Homemade Toys

How often have you seen this happen around the holidays? The parents have spent a small fortune on the latest, greatest toy. After a few grins and giggles, the parents take the toy out of its huge box and proceed to put it together. In the meantime, the child finds the box to be quite fascinating. By the time the toy is fully put together, the child is so engrossed in the box that he or she has no desire to play with the expensive toy.

This scenario is replayed in house after house across the country. The lesson is, children are easily entertained and homemade toys can be created from every day materials that can easily keep their attention. Here are some ideas for easy to create homemade toys.

One idea for a homemade toy is a cardboard box car. Take a large cardboard box and cut a hole in the top and cut out the bottom. Decorate it like a car, using paper plates for the wheels and steering wheel. Your child will enjoy "driving" this car around the house!

Create a hand made bubble blower out of a toilet paper roll. Wrap the roll with aluminum foil. Make the bubbles by mixing liquid dish soap with water. Dip one end of the roll in the mixture and blow gently through the other end. You should be able to easily create very large bubbles!

Create a scoop ball game out of a one-quart plastic milk jug. Cut the jug in half and save the handle side. Toss a ball back and forth and use the jug to catch the ball.

Model planes can be made out of the Styrofoam trays that meat is packaged on. Cut out a body, wings and tail shape. Use a knife to cut a slit in the body for the wings and tail. Because the Styrofoam is so light, these planes can soar for a decent distance.

A personalized homemade toy is the homemade puzzle. Have your child create a drawing or other piece of art. Glue the artwork to a piece of cardboard. After it is dry, turn the cardboard over and trace out puzzle piece shapes. Carefully cut out these shapes. Your child will have fun putting together his own artwork. Store the puzzle in a Ziploc bag.

A homemade beanbag toss game is another fun and active toy to create. Take a sturdy piece of cardboard and cut holes in it to make the targets. Be sure the holes are large enough that the beanbag will fit. Then make some beanbags. Take scraps of material and fill them with beans or pasta. Hand sew them shut. Have your child decorate the target and assign points to the holes. Then have fun tossing the beanbags at the target!

Whatever toy you decide to make, be sure to include your child in the process of making the toy. Not only will you create a fun toy, but you will also create life-long memories with your child. Using what would be trash to make a fun toy also helps to protect our environment.

Steps to Handling the Packing and Storage of Your Possessions After a Divorce

You are basically confused with your decision and are wondering about the consequences and the custody arrangements and all that. There seems to be no time to think about the move. Hence, you end up with half-packed possessions, with nearly none of the things that you actually need ready or on hand for your transition.

The first and foremost thing that you must remember is that you should calmly think for a minute or two before you start packing. Get your thoughts organized and prioritize all your packing needs. Make a list of all the things that you may forget in the process. Practice some deep breathing exercises and do some meditation for a minute or two. Now you are ready to take the world.

• The first thing is to throw away all the things that you do not want to take to your new place. In most probability, if you are moving to a smaller place and do not have the space for all your old things. So discard the outdated school books, textbooks, cracked mirrors, broken chairs and tables and the rest of the things.

• Begin a new and organized life. Distribute any unwanted belongings to your friends and relatives or a local thrift shop.

• Make sure that you have plenty of boxes to pack your stuff. Leave out the essentials for the end and pack all the things like lamp shades, photo frames, books, china first.

• You should have Styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, baking soda and naphthalene balls handy.

• Wrap all of your breakables in the bubble wrap.

• Do not put all the heavy items in one box. That will make it too heavy. Distribute the load equally amongst all your boxes.

• Remember to pack room-by-room so that you don't have a trouble unpacking the things.
• Label all the boxes appropriately with the name of the room. Start packing a while earlier so that you don't get frazzled on the very last day.

• Ask the help of some of your friends while packing and unpacking.

• Keep your important documents and papers safely and all in one place. Keep them with you at all times so that you do not lose them.

• Tape all the boxes firmly and securely. Pack the basics that you will need in a separate handbag so that you do not have to start unpacking for them immediately. Stock up your fridge with healthy convenience food like prepackaged veggies, frozen foods, canned soups and the likes.

Make a list of all the small things that you are bound to forget like the toothbrushes, toothpastes, corkscrews, bottle openers, spoon rests, markers, labels, coasters, tissue papers (lots if those), napkins, duct tape and Ziploc bags.

You may not have the time and the energy to cook food at home. Go out for dinner and a movie with your kids so that you can de-stress and enjoy a bit.

Pack sheets, pillows, light bulbs, accessories and a change of clothes in one or two boxes. This makes it easier for you to use them immediately.

Do not get upset about the move and the change of atmosphere. Do not let the stress get to you. Make sure that you have the packing, the moving and the unpacking properly planned so that you will not end up completely disorganized.

Mrs. Rainey Rochelle is a leader in the self storage management and acquisition business. With over 20 years of expertise, she thrives on taking small businesses in storage and making them boom with success. She currently owns and operates a public storage facility in Garland, Texas that is friendly, fair and affordable.

Food - Tips On Properly Storing Food

Keeping your foods properly stored in the cabinet or refrigerator is something that should be taken seriously. Not only will storing your food correctly make it last longer, but it can also keep you healthier. Improperly storing foods can lead to harmful bacteria and spoilage. Let's take a look at a few helpful tips to keep your foods fresh and lasting longer.

Vegetables

Keep your vegetables stored in the food crisper in your refrigerator. You can put all your vegetables in there except for tomatoes, onions, potatoes and garlic. Keep your potatoes, onions and garlic in dark place, or even in a paper bag, but not the refrigerator.

You should keep your vegetables in plastic bags to hold their moisture and nutrients. You will also put tomatoes in a plastic bag after cutting them.

Fruits

Most people think they should leave apples sitting out on the table in a fruit bowl, but the truth is, they should be stored in the refrigerator. All types of berries should also be stored in the refrigerator. One fruit that should never be put in the refrigerator though is a banana. It will immediately turn black. Not a pretty sight.

Melons, including watermelons, should be stored at regular room temperature until they become ripened. Once ripe they should then be stored in the refrigerator. The same can be said for grapes.

Other citrus type fruits can be left outside at room temperature or kept in the refrigerator. It doesn't really matter with these fruits.

Frozen Foods

When freezing leftover foods, be sure to put them in an airtight container, or Ziploc bag to maintain freshness. If you don't, you will have ice crystals form and your foods will be freezer burnt.

Meats, chicken and pork can also be put in the freezer to keep. Be sure you do not re-freeze these foods after thawing them out. You must use them after thawing, or throw them out.

Milk And Dairy Items

Naturally you will always store milk in the refrigerator, but be sure to keep an eye on the expiration date. Throw it out after the expiration date. Another good tip is to buy milk from the store with an expiration date well into the future. Look for gallon containers in the rear of the dairy shelves in the grocery store. They will have the latest expiration dates.

It is also a good idea to check expiration dates on all your dairy items at least once a week. This includes eggs also.

Meats

Always keep fish, meats, chicken and pork in the refrigerator until you prepare them for eating. You want to make sure you keep these items wrapped and away from other foods in your refrigerator to prevent bacteria and keep them from contaminating other foods.

One important tip to keep in mind is that fish should be eaten within two days of purchase.

Other Items

Keep your canned foods in a pantry that is cool and dark. This includes cereals, oils, breads and pasta.

Food storage certainly is not difficult, but it does require a little bit of attention on your part. By properly storing your foods you will keep your foods lasting longer and your family will stay healthier.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Food

Temptin' Texas Chicken Tortilla Soup

One of my very favorite soups...I crave it! It seems like quite a few ingredients and it takes 2 hrs or so, but it is WELL worth the wait...Trust me! This is an family favorite and satisfies everyone! - :D

Type: Soup

Serve With: Shredded cheese and sour cream

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 2 hr

Yield: 1 large stock pot full

Ingredients:

3 Chicken quarters - You may use a small, whole chicken, or any other parts in an equivalent

Water - Enough to fill a large stock pot 3/4 full

6 large Carrots - Sliced crossways

4 stalks Celery - Sliced crossways

3 Onions - Roughly chopped

5 whole cloves Garlic

2 Bay leaves

4 Lime leaves

~ 8 Peppercorns - Whole

~ 8 Coriander seeds - * Optional

~ 2 tbsp Sea salt

2 whole Tomatoes - Chopped

1 Serrano pepper - Finely diced

3/4 Beer - 3/4 of a whole beer

1/2 tsp Hot sauce - Use as much as you like.

10 oz Tomato sauce - Not pasta sauce

1/4 tsp Chili powder

2 tsp Ground cumin

2 tbsp Cornstarch

Shredded cheese - Tex-Mex or cheddar

Tortilla chips - To float on top of soup

Sour cream - As garnish

Instructions:

1. Fill stock pot 3/4 full of cold water with sea salt, peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaves, and 2 lime leaves.

2. Rinse chicken pieces and put in water on medium heat. You may use frozen chicken for this if desired.

3. Wash and chop carrots, celery, onion very roughly. Keep garlic cloves whole, just peel skins off. Add to pot.

4. Allow to boil and turn down heat to simmer. Lightly boil/simmer for about 1.5 hrs or until chicken is tender and falling off the bone.

* Take a piece of chicken out of the pot, and make sure the chicken juice runs clear when cut near the bone.

* Tip: Some brown foam may rise to the top of the pot, so take a large spoon and skim off the brown foam off the top and discard. These are the "impurities". You may have to do this a few times before the soup boils clean.

5. Once chicken is "falling off the bone", fish out all the chicken out of the pot and allow to cool. Once cool, shred chicken by picking off the bones and pulling apart every piece. Set aside to add to each individual bowl.

6. While waiting for chicken to cool, find garlic in pot and crush, with the side of a wooden spoon, into the soup.

7. Dice 2 whole, ripe tomatoes into small pieces. Dice 1 serrano pepper (I cannot get fresh serranos where I live in Canada, so I use canned serrano peppers.) Add to the soup while continuing to let simmer.

* Tip: Put remainder of can of serrano peppers into a Ziploc freezer bag and freeze for subsequent uses.

8. Add beer, ground cumin, chili powder, other 2 lime leaves, and hot sauce to soup and continue to simmer.

9. Once chicken is shredded for serving, take cornstarch in a small bowl and add same amount of cold water. Take a whisk to mix completely, then add to soup.

* Tip: The cornstarch will thicken up the soup and will only reach it's thickening power when the soup boils. If you boil it too much, the cornstarch will then lose it's thickening power. So, as soon as the soup boils for about 1 min after adding cornstarch mixture (a slurry), turn it down/off.

10. To prepare individual bowls for serving, add a good amount of shredded chicken, then add desired amount of soup. Garnish top of soup with tortilla/corn chips (the more the better), shredded cheese and sour cream.

11. Serve and Enjoy! I know you will!

I hope you enjoy this soup recipe like we do!

Eat Deliciously!

Kimberly Edwards is the founder of Cooking With Kimberly - Decadent Cooking from Home - Find a Delicious Cooking Recipe, Great Products and Helpful Tips & Information that will help you Explore the Joy of Cooking!

How Can I Fix My Wet Cell Phone?

There are many ways a cell phone can get wet. Unfortunately, we all know that when a cell phone gets wet it can have a lot of damage done to it. If you are thinking, how can I fix my cell phone, it got wet, get it taken care of quickly. During the summer months is usually when there are a lot of people who are asking the question. This is because during the summer people are around water more.

If you wait too long to get your wet cell phone fixed the damage may be irrepairable. Water damage to cell phones can be very serious.

Contact with water of any kind can be detrimental to your cell phone. It can erode or short circuit your phone's delicate electronic components and the insides of it.

You don't ever want to put a cell phone in the microwave to try and dry it out. Also do not use a hair dryer to dry it. It is a bad idea to add heat to the water damaged cell phone because it can easily cause further damage and corrosion.

The best thing you can do is to get your phone to a water damage specialist who will be able to take the phone apart. This will help them clean the delicate components and they can assess the damage quickly and accurately for you.

Here is what you need to do if your phone gets wet and you need repairs done to save it.

One: You don't want to turn your cell phone on. This can cause your phone permanent damage because it will shorten out.

Two: It is important that you get the battery out of the phone immediately.

Three: Don't use a blow dryer or anything else to try and dry it off because even if the outside looks dry, the inside circuit board could still be wet.

Four: Put your phone inside of a Ziploc baggie. Then get it to a cell phone repair specialist right away.

It is very important that you get your cell phone to a specialist so that you have a chance of saving your phone. You can try and fix it yourself but this is not a good idea if you are not a repair specialist.

So if you ever have to ask the question, how can I fix my cell phone it got wet, then you now know what you are supposed to do to get it fixed.

Jeff Schuman invites you to visit his article writer website for 100% copyright articles and multiple article discounts on website and blog articles. Competitive pricing, testimonials, samples!

Throw a Kitchen Shower

Today - more and more people are getting extremely creative when throwing a wedding shower. Shower themes are becoming increasingly popular, and one such theme is the "Kitchen Wedding Shower".

The kitchen shower is thought to be the most popular of the wedding shower themes since it's so versatile. If a newlywed couple is moving into their first home together, they more than likely need everything from pots and pans to cooking utensils. If they've already been living together, they could probably use a recipe box filled with everyone's favorite recipe. There are also lots of shower games that can be played based on kitchen utensils.

Here are some fun ideas you can try when planning a kitchen themed wedding shower:

Decoration Ideas

Use new tea towels or dish clothes as place mats and napkins that can then be given to the bride as a gift. Hang up some aprons around the room with some balloons tied to them. The bride can also keep the aprons as a shower gift.

Centerpiece ideas:

• Fresh herb arrangement
• Fresh fruit arrangement with a candle in the center
• Basket full of utensils tied with some bows or ribbons
• Large canister filled with flowers

Gift Ideas Recipe Box - Ask the shower guests ahead of time to prepare their favorite recipe and include an item needed to prepare it. For example, if you have a recipe for the best oatmeal cookies ever, include some cookie sheets as a gift. It's best to send the guests recipes cards ahead of time so they're all the same, then a recipe box can be given to the bride-to-be as a gift.

You may also want all the guests to sign the recipe box which will become a keepsake.

Additional gift ideas:

• Kitchen knife set
• Mixing bowls
• Cleaning supplies
• Crockpot
• Baking dishes
• Recipe books
• Espresso maker
• Fondue pot
• Canisters

For bigger items such as freezers, dishwashers, breadmakers, etc., several or all of the guests can chip in to purchase it. This is a great idea for couples who already live together but are missing one major appliance.

Shower favor ideas:

• Potholders
• Tea towels or dishcloths
• Spice jar wrapped with a ribbon

Game Ideas

The Memory Game - A tray of kitchen utensils can be passed around the guests while seated in a circle, then taken away. The guests then have to write down what was on the tray. The person with the most correct answers wins a prize.

Guest That Substance - Pass around some unlabeled spice jars and see how many the guests can sniff correctly. This can also be done with "white stuff". Instead of spices, pass around some ziploc bags filled with flour, baking soda, sugar, etc. to see if the guests can identify them by looking at them.

Do You Know Your Groom - This is a game for the bride-to-be. Create some questions based on the groom's food preferences such as "what is his favorite dessert?" You can ask the groom's mother or close relative to get the answers.

Things To Think About - The bride and groom-to-be probably have a preference as to what style they want their kitchen to be. If they are registered in a gift registry, choose kitchen-related gifts from their list. You can also get a good idea of what style they prefer from what they've chosen. Maybe they like stainless steel appliances, or maybe they're going for a country kitchen theme. The wedding couple may not be skilled chefs, and if so, choose items that will be useful for them. Gifts that save them time and help them multi-task in the kitchen will be appreciated, such as a slow-cooker or a cookbook filled with simple and quick recipes.

You can also take the kitchen wedding shower theme one step further and create a barbecue theme or baking themed shower. In these instances, it's best if the bride is registered at her favorite store so that she doesn't receive duplicate gifts from her shower and wedding guests.

ForBrideAndBaby is a guide to help women through marriage, maternity and motherhood and is packed with informative articles and products. View a selection of great Kitchen Gift Ideas for Weddings and Bridal Showers at: http://www.forbrideandbaby.com

Laurie Cohen is the mother of three daughters, has planned three weddings and is the former owner of Kreative Parties Event Planning in Northbrook, IL. Today, when she isn't playing with her six grandchildren, she is busy working on her website.

Garbage Society

Last night, while in the midst of preparing dinner with Charlotte and Prad, I was reminded once more of the amount of garbage and recycling we can generate in one sweep. It is tremendous. For dinner alone, the list was quite long: one plastic container for mache salad, one plastic container for raspberries, two glass beer bottles, two large Ziploc bags for fish from farmers’ market, one plastic bag for lettuce, one paper bag for mushrooms from farmers’ market. The plastic bag, and the Ziploc bags, I threw in, although I was not even sure they could be recycled. Plastics are a complicated matter, and I was a bit distracted when I read the recycling guide from the city, a while ago. We are a garbage society, and I am a part of it.

I am old enough to remember the days, when the garbage collection was only once a month. There was no recycling then. The milk and yogurt came in glass containers, that we brought back to the merchant. We got five centimes for each bottle. A lot of the fruit and vegetables came from our garden. My grandmother had a 'cassette', a wooden box with a wooden handle, in which she carried the products of her daily pickings. For meat, she would just kill one of the rabbits or chickens that she raised. Milk came from our cows. Cows were a big deal on our farm. Many times, I heard my grandmother complain about having to get up so early to milk the cows. One of my most favorite memories is of my grandfather lifting me up into his horse carriage, and of us going to the Sunday market at Neuville, the closest town to our village. There we got sardines, and fresh fish from the covered fish market, 'rillettes' and 'boudin noir' from the charcuterie, and goat cheese from the goat cheese man. We saved the boulangerie for last. The line was long, and I did not mind. I knew I would be rewarded for my patience, as my grandfather always made sure to get 'un carquelin pour la petite', puff pastry with caramelized sugar on top. No plastic bags then, only thin paper bags. To carry all our purchases, we each had a 'filet a provisions', an almost weightless net-like bag that had the advantage of taking no space when empty, but that could hold a lot. Once back at the farm, my grandmother would store all the perishables in the 'garde-manger', a cool place in the cellar especially designed for that purpose. We did not know what the word environment meant, and we did not need to.

I long for those times, of living in harmony with nature. And I also know to beware of easy sentimentality. Life on the farm was extremely hard for my grandparents. My mother did all she could to escape, and ended up marrying a man from the city. I laugh when I see the recent plethora of books, glorifying the virtue of going back to the earth, and the old ways. I am a bit of a cynic in that respect. For a healthy dose of reality, I recommend reading Little Blog in the Big Woods.

Marguerite Manteau-Rao is a blogger, social psychologist, and green girl wannabe. Since April 2007, she has chronicled her daily tribulations as a green girl wannabe in her blog: La Marguerite "My Inconvenient Truth: the Daily Sins of a Green Girl Wannabe"