Shortcut Shopper

Tips and Tales for Mom

Archives for May 2018

Four Surprising Products My Dad Gave Me For College (that were actually potentially useful)

by

It’s that time of year where companies shout out “It’s graduation gift time”! Now that I have a student in our school district, there is so much communication regarding high school graduation. I’ve been reminiscing about those days lately. It was such a bittersweet time! The excitement of new life experiences awaited, yet all-the-while knowing things would probably never be the same.

I received very many random (and much appreciated) graduation gifts, but by far, the best gift I received for graduation was money. Let’s face it. I liked cash (and currently still do), and I was already eyeing dorm room decor at Target! Cash at that time of my life meant fun pillows, rugs, posters, and cute colorful decorative items. In my present life, cash goes toward my current raccoon problem and squirrels trying to eat my house! (Ugh.)

But when I went off to college, I didn’t expect to get these three products that my Dad sporadically sent me my freshman year while living in a dorm that actually came in handy.

  • Portable Car Battery Charger – This not only served me once or twice, but really came in handy for other girls in the dorm who had trouble as well. I was like an on call automobile mechanic…kinda
  • Tool Box Complete With A Saw?!!! – Now I could have done without such a large tool box. The one I’m linking to is an idea of everything that came with mine, but add probably another 50 pieces of screw thingys and a MUCH larger hand saw. I remember the day I received this like it was yesterday. My mail box was not close to my dorm, so when I saw the post office guy bring out my very long cardboard package, I was so excited! I balanced it on my bike seat and walked my bike back to the dorm. I lugged it up three flights of stairs (it was heavy!), and opened it as fast as I could. Then I saw it was something practical. It was a tool box with I can’t tell you how many different handy man tools were in there. The hand saw was what got me. I don’t even know if I technically was supposed to have a saw in a dorm?! Haha. Even though a simple hammer and a phillips and flat head screw driver probably would have been sufficient, it was nice to know I was able to assemble any furniture that came our way!
  • Two Portable Fire Mask Things – This was another one of those “I got mail. I’m so excited to open it.” gifts, and yet found something practical again. 🙂 I had never seen one of these before. I have been searching and searching for the exact product and I can’t find it. It was probably recalled for safety reasons??? The one I linked to off Ebay in the asian writing (ha) is all I can find that somewhat resembles it. It was a green can and apparently you’d twist the top off and put the hood over your head and breathe in the oxygen. I think it had 3 minutes worth of oxygen or maybe I’m completely making that up. I was blessed to have my high school best friend be my roommate (and we are still best friends), so it was sweet of my Dad to think of including a life saving oxygen mask for her too. But, what about my suitemates who are my current best friends today, and what about all the other girls in the dorm? haha…I felt a little guilty having them, but it was a little nice to know that if a fire and smoke situation happened, I’d bust those babies out and see what they were made for!
  • Cart Dolly Thing – I still find uses for this dolly today. It helped me carry a pack of water bottles from my car parked so far away and today it helps me move furniture within my house without needing my husband. Amazing. Love this thing.

 

That’s it for now! Please share with anyone sending a kid off to college. Did your parents send you any practical strange gifts in college? I’d love to know! 

Hope you all have a great week!

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

 

My Mistake…You’re A Ms. Raccoon. Part 2

by

Dear Ms. Raccoon,
 

Please accept my apologies for making the assumption that you were a male. Apparently, because you are very large, and the fact I heard baby raccoon cries above my master bathroom, you’re actually a female. I probably offended you with displaying this stereotype. Again, my apologies.

 
However, what I won’t apologize for is everything I mentioned in Post 1.  We’re both female mammals. Shouldn’t we stick together? Motherhood is hard. Very hard. Perhaps this isn’t even your first birthing rodeo? You should have known better.

 
At least I had the decency to pre-register at a HOSPITAL and not sneak into someone’s house corner and birth my mammals! Ugh. So now, because I care for you (kinda), I must allow you to extend your stay…or at least that’s what Rodent Man Person thinks. I’m not a cruel person. I don’t want to trap you and leave your babies to die. BUT, let’s be clear….you have a very finite amount of time to get those babies grown and get out of my personal space!

 
In the meantime, I think we should have some ground rules.

 
#1: While I’m putting on my make up and getting dressed in the morning, I’d really like your babies to keep it down. For the past couple of days, I thought all that noise was my neighbor’s pool pump….BUT, no….much to my disappointment, it’s your offspring!

 
#2: If you can be on guard and ensure any other animals don’t enter the massive hole you’ve created for these next few weeks, I’d really appreciate that. I mean, it’s the least you can do, right?

 

 
#3: This is the big one….PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t tear up anything else. I just don’t think my husband or I can handle one more thing going wrong with this situation. We just want to take a little beach trip this summer, but if you keep racking up the costs, I think we’re going to have to postpone it. You care about your little mammals, SO DO I! I just want them to see the ocean for the first time! Just like you probably want your mammals to see the dried up creek behind my house.

 
Again apologies for calling you a male…but not sorry I’m mad at you.

 
Laura

An Open Letter To The Raccoon In My Attic….Part 1

by

Dear confirmed Mr. Raccoon living in my attic,

I do not believe you signed a lease to live in my home. You are basically squatting on my property. Not only do I NOT receive any rent from you, in fact, you are costing me a lot of money! Like my husband likes to do…point to the trees that back up to our back yard and say “Are those money trees?…They don’t look like money trees to me!” (How I really feel when he says that to me”):

I saw you the other day venturing off our roof, down the tree, across my deck, down the steps and into my backyard. I saw your surprisingly massive body moving to and fro….to and fro. My girls were enamored by you. My husband was surprised to see you. As for me, I suspected I knew where you had been. I didn’t want to admit it. In fact, I don’t think the Rodent Removal Guy wanted to admit it.

You were sneaky and quiet…trying to pretend you weren’t there. But, you have since awakened. If I didn’t have the Buddy the Elf remembrance of how you attacked him, I’d probably walk up there and try to get you out myself.

Or the multiple references in Parks and Recreation TV show where you and your buddies overtook Pawnee, IN and put an absolute wreckage on the town’s history. Here’s a clip of “Andy Dwyre” (Chris Pratt) giving a summed up behind-the-scenes recap of raccoons in Pawnee.

I’d really like you to come out safe and get transported to wherever city raccoons are transported to (most likely another neighborhood where you can wreak havoc on someone else’s house and potentially give Rodent Man Person a call). I have to admit…I’m harboring some bitterness toward you. You’ve caused me to interrupt my schedule, my thoughts of your well-being when I heard you whine 🙁 , or thoughts of what other potential damage you’ve done to my house.

Phantom Mr. Raccoon, please find a way out of my attic. Roland is surprised you’re not in your trap and has apparently seen everything and knows everything. I do not like being a bottom dwelling tenant in my own home!

Take care (kinda),

Laura

Toddler/Kid Dentist Visit Recaps- Dental Series Part 2 of 2

by

Welcome back to my exciting Two-Part Dental Series…haha! 🙂 Here is Part 1 in case you missed it.

Since one of my goals with this blog is to make your life just a tad easier, I’m including a summary below of our three dental visits along with references to check out prior to the fun dental cleanings. I always find it’s helpful to hear what others have gone through. I hope this serves you well.

THE BIG FIRST DENTAL CLEANING (Daughters’ ages: three and two years old):

PREP WORK
1. I called the dentist office about two weeks ahead of time. I asked them these questions:

-What will the experience be like for them?

-Will I be accompanying them?

-Do you have any suggestions on how I can prepare them for the visit?

2. Started talking to the girls in a positive manner about going to the dentist a few days prior to the visit

3. My pediatric dentist has a few pictures of what the office looks like on their website. I showed the girls how cool the office looks.

4. We played dentist together for three days prior to the visit. (THIS WAS HUGE for the first visit….highly recommend doing this!)

-I explained our dining room is the waiting room or lobby. When I call your name that means it’s your appointment time.

-I called my oldest’s name, greeted her like I was the technician, “Hi. How are you? You’ll be sitting right here today.”

-Led her to our Ikea Poang chair (or if you have a recliner or just laying flat on the couch…I tried to find a chair that somewhat resembled a dentist chair that is currently in my house).

-Showed her my dentist tools, which at the time, I had a little dental mirror and I actually used a cuticle filer to pretend it was a scalpel thingy.

-I asked her to open her mouth wide and told her “I’ll now be checking your teeth with my tools”. Basically, I just used the mirror and tapped her teeth a little and moved it around in her mouth all the while telling her that she was doing a great job keeping her mouth open! I should have brought some floss out and practiced that too, but as you can probably guess, I don’t do a good job of flossing, so the thought didn’t even occur to me.

-Said “The dentist is now going to come and look at your teeth.” Left the room and returned as the “dentist” and since our dentist is a man, I talked in a deeper voice and explained that they’ll have a man dentist (kinda like daddy).

-Checked her mouth with the tools again and said “Great. You’re all done.”

-Then I repeated the same process with the youngest. She had been waiting in the “lobby” the whole time.

-After the youngest was done, then I had them repeat the whole thing, except now the roles were reversed, and they each had a turn being the dentist for mommy. (They loved that)

DAY OF VISIT
-Talked positive about the upcoming visit (excited even)

-Since I had already called the dentist office, I knew they’d get a few prizes after they were done. I played this up to them.

-They brought their favorite stuffed animal or blanket with them.

-I let my oldest know that because she’s such a big girl and three years old, they said she can go by herself. She was a little hesitant, but she was up for the challenge.

-I let my youngest know that because she’s not three years old, I’d be with her for her cleaning.

SUMMARY OF FIRST VISIT
It went so good. All the preparation really paid off. (now, the next recaps are not so great)

 

2nd Dentist Cleaning (Daughters’ ages: four and three years old)

PREP WORK
-I didn’t do as much prep work for this one. I told them about a week before the appointment that we’d be going soon, and they were so excited about going back.

-I reenacted the first visit prep work with my youngest, since she was now three and would be able to go back by herself.

SUMMARY OF SECOND VISIT
-Terrible. It was not as fun the second time a year later.

-My oldest was a lot more aware that she didn’t particularly like what they were doing in her mouth.

-My youngest would not go back by herself. Not for a second, and definitely knew this was not her normal day-to-day thing.

 

3rd DENTIST CLEANING (Daughters’ ages: five and four years old)

PREP WORK

-Told them two weeks ahead about their upcoming appointment. Then reminded them at one week, three days, and then each day after that.

-In a panic, purchased Peppa Visits the Dentist book at the school book fair that day. Read book in the parking lot of dentist office. Ha!

-Reminded my youngest that she’s a big girl now and that she’ll be going to her cleaning by herself while Mommy waits in the lobby.

-Let my youngest bring one of her favorite stuffed animals and reminded her that George (Peppa’s little brother) was nervous about the dentist, but that it ended up ok. His dinosaur even got a check up! She liked that part.

SUMMARY OF THIRD VISIT

-Better than the second visit. (progress!)

-Really both kids were rock stars. There was even a dental emergency going on, so our wait was longer. Given the fact this cleaning was scheduled for late in the day and all the sitting around they did, I’m so proud!

 

Here are some resources for you to keep your internet searching to a minimal:

Well, that’s it. I don’t think I have any other dental advice for you. 🙂 If you have any advice for me or for any other readers, please leave a comment. Have a great week!

 

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

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

trusted