Monday, October 13, 2008

Preschool Websites

http://www.education.com/ http://www.mommynature.com/ http://www.edhelper.com/ http://www.dltkteach.com/ www.stepbystepcc.com/themes.html http://www.everythingpreschool.com/ http://www.starfall.com/ http://www.joyschoolco.com/ http://www.funshineexpress.com/

How to Brighten Dingy Whites

Here’s a reprint of Martha Stewart’s “How to Brighten Dingy Whites”:

1. Heat 2 gallons of water over high heat, bringing it to a boil. Use several pots so that each is light enough to lift off the stove. 2. When the water comes to a rolling boil turn off the heat. Let the pots stand for 5 minutes. 3. Put a plastic wash or dish tub in the sink. Carefully pour hot water into it. 4. Add 8 ounces of powdered oxygen bleach ( I used Earth Friendly Products Oxo-Brite). Never substitute chlorine bleach. Also, never add oxygen bleach or whites to pots on the stove; doing so can cause a dangerous boil over. The mixture may bubble and foam. Sir with a wooden spoon reserved for this use to ensure that the oxygen bleach has dissolved completely. 5. Add whites to the tub. Don’t overfill. 6. Let whites soak, periodically agitating them with the wooden spoon, until the water has cooled enough that you can handle the clothing. This may take an hour or more. 7. Drain the bucket and rinse each item well in plain water. 8. Launder as usual.

This tid bid has been floating around my house and car....thought I'd store it some place I'd know where to find it again!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Things to Know....Just in Case

Just in Case.... Tomato Sauce Stains Follow these steps to remove tomato juice and tomato sauce stains from washable fabrics such as Acrylic Fabric, Modacrylic, Nylon, Olefin, Polyester and Spandex: Sponge stain with cool water immediately. Then rub with a lemon slice or sponge lemon juice on the stain. Flush with water, blotting as much liquid as possible. Allow to dry. If any trace of stain persists: Presoak (the method of soaking a stained article in warm water before laundering it) in a solution of 1 quart warm water, 1/2 teaspoon dishwashing detergent, and 1 tablespoon white vinegar for 15 minutes. Rinse with water and launder as soon as possible. Raspberry Stains 1. Flush stain with cool water. 2. Mix one tablespoon of white vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of liquid laundry detergent with one quart of cool water. Soak in this solution for 15 minutes. 3. Rinse with water. 4. If the stain remains, sponge with rubbing alcohol and rinse thoroughly. 5. Launder, using chlorine bleach, if safe for the fabric. Chocolate Milk Stains http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/Scotchgard/Home/Applications/Carpet/Stain_Removal/ Blood Stains http://www.ehow.com/how_1212_remove-blood-fabric.html Strawberry Stains Mix baking soda with water into a paste. Apply liberally to fabric. Let stand for a few minutes than launder immediately. Removed Anne's stains after sitting on strawberries in the car for three hours! Your camera gets wet (aka you leave it outside and there is a rainstorm later that day). DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TURN THE CAMERA ON AND TRY IT!!! Immediately remove the batteries. Remove the memory card and any other removable part. Leave the camera to dry for one week. If you are brave you can bury the camera in a bucket of rice with lid on it. I was desperate to have a working camera and figured, "hey what's a little rice compared to what this baby has already been through?!" I buried the camera in rice as suggested by several websites. It was a bit dusty when we removed it, but cleaned off easily with a microfiber cloth. Put new batteries in the camera once it is completely dry and power it up! GOOD Luck! Our camera powered up, but unfortunately the LCD panel no longer works. We were willing to live without the LCD panel for a while, but after a few days the battery light began flashing. We opted to buy a new camera since it isn't economical or practical to replace four batteries every few days....and we took it as a sign that there are some other problems with our camera we don't know about. So, if you leave your camera out in a rainstorm....prepare yourself...you may just have to buy a new one. You Get Dry Erase Marker on Your Clothes For my teacher friends and parents with children that use dry erase boards Murphy's Oil Soap is the only thing I found to remove the stains. After reading several other things people tried to get the marker out of their clothes....save yourself the headache and time...go buy some Murphy's Oil Soap. Place the soap directly on the stain. Turn the fabric inside out and place on a paper towel or clean rag. This will help prevent the stain from transferring onto another part of your clothing. Use a sponge or toothbrush to rub the stain back out of the fabric. I used a clean rag to scrub the fabric. Rinse and repeat often. This saved me Grace's favorite pants (the stain was two weeks old and washed, dried, and treated many times over) and Anne's best Sunday dress. My search for a dry erase cure lead me to a wonderful product... Foohey's Washable Dry Erase Markers. Wal-mart carries them and they are fantastic. I'm no longer a stress case when Grace wants to use her "School Book" to practice writing and drawing. In the event Grace neglects to put it away immediately and Anne helps herself to the book and markers, I can take it in stride. Anne's not real neat with markers yet, but she is allowed to play with these. I think they wash out of clothes easier then Crayola washable markers. Hooray for kid friendly and mom friendly products!

Things That Make Me Smile

Anne slept in the other day and when she finally emerged from her room this was the face that greeted me...
"Good Morning!"
(I thought I'd better post at least one picture before the blog party lynched me for posting two very lengthy entries about FHE. Things really pile up when I fall behind! Now I can post pictures guilt-free! And besides, we replaced the camera I ruined so more photos to come soon...well..probably next week)

FHE 10/06/08 Obedience

Obedience
Opening Song: Hymn #237 Do What is Right
Opening Prayer: Mom
Lesson: Edwin had the lesson prepared for this evening but the hospital called and the doctor had to leave. So the girls and I sat on the piano bench and tried to talk about obedience. Grace's little mind was stuck on The Wizard of Oz. (She watched it for the first time today and loved the entire movie and that's all she wants to talk about...flying monkeys, a mean witch, a good fairy witch Glenda, Dorothy's shoes, and the poor dog.) So when scripture stories didn't capture her attention I tied the make-shift lesson to the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy was told by the Wizard to get the Wicked Witch's broom stick. The Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion helped Dorothy get the broom stick. Because they obeyed the wizard's directions each person received the thing they were looking for and they found happiness. We can have a happy home when we obey.