Friday, December 23, 2016

Moms who say Meh

Christmas is coming and it is a crazy time of year.

I have been trying to establish some Holiday traditions and give my kids something to look forward to every year. I am also trying to keep them busy and active while all the chaos is unfolding around us.

This is the time I usually look to Pinterest to see what types of things I should be doing. Once that four hours of browsing is wasted, I try to take the easiest, most doable things I find and at least make an attempt to include them in the Holiday season.

Some things turn out better than others. It is just like the "eyes are bigger than your stomach" adage, there are so many amazing things out there to do for the holidays but where do you find the time and energy? Plus, it is kind-of hard to scroll your fb feed and see all the cute, crafty projects that are going on at other peoples' houses without feeling like perhaps you are failing at supermom. 

But let's be honest, there are some people who thrive at those types of things, who really commit to it. Then there are the rest of us, you know the Moms who say Meh. We want to do something, we are willing to try, but we aren't going to totally kill ourselves over it.

It is for you mothers out there, my people, my Moms who say Meh that I bring you three projects that you can accomplish with very little effort and in very little time. 

The Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

This is an amazingly easy activity for the kids. If you live on the East Coast like I do, you know that darkness descends on us around 4:30 in the afternoon. It is brutal. Not only is it dark, it is cold and you still have to schlep everyone around in giant puffer hoodies while they would rather risk breaking a leg ice skating on the driveway than actually putting on gloves and getting in the car. If any of this sounds familiar, print out a couple of these Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt lists that I created and you might save yourself a few minutes of your kids screaming in the car or having to listen to Paw Patrol on a loop on the entertainment system. It is also just nice to drive around a little through the neighborhoods and see all the lights.



Christmas Printables

This idea I took directly from Pinterest. We love the movie Elf here, so I just found a free printable online, printed it out and framed it. I set it on the table in the hallway and voila, easy holiday decorations. If you are more crafty than I am you can just create your own using any movie quotes or songs you like. The original pin is here. Easy. Enjoy.

Homemade Snow

The Lady has been asking me for weeks if we have Borax. Shockingly, we do not. Does anyone? Apparently, she has been watching a ton of YouTube videos on how to make your own homemade snow and Borax seems to be the go to ingredient in a lot of these homemade projects. Eventually, she found a recipe that didn't include Borax and had only two ingredients: Shaving Cream (original, not gel) and Baking Soda. 

This is so easy, literally a two step process.

Step 1: Gather the shaving cream and baking soda
Step 2: Throw directly into your garbage can

See! So simple! So easy! So not worth it unless you want your house to smell like all your uncles did in 1985, and have a white, flaky mess to clean up. 

We will see what projects we come up with over the break, or maybe not because, well meh

Merry! Merry!

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

All I Want for Christmas is My Van Detailed

Seriously, a full car clean out is on the top of my list this year. Why? Well, how about I tell you in song. .  .

The Twelve Days of Christmas (A van-themed edition by The Three Bean Salad)

On the first day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
A cracked and scratched DVD

On the second day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Two beach pails, and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the third day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the fourth day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the fifth day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD
A few fallen goldfish

On the sixth day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Six lollipops sticking, five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the seventh day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Seven fruit snack wrappers, six lollipops sticking, five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD.

On the eighth day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Eight bottle caps broken, seven fruit snack wrappers, six lollipops sticking, five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the ninth day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Nine Arcade Tokens, eight bottle caps broken, seven fruit snack wrappers, six lollipops sticking, five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the tenth day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Ten little Legos, nine arcade tokens, eight bottle caps broken, seven fruit snack wrappers, six lollipops sticking, five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the eleventh day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Eleven popcorn pieces, ten little Legos, Nine arcade tokens, eight bottle caps broken, seven fruit snack wrappers, six lollipops sticking, five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

On the twelfth day of Christmas my Minivan gave to me
Twelve Dunkies napkins, eleven popcorn pieces, ten little Legos, nine arcade tokens, eight bottle caps broken, seven fruit snack wrappers, six lollipops sticking, five goldfish, four juice box straws, three French fries, two beach pails and a cracked and scratched DVD

********

MiniRu could probably stand an external wash as well
I did clean out MiniRu yesterday, and by clean out I mean removed a ton of crap ranging from Laffy Taffy stuck underneath the Little Lady's booster to a single strand of uncooked spaghetti. Car detailing is definitely on my Christmas List. What is the craziest thing you have found in your car?