While toddlers love the great outdoors not every day is suitable for outside play. So how can we can bring a little of the outdoors inside and a little wonder and education to our toddlers at the same time?

The Discovery Window is simple to put together and the possibilities for education and entertainment are as wide as your child’s interests.

The discovery window allows your little one get up close and personal with birds, bees, and other critters when your pre-schoolers’ noisy ways might otherwise scare them off.

To get started simply pick a window, one your child can look out with ease or without breaking your rules!

Bring on the wonder: hang a variety of bird feeders, wind spinners, or birdhouses outside the window. You can place a birdbath near a first floor window or plant flowers just outside of a garden level window. As the flowers push through the soil and the bees pay a visit you will find your discovery window as busy as your pre-schooler.

Adding items like a wind spinner, thermometer, and rain gauge help start basic science discussions and teach children about weather.

Let your child assist in filling the feeders. While getting the job done (and making a mess let’s be real!) your kiddo will be stretching their developmental muscles, pouring, estimating, and learning what animals eat. As your child gets older she can help maintain a small window side garden.

The Discovery Window is yours to fill, be creative, let your children create or pick out the feeders or make it mom’s favorite too by including your own garden style. Decorate the window at holidays or change up the feeders seasonally to keep both the birds and your child interested.

It doesn’t matter if you have an apartment with balcony or only a window box, a house with picture windows or no trees at all, you can create a discovery window of your own for your child.

What works for us & the critters?

Our windows are not garden level so hanging the feeders under the eaves of the house works well. It keeps the feeders and houses out of the rain and snow so they last longer. The little bit of shelter also gives the birds a reprieve from rain and bitter wind in the winter.

In my feeders:

I recommend that you use safflower seeds to attract cardinals, jays, and other song birds. Grackles, house sparrows, and pigeons won’t eat this and the squirrels won’t bother your feeders as the seeds are very bitter! Safflower is available in 5 lb. bags at Wal-Mart in spring and early summer otherwise visit a local bird store or tractor supply year round. Make sure to store all birdseeds in an airtight plastic or metal container to keep rodents from having a field day! Cardinals love safflower and will literally be singing your praises for putting it out.

Use thistle seed in a feeder with small openings (it’s not cheap) to attract a wide variety of finches. If you want to avoid squirrels and common birds avoid store bought “wild bird seed mixes”, these contain filler which often ends up as a mess on the ground, however they are inexpensive and will attract birds none the less. Keep your feeders full and the birds will keep coming back.

Start creating your Discovery Window today and you will find that it attracts toddlers, song birds, and frazzled mothers alike. Bringing the outdoors into our home even on the coldest days of winter or noisiest days of toddlerhood brings both calm and cheer. Good luck and let me know what wonderful items you add to your Discovery Window.

After a much too long hiatus from party planning I’m back in the saddle with not one, not two, but three big parties in upcoming months!  Coming very soon to this blog: how to plan a Company Picnic, an unbelievable Spring Themed Surprise Birthday Party, and a Red Carpet Reception.  Of course, as I plan each party you can be sure to see many updates on my creative process as well as photos and maybe even video of the big events. 

Below are photos and party planning tips from the party that rocketed me to fame: Our Luau Themed Wedding (not held in Hawaii)

Our entire budget for the wedding including food was $3000. 

If you’re planning a wedding use the same facility for both the ceremony and the reception to save some dough.

To mask very ugly and carpeted walls we unrolled match stick blinds purchased for $3 each at a Big Lots, removed their hardware and tacked them to the walls.  It instantly gave the room the feeling of being inside Tiki hut. 

To mask a coat rack along the entrance wall we used a green grass table skirt, trimmed down and positioned to look like the edge of a roof.  Gift table and receiving line happened below.

Grass skirts gave an island feel and hid feet and ugly tables at our head table.

I made my own bouquet and cake toppers from artificial flowers.  The artificial flowers were not cheap but withstood July heat and looked beautiful. 

Fabric (purchased on clearance at Wal-Mart) hung across the windows helped set the mood, blocked late evening summer sun, and helped hide unattractive shades.

The best part of having a themed wedding is that it instantly relaxes your guests.   Our guests were asked to wear Hawaiian shirts and flip flops.   The Mr. & Mrs. High Heel wedding was one of kind and our families had a blast.  It was extremely DIY and I will be sure to post more about how I orchestrated, while wearing high heels of course, what people are still calling “the best wedding ever!”  

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have parties to plan and a crown to polish! 

• Take a self defense course.  Find one at the Y, organize one for the ladies in your church, check local Karate schools.   Chose a class that is full contact and not just videos or speeches.  You need to feel the force of an attacker to really understand how to react and protect yourself.
• Lock doors immediately upon getting into your car or arriving home.
• NEVER ignore you’re intuition.  Don’t worry about being offensive.  Better to be rude than dead.
• Don’t overload yourself with groceries or shopping bags…we all do this.  Don’t!
• Keep your head up and walk with purpose.
• If someone is bothering you get loud.  Attackers do not want to attract attention.
• Safety in numbers.  Crowds and kids irritate our mom radar but you’re safer in a crowd of strangers than you are at the park alone. 
• It’s an Oprah special favorite…NEVER go to a 2nd location.  Better to be shot where you are than driven to a remote location and assaulted and murdered.  
• If an attacker threatens you with a gun…run away.  Most criminals can’t hit the broad side of a barn let alone a moving target.

For more information on personal safety check out your city’s police department website or the article in the March edition of Parent’s Magazine.  

My official diagnosis is a flavorful combination of strep and laryngitis on a bed of flu, with touch of pneumonia and a delicate garnish of bacterial pink eye.

Despite my constant hand washing and antibacterial wipe using at Disney World, where it apparently is also the year of a million germs, I still got sick…very sick.

I have had snot in so many colors this week that Skittles is the new sponsor of my blog (just kidding again, don’t tell them i said that they’ll have me de-indexed).

Since I’ve had nothing else on my mind this week I thought I’d test a few “home remedies” for my various ailments.

Plague-tested mother approved home remedies:

Ailment: Sore tonsils

Mama’s Remedy: Gargle warm water with salt and bit of lime juice.

Approved: Stings like a b**** for a minute but if you have a good imagination you can pretend you’re doing tequila shots.

Ailment: Laryngitis

Mama’s Remedy: Suck on a peeled clove of garlic

Not Approved: Nothing says “Here I am! Love me!” on Valentine’s Day like garlic on top of bad breath from strep.

Instead Try: Resting the voice and wrapping a warm scarf of even a warm damp towel around throat.

Ailment: Flu

Mama’s Remedy: Hot Tottie” (and don’t google “hot tottie” with kids in the room)

Approved: Mixing booze and cold meds is always a great idea!

Ailment: Pink Eye

Mama’s Remedy: tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar (dropped into they eye)

NOT APPROVED: Are these people nuts? It’s an eye infection not a Weight Watcher’s recipe.

Instead Try: Go to the doc for this one and get some antiboitics for the eyes and then wash every toy and bit of bedding in the house…twice…no three times.

Thanks to teething we were all awake at 3:30 AM this morning, mommy and daddy only having gone to bed a few hours earlier and we were all pooped before we even left the house. 

Miraculously we arrived at the airport on time, checked in and went through security with ease (seriously the baby needs to remove his shoes???).  My son was a dream on the plane due in part to my preparation, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Chibby and I took the window seat with my husband beside us.  My son watched out the window admiring the trucks and other planes and even the scenery as we took off which actually calmed my nerves. He slept through the layover and spent the second flight watching Cars for the 1,000th time.  No screaming – no fits- no way!?

To go with our unexpected baby ease was a good dose of difficult served up by Alamo.  Lines, stupid check-in procedures, the wrong car seats, and a trainee in the exit booth who took 30 minutes to fix a paperwork error (Alamo’s fault)  helped us get our Orlando vacation off to a peachy start.  A special thanks to the a-hole a few cars back who shouted “just give the car back” for adding a little bit of magic to the day!

Being the savvy travel I am I printed directions to the hotel ahead of time via Google maps (who got it completely wrong!) so getting to the hotel was fun.  When we finally made it the hotel did not disappoint (the restaurant is another story). 

So before I slip into what will hopefully be a full night of sleep here are a few of my toddler tested travel trips from today:

• Pack Cheez-its, or some favorite snack…snacks are perfect for those confine and wait periods like waiting to takeoff or waiting to rent a car.  Plus they get Dad of his low-blood sugar funk.
• Compare maps and print them out ahead of time.  Cross check Google and mapquest to make sure directions are accurate.  Get your bearings before you leave the airport.  Am I supposed to go right or north?
• No neglecting naps…seek out sleep spots, on the plane, maybe in the car, or a quiet corner at the airport to get your little on to sleep.  Try to keep as much of their going-to-sleep routine as possible.  We always read a story before a nap or bedtime so I brought along the story we’ve been reading at home.
• Movies for when you’re not moving.  We brought along a Disney fav and played it on my laptop.
• Put the diaper bag under the seat in front of you on the plane so you can access those snacks, activities and drinks with ease.
• Pack a many little things to do.  I had a few touch and feel books which are interactive for my hyperactive kiddo, a pocket-sized sticker book, and a play cell phone which kept my son happy throughout the flight.
• Choose well balanced flying times.  Don’t pick a 1 hour flight with a connecting flight that is 4 hours if you can help it.  Try to get an even split.
• If you’re taking electronics pack them all in one carry-on and let dad go through security with that bag while you take the kiddos through.  Electronics all have to be unpacked and placed in trays and removing shoes, juggling a baby, and a stroller is enough for one person.  Let the other person take all the have-to-be unpacked items through security.
• Dress everyone in slide on shoes it makes getting through security slick and easy.
• Finally, get good sleep before you leave, keep hydrated, and kiss your spouse.  All of which will make you feel better, even if you rented a car from Alamo.   

• place a throw on the floor
• place toddler or baby in the middle of the blanket
• grab the blanket by the front two edges and pull
• zoom around the room, curving around furniture, whipping around corner
• shout out “yahooooo!”
• watch baby laugh histarically

 Once you do this they’ll want you to do it again and again but it’s good for you.  I’ve never tried this on carpet as I have wood floors…if it works on carpet post a comment and let us know.  Of course always be sure not to do this near open stairs and be careful etc.  At some point they almost always fall over from the Gs! 

I’ve had 42 visitors to my blog this month that searched for the phrase “the effects of wearing high heels on your uterus”.  Apparently using words like: high heels, fetus, effect, uterus, and boob are earning my wee blog a ranking of 51^st for searches about uterine health and heels. 

Apparently it is believed that high heels can cause your uterus to tilt forward therefore causing problems with circulation and fertility.  Now I know what you’re thinking…I have fertility issues and I LOVE my heels.  I’m cured?  I’m not a doc but I’m not quite convinced, especially since I’m as likely to choose tennies or flips for bumming around the house or running errands. 

Of the million questions my reproductive endocrinologist has asked me “do you wear high heels” was not among them and she’s never suggested that wearing crocs would get me knocked up.

 My suggestion is if you’re very worried about the effects of heels on your circulatory or reproductive systems skip the heels or combat the problems allegedly created by heels. 

I don’t know about you but just a glimpse of Nine West and my uterus is smiling.  Here are a few of my personal tips for maintaining happy high heel feet:

• Break the shoe not the foot: Break in new heals wearing a thick pair of socks.  Wear them a few hours a day for a week or so before you wear them out to go dancing at the bar, to a wedding, or a concert. 

• Cash counts: Don’t buy cheap heels, insist on brand name heels and search for heels with and arch.  If the shoes is flat as a board skip it.

• Wedges work wonders: Choose a wider heel or a wedge to avoid injury.  When I was a wedding photographer I spent a lot of time standing in grassy areas and always chose wedges so to avoid turning an ankle.

• Choose or lose: Choose good shoes all around.  If you’re wearing cheap-o tennies with no arch support to the gym, heels are going to be the least of your problems. 

• Check ‘em out: Monitor foot health carefully, if you notice bunions, planter’s warts, or hangnails forming lay off the heels.

• Accessorize:  Add insoles, heel cups, and no slip grips (for the bottom) to your heels. 

• Pamper your tootsies:  Keep toenails in good health, get regular foot massages (your hubby will make a fine massuse) and keep dry skin and caluses at baby with regular exfoliate and moisturizing. 

• Pump up those legs:  Do exercises that strengthen the heel, calf, thighs and buttocks and promote good circulation throughout your lower extretmities.

• Go low or say no: If you’ve got lower back pain lower height of you heel until you’re comfortable.  If you can’t stand heels don’t wear them.  I swear I can’t walk at all without them.

• Chose lower heels: leave the stilettos to hookers, strippers, and runway models.  Lower heels cause less damage and get the job done. 

• Wider is better:  Choose open toed heels or select a “wide” size when wearing closed toes, especially the pointy ones.   

• Fake it:  Want to look like you’re wearing a taller heel?  Choose a thin heel at 2” it will look higher than it really is.  That being said kitten heels are sexy and very comfy.

*Also notable was the one person who found my blog searching for the phrase “pictures of grandma wearing high heels”.  I ain’t yo granny!

Having gone up 6 sizes in 7 years I was already not feeling great about my body when on a shopping trip for “foundation garmets” I found my self asking the associate at Victoria’s Secret if they had panties that I liked in an XL. As if it wasn’t hard enough to ask anorexia barbie for and extra large, she turned around and shouted back to Skipper (because she was utterly flat chested) who was working the register, do we have any extra large panties? Skipper sauntered up to the front of the store and explained to me very matter of factly “they don’t make those in an extra large” – ahhh…sting. She continued, “we don’t really have anything here in your size”…….gahhhhh she didn’t… “you might try Lane Bryant, they carry the bigger sizes” What? They didn’t make my size? Why didn’t she just tattoo WHALE on my forehead? Tears welled in my eyes and as I looked up I noticed people staring. Disoriented- I fled the store. Never to return….until today.

I didn’t return today miraculously a size two, I don’t have an amazing weight loss story for you. I’m still a 14 but I returned to the bra store today with something I should never have lost, confidence in myself and an appreciation for my body the way it is.

4 of 5 women are unhappy with their bodies and that’s always been me. Even as a size 2 I hated something about my body. So what changed? As silly as it sounds, I started watching Carson Kressley’s show on Lifetime “How to Look Good Naked“. Carson takes real women of all shapes and sizes and says you don’t need to diet, or have surgery, or hide under baggy clothes, you are beautiful. He teaches women the basics of dressing for their shape, including foundation garments.

According to Susan Nethero (a.k.a. the bra whisper) wearing the right size bra can make you look 10 lbs. lighter. A proper fitting “foundation garment” changes the way clothes fit you as well as the way you carry yourself, and is also important in good breast health. You can check out Susan’s website for some amazing tips on finding the right bra for you and solving specific fit issues.

Today, for the first time in 2 years, I walked into Victorias Secret and had a bra fitting. Go figure…I was one of the 85% of women who are wearing the wrong size bra. Here’s the best part, after all that time, they DO carry my size in both bras and panties. And when I tried them on it was like Carson was standing there with me saying “see”. I could have cried all over again, not because I needed a bigger size than I was wearing, but because feeling sexy as a size 14 didn’t have to be as hard as I was making it for myself. I still have a long way to go, but I will say the girls are looking damn good. Ladies, if you got if flaunt it!

Ha ha this post will kill any male readership that I have!

I spent all day searching the web for ways to keep toddlers happy during a flight and I’m 80% sure that there will still be some sort of feet kicking, back arching, screaming meltdown at some point.   Though most of the advice was fairly useless (and some even harmful i.e. drug your baby) I did find a few gems in the bunch. 

One tot toting mama insists a box of colorful bandaids is the answer.  Baindaids are inexpensive, time consuming to open and peel, easy to peel off of seats & trays, and lets face it down right cool to a kiddo.  One mom suggested an in-flight movie via Daddy’s laptop (w/ headphones of course).  Another saavy mom suggested bribing your baby and fellow passengers with tasty snacks. 

On the subject snacks, I found the COOLEST snack holder I’ve ever seen and ordered several for our upcoming adventure.  My son is Mr. Independent and this clever sippy cup style snack holder is the perfect mess busting way to keep my little guy entertained while he practices his dining skills. 

I’ll be sharing more travel tips as I hear about them, and keeping you updated as to which tricks pass the test in February.  In the meantime, Parenting Magazine is keeping it real with this great article about air travel and toddlers. As for me, I’ll be packing the bandaids and taking all the advice I can get because I hate air travel enough without the baby frenzy. 

Organizing a clothing closet is simple and can be done in just a few hours. You don’t need a world-class closet organizer to put a workable system in place.

• Before you put anything back into the closet wipe down shelves with warm soapy water and vac the walls, baseboards, tops of doorways, and the floor.
• Use hooks along the back or sides of the closet for scarves, hats, or belts. If you’re on a tight budget a box of cup hooks will do fine for just a few dollars.
• All clothes items (except those in seasonal storage) must be visible and easy to reach or you’ll never wear them.
• While you have your shoes out clean them up, apply polish, wash laces etc.
• Store shoes on a shoe rack, in shoe boxes on the shelf, or in inexpensive clear boxes on a shelf.
• Shoe-a-holics take advantage of vertical space. If you have many pairs of shoes place them in clear plastic boxes with visible labels and stack them 2-3-4 high on the closet shelf.
• Need more dresser space? Plastic rolling carts with drawers work perfectly in a closet. The roll out so putting away folded laundry is even easier.
• Pack seasonal sweaters and shoes away. These items can go on the way up high shelf in the closet, in an under the bed storage tote, or on a hanging rack in the basement.
• Launder seasonal items before you pack them away. Store in breathable containers in cool dry locations. Avoid plastic bags and mothballs and all costs. Launder again when you bring them out of storage to freshen them up!
• Separate tops and bottoms in the closet for easy selection.
• Invest in hangers. Don’t use wire hangers, when you can purchase a pack or two of wooden hangers at a time. Wooden hangers can be purchased inexpensively at Target, Wal-Mart, Costco and clothes will look better coming out of the closet.
• ROYGBIV it. That’s right sort tops and bottoms by color. Grouping colors makes finding clothes and creating outfits simple and fast! In my closet clothes are actually sorted: white, red, brown, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (does anyone have anything indigo?), violet, black, and gray. I start each color section with solids then move to prints, it helps keep the system in place.

If you’re working on a tight budget search craigslist and the clearance isles for items like shoe racks, rolling carts, hooks, storage totes, and hanging racks. When you rotate out seasonal items (switching the swimsuits for sweaters) take the time to sort through clothes and shoes again and purge items which are worn out, damaged, or out of style. When you reach into your closet for clothing, stop and take a minute to make sure clothes are in order and no squatters have moved in.