paint brush cleaner also works on toddler clothes

From time to time, I paint with acrylics on canvas. I also am the mother of a toddler. You can see how this might not be the best combination.  The paints are kept up high and by some miracle I was blessed with a toddler who is NOT a climber--I must have been a saint in a previous life, right? That said, sometimes my toddler and my paints come in contact with each other.  Last time it came in contact with a brand new pretty little toddler shirt. Today Piglet got orange paint on her Halloween PJ's (there's no convincing a toddler that a holiday has passed and it's time to move on--she's currently sporting a reindeer shirt).  At any rate, when Piglet "ruined" her new shirt last time, I tried to scrub it out and in a moment of desperation, used some brush cleaner (I used Master's--it's the only thing I use on my brushes).  It worked. I got every bit of it out. So here's hoping it works again. It was the only thing that worked last time. I've posted a link to it below in case any of you have the same issue. I have the weirdest first world problems.


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Goodbye Evil Preschool, Hello Mommy Time!

The day started with our last trip to the evil preschool. My daughter and I stayed in the car while DH went in to collect her things and disenroll her.  I asked my daughter if there was anyone she wanted to say goodbye to and she said no, quite emphatically. Pulling her out of that awful place was absolutely the right choice.

We dropped off DH, came home and started some laundry (exciting, huh?).

The craft project this morning was to make a birthday card for DH. She insisted on making a card for me and one for her too. His is the only one that says "Happy Birthday" on it. Her's has her name and mine is just a giant stack of foam hearts and a pom pom thing that keeps falling off. How the hell do you get those things to stay on? I guess we need to find some better glue.

We also walked up to the dollar store. I generally hate dollar stores with a passion. But when it's jsut up the street... I've also discovered that Awesome Kitchen is one of the best cleaners known to humankind and you can only get it at the damn dollar store.  At any rate, I went there to see if they had any of that paper with the two solid lines and the dotted line in the middle (you know this paper, it's the stuff you used as a kid to learn to write letters--that stuff).  Piglet wants to learn how to write letters. She keeps asking me to help her write various letters.  We lucked out, they had some. And they had construction paper (she goes through it fast and it's $4 at the damn Target), and they had flash cards and workbooks (Piglet's a little nerd. At evil preschool the only thing she liked was the worksheets. So I'm thinking she can do some if she wants to, if not, she can draw all over them, whatever. Oh and she's always loved flash cards. She got some for her first birthday and frequently requests them (so I got her some others to add some variety).


I have no idea what to make for dinner and though I really don't want to, I need to go to the store for milk.  Maybe a chicken ramen soup?  I can't be lazy and use the little packets of crap that come with the ramen noodles because I'm allergic to something in them. I'm sitting here wondering if chicken and turnips with ramen noodles in broth would be weird or if I should suck it up and go to the store (since we're nearly out of milk anyway). If I get milk, I can have milk in my coffee tomorrow. If not, it'll have to be black and I'll have to be more ambitious than handing out bowls of cereal. (OMG it's so cool that this is my biggest problem, well that and a headcold).

It's a little chilly out today. I thought we might go to one of the parks or something. And baby is taking an epic nap. She woke up after an hour just to tell me that she's sleepy and then crashed out again. that was an hour and a half ago. Yesterday's nap was 45 minutes.  The best part of epic long naps: I can eat like 3 little packs of gummy bears and not be a bad influence--mmmwahahaha.

Simple lunch of the day

As a working mom, it was always a chore to cook meals. It's a lot easier now that I don't have the stress of a day job, but I still like discovering simple, tasty meals.

Today's lunch, Olive and Monterrey Jack Quesadillas (it's so easy, my toddler helped put them together)
Ingredients:
Corn tortillas (or flour, doesn't matter, but I used corn) you need 2 for each quesadilla
sliced or grated cheese
black olive tapenade (I bought a jar of this at Target)
cooking spray or butter for pan

1. Spread olive spread on one side of the half of the tortillas.
2. place cheese on top
3. cook them in a pan like you would grilled cheese.

It's easy and delicious and not your usual quesadilla. I got the idea from a friend who regularly uses all sorts of spreads on grilled cheese. So easy and a really nice way to break away from boring grilled cheese sandwiches.

I plan to put recipes like this here so I can easily look up ideas when I'm drawing a blank and maybe this will help someone else too.

SAHM DAY 1

Hi Everyone.  I've moved to Pasadena, CA. I love it here.  I've decided to take a break from working. For a month, I had my 2 year old daughter enrolled in a preschool. I had a much needed break during this time. The preschool, did not work out. It was a horrible experience for all. At any rate, after several preschool tours (I found several I loved but that's beside the point), and a lot of soul searching, I've decided to be a stay at home mom for a while. My little one needs me and I need her. For the $190/week that I was paying for a crappy preschool, we can do an awful lot of awesome things together.  So, this blog is changing to focus on my adventures as a new stay at home mom. I suspect my outlook will be a bit more cheery. :)

I've already purchased a bunch of art supplies and have picked up information for local swimming lessons.
-Nancy