help. It didn't happen. Today we hired a plumber to come in and fix our broken hot water pipe and install the dishwasher. The best $170 we ever spent!

Our problems actually occurred when removing the old- as IV was pulling it out the hot water pipe (which was installed incorrectly using duct tape) the copper pipe snapped. That picture over there shows all that was left of the hot water pipe after it broke.

Of course, the hot water wasn't turned off because it came straight from the floor- not under the sink as we had thought (that valve is for the ice maker.)

So, we had a flood. Today we are washing every single towel in the house. And, we were forced to turn off the hot water. No shower last night and I had to go to work today with dirty hair. Ugh! It's been too cold for a cold shower.

And there was one other scary problem- we had turned off the breaker to the dishwasher, but what we didn't realize was that the previous owners had left live wires not on that circuit under the dishwasher. So when we were dealing with the flood there were also live wires hanging around.

I am just so glad IV and I didn't get electrocuted!!

Next time we mess with an appliance? We are going to hire a professional. And the new dishwasher? It's a thing of beauty!!!!

Flickr Mosaic (100th post!)

1. Granma Jennie's Favorites, 2. (0395) Giza Plateau Egypt, 3. grimsby docks at night, 4. Pretty Monarch Butterfly 003, 5. brosnan, 6. You travel far to discover home., 7. Another another Rome..., 8. eye candy!, 9. Tender Love and Care, 10. It's breathtaking!, 11. Amazing Thailand, 12. Jen's Cheesecake

The idea for this fun post (my 100th!) came from Tara at The Well-Rounded Woman. It's a fun quiz that you use to create a mosaic that represents you.

First, answer these twelve questions:
1. What is your first name? (Jennie)
2. What is your favorite food? (Pizza)
3. What high school did you attend? (Satellite High School)
4. What is your favorite color? (Purple)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Pierce Brosnan)
6. Favorite drink? (Water)
7. Dream vacation? (Rome)
8. Favorite dessert? (Chocolate)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Mom)
10. What do you love most in life? (Family)
11. One word to describe you (Happy)
12. Your Flickr name (Jen8rc)

Then build a mosaic! You use the mosaic maker at Big Huge Labs and get the photos by searching for your answers in flickr and selecting a photo for each question from the first page of hits.

Fun! Fun! And, something silly for my 100th post. Maybe I'll be serious on 101.

Thanks Tara for the instructions and you and I match on some of our answers!

Holiday Hints

Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife has just posted a GREAT holiday gift guide!

You can find the guide here or you can just click on that nifty button on my right sidebar. That's right, over there. ->

I have almost finished all my Christmas shopping- actually I just have to finish a project for my mom's gift and buy another small gift for IV. But, I know someone out there could use hints for what to buy me (that's right, IV I'm talking to you.)

Here's a start to your Christmas shopping and the great advantage is not having to leave the house! Your gifts will come to you!

Bye, bye dishwasher!

Our dishwasher died on Thursday. I mean it just refused to function- we think the water pump broke (since no water was going in when it was supposed to be washing!) And it is quite rusty so we think it's old (it came with the house.)

So in addition to hand washing dishes (really it's not that bad for a family of three, except when we decide to make something elaborate like oysters) we have been shopping.

I want a GOOD dishwasher. The one we had (sadly passed away) was so great about getting the dishes clean. I read some online articles and decided the most important components for me are a food grinder, automatic water temperature control, and adjustable tines on the bottom. Not to mention, the more spray heads the better!

So we went shopping at three stores- Sears, Lowes, and Home Depot. I found a few dishwashers which were almost perfect at Lowes and Sears but we found our new dishwasher at Home Depot.

Home Depot has 10% off Maytag appliances right now, which is one of the reasons we selected a Maytag. But the main reason is it met all the requirements- and has three spray heads! It's also $100 less than its Sears competitor and seems more reliable from its reviews. If you're curious it's the Maytag Model MDBH955AWW.

Now we just have to be patient and wait for delivery. It will arrive on Wednesday- and we are planning to install it ourselves. (I'll let you know how that goes.)

I can't wait for my new dishwasher!!!!

A boy's dollhouse- WFMW

DV has been very interested in imaginative play for at least a year (since he was 2) games where he plays with figures and imagines what they are doing. So I decided he needed a house for his people, and went looking for a "boy" type house since he doesn't have any sisters to share with.

We found one! Playmobil makes a great set which would be appropriate for any child (although it seems to be discontinued now) which includes a house and animal playmates plus veterinary equipment.

Playmobil actually has lots and lot of great playsets which would be appropriate for boys or girls and DV plays with his set every day and also uses toy which belong to other sets (little people, match box cars, etc.).

For other great toy ideas see Rocks in My Dryer, Shannon's Works for me Wednesday this week is toy recommendations.