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Tips and Tales for Mom

Archives for April 2018

Squirrels, Rats, Possible Possum, and being talked to like I’m pregnant (I am NOT).

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Well…My People….the day has come for two things that are new in my life:

  1. I have rodents in my attic and from what I can conclude, it’s going to cost me a crazy amount of money to deal with.
  2. The man assisting me with my quote, said the woman no-no “you’re expecting, right?“…..Ugh..NO I am not pregnant..thank you very much!!!
So, I’m working through quite a few emotions this week. Creatures have invaded my safe place, my home, my dwelling. Don’t they understand that this is a human refuge? Keep your animal rodent pee, poop, and mating smells away from my house!!!!! It’s insane what these animals will gnaw through to get inside. The inner drive they have is out of this world insane to get inside. Prayers for a cheaper estimate would be much appreciated.

I understand the tactic this technician man was doing…trying to scare me into doing a complete attic restoration. Telling me all the health issues, etc, laying it out there…basically, how could you not do a complete restoration when you have an unborn child in your womb? When he uttered the words “You’re expecting, right?”, while I’m holding my heavy four-year old, which is causing my POT BELLY to stick out more than normal, I was like “No I am not” thinking this is highly uncomfortable and his shocking response of “OHHH“, did not help the very terrible situation I was in!

I wanted to say “Thank you very much for pointing out that most of the time I’m snacking on crap, eating crap, and not exercising. That my youthful metabolism is not what it used to be….at all. And, that, I am aware that I look thin other places, yet, all of my fat likes to go straight to my belly and my thighs!” Ugh, my people. I suffer a little today.

Think of me a little….

How Peppa the Pig Saved The Dreaded Dentist Visit- Dental Series Part 1 of 2

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Well, as you can probably infer, the girls visited the dentist for a teeth cleaning. A time that we all equally dread. For them, it’s the fact that someone is putting stuff in their mouth. For me, it’s the “you need to be brushing their teeth at night. Let them do the morning”, “Didn’t you say last visit you purchased a kids’ sonicare tooth brush? If you used it, you wouldn’t have these issues”, “Do you ever floss their teeth?”. The looks of “We know you aren’t feeding your kids a healthy diet” and “Do you even care for your children?” (granted those could be a little self-inflicted). Regardless, the pediatric dentist office is not my favorite place.

It has its perks though, with the balloon animals, the toy machine, and they get to watch Disney movies the whole time. But, my goodness, it’s very short-lived when your children are sad they didn’t get the blue sticky hand toy and when the dog balloon animal’s head comes undone, turns into a giraffe, and then pops on the way home. Oh the tears, oh the yells, oh the very tired sweetheart.

The girls started going to the dentist when my oldest was three and youngest was two. When the dentist office told me that, at age three, they have the kids go back on their own for the teeth cleaning, my face looked extremely puzzled. “You want my three-year old to leave me, walk back their on her own, sit in a chair with strangers, and she’ll open her mouth for you and you can clean her teeth….without me? You’re nuts!”

And guess what, she did! My little oldest three-year old at the time walked back there so proud, so brave, with her head held up high, basically shouting to the world “I am my own person. I am capable of greatness. I can rule the land!”. Now we did a lot of prep work before that happened, and I’ll share that in Part 2, but honestly a lot of that is her personality too.

My youngest, on the other hand, had a lot more struggles with this, and that could be a little more fitting of her personality as well. BUT, like we all do, we work on it, and she’ll get there. In fact, this past week, she went back there with her older sister without me, and said “Mommy, I was scared. I was about to start crying. I felt tears coming, but I got really brave and did it.” Now that’s amazing! I was so proud of her, and I keep reminding her that she did that when she starts getting anxious about something.

 

 

Our Elementary School had a book fair last week, which just to fully disclose, I will never be writing about book fairs on this blog, because I do not love them, not even a tiny bit. However, when I saw Peppa Pig’s Dental Visit book sitting on the shelf, it’s as if music started to play in the distance, a spotlight started to shine on the cover….the room got quiet, the kids rushing from one book to the next dissipated, the parents following the kids with the looks of “get me out of here with some money left” disappeared from my thoughts.

I saw the answer to my youngest’s fears of knowing that same afternoon, she’d be visiting the dentist, and she flat-out didn’t want to! I would read Peppa to her. I’d read about Peppa going to the dentist. It’ll be a hit. It’ll be the answer to what I’m looking for. I grabbed it, paid for it, and off I left [with only about four other things much to my oldest’s dismay…we will work on gratefulness another day :)].

***SPOILER ALERT*** DO NOT READ PAST HERE IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WITH PEPPA AT THE DENTIST! 🙂

In the book, Peppa is actually not scared of going to the dentist, she’s ready to roll! However, her younger brother George is hesitant, so as I was reading, I really emphasized George’s transformation from scared to happy after his visit. We literally read this in the car, parked right in front of the dentist office. I honestly think this book helped my youngest (who is 4 1/2 years old) as any other cartoon/character would if talking about the dentist. I highly recommend doing a little leg work prior to your kids visit. It’ll be worth it!

Check out Part 2 (posting next week) where I’ll do a deep dive on how I prepared my girls for their first, second, and third dental cleaning visits. I was surprised at the regression, but back to that book…aren’t you dying to get it? The part where George’s dinosaur gets his own teeth cleaning was a real shocker! 🙂

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

 

SUMMARY

Product:  Peppa Pig’s Dental Visit book

Purchase Location: I purchased at a book fair, but Amazon sells it as well.

Additional Links: Phillips Kids Sonicare Toothbrush 

This post contains affiliate links. You don’t pay any extra, and I earn a small commission.

Why does it bother me I don’t get hair in my daughters’ art work?

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Here’s the deal. My About Me picture shows me having my hair down. It’s actually very rare for me to have it done like that these days (or in days past). Basically when I started having children, that dropped to the very bottom of the list.

I’m finding my hair is changing. I guess that’s what happens when you start to get older…or so they say? It’s thinner, yet coarse, yet, frizzy, yet, full? I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out. Obviously, I need some help from the Good Hair Fairies (but the kind where they just wave their wand, and poof! Fabulous hair! Without any of the work on my part). They are real, right?

Regardless, I think we can all agree it is a fact that if you wear your hair in a pony tail, it means you have hair to put in that pony tail. Why do my daughters not recognize this in their drawings? I tell them this (the expert that I am), and they just laugh and say “Oh mom”. What????? That’s it?! There’s never any kind offering of “Oh, let me go back and color in some hair for you.” They never go back and revise!

I mentioned this issue first in my Happy Easter post. And, maybe the bigger question is, why do I care that I don’t ever have hair in their drawings?! Am I man in their eyes? Am I bald woman? Do they draw with such an artistic flare that they can’t fully grasp how to draw a pony tail in the back of my drawing head? I am just bewildered.

I’ll probably be checking out some how to hair YouTube videos soon. I can’t take no hair mama any more! Do any of your kids or nieces/nephews show any weird quirks when drawing you? I’d love to know so that I can feel better. 🙂 Take care!

The Best Eye Mask You’ll Ever Own

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The IMAK Pain Relief Eye Mask started out as a simple, random stocking stuffer my husband received for Christmas, and over the years, it has become an everyday usage and repeat item in our home. I will not consider another eye mask from now on. You can store it in the freezer or heat it in the microwave. It’s just amazing!

IMAK Eye Mask, Pain Relief 1 ea

Maybe you’re asking, “Why would you have to repeat buying an eye mask?”

Well…my little things (children) discovered they like the luxury of having eye masks when they sleep…view my video below to see how I really feel about that.


It started so innocent…so gradual…and then BAM! I notice myself buying a second one for my youngest on Amazon. Now it’s part of their night regimen: brush teeth, read story, get eye masks from the freezer, sing “bad dreams, bad dreams, go away, go away, good dreams, good dreams, come to stay, come to stay” song, followed by a sometimes prayer, and then pretend to be interested in going to sleep.

I actually just bought another one of these eye masks this week for myself, because I’m tired of wishing I had one when a severe headache comes on. It is apart of my the-only-way-to-get-rid-of-my-headache process. You know how everyone seems to have their own little ailment remedies that work for them and swear by them….honey and lemon for sore throats, licorice for a callus???, duct tape for warts??, windex for anything…just kidding….you’ve seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, right??

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

 

Well on the days that I have a full on pounding headache, I’ve concluded these steps are the only way I’ll be successful in relieving the terribleness that are headaches. (Keep in mind, I’m not talking about migraines. Migraine sufferers, I really feel for you. So sorry.) And, while this is probably obvious, I feel the need to state I am NOT a medical professional people!

Step 1 I drink a full glass of water.
Step 2 I take two excedrin extra strength with another full glass of water
Step 3 I take a hot shower and make sure I spend time letting the water pressure hit my entire head and eyes
Step 4 I get my trusted eye mask out of the freezer. The absolute best eye mask I have ever found
Step 5 I get settled into bed, lay as still as possible, and let the eye mask and medicine do it’s job

So, there you have it. A product recommendation and a how-to reference for a headache remedy. My blog posts are getting quite advanced. 🙂

I’d love to know if you have any home remedies for your sufferings. Sometimes, the weirdest stuff actually works!

SUMMARY
Purchase Location: Amazon
Pain points: None! It’s Amazing!!!! Put it in your Amazon cart right now!
Benefits:
-put it in the freezer for cooling relief
-put it in the microwave to soothe tired and puffy eyes
-machine washable
-blocks out light
-even your kids can use them (I tie the elastic in a couple of knots to make it tighter. I actually do this for myself as well.)
This post contains affiliate links. You don’t pay any extra, and I earn a small commission.