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Posted 11/14/2008 @ 9:30:04 am by homemakeretc.com
Games are a fantastic way to interact with your children and teach them at the same time. For young children Candy Land can help them learn to take turns and learn colors. Chutes and Ladders helps children learn to count as well as deal with the disappointment of the slide. For kids that are a little older, Battleship can teach some strategy. Who didn't learn about money and real estate by playing Monopoly? The most important thing about a family game night is making sure everyone is having fun. Although it is nice to win, teach your children how to lose graciously. Young children have The next time you are looking for something to do, stay home and pull out the games. By doing this you will create family bonds and memories that will last a lifetime.
Posted 10/17/2008 @ 7:23:14 am by homemakeretc.com
We are approaching the fall season which for me is full of family traditions revolving around all of the holidays. What are family traditions and why are they so important?
Family traditions are things you do with your family to celebrate and event or holiday. Traditions are more than just everyday routines and typically have some emotion tied to them. Many times traditions are handed down from generations but families can create their own traditions. Some traditions are based on cultural and ethnic heritages.
Family traditions are the glue that holds families and generations together. Family members are strengthened and grow together in unity through traditions. Happy memories and feelings of warmth and security stem from family traditions. Often times they give individuals something to look forward to, helping them get through the everyday activities.
When you are establishing traditions for your family, pull some from your childhood, your partners childhood, and create some new ones of your own. Don't have too few traditions that you forget them or they don't hold enough importance. At the same time you don't want to have so many that it is overwhelming Moderation in all things. Include the whole family when planning and establishing traditions.
Two weeks ago my family had the opportunity to carry on a tradition from my childhood. Every 6 months, all of the members of my church gather together for General Conference in homes and churches to listen to our Prophet speak. Growing up my mother always made "Coffee Cakes" at this time. I have continued that tradition and made them myself. I only had to make enough for my little family but I called my mother and she made 5 times the recipe to feed siblings and their families that live in the area. In my family we changed the name from Coffee Cakes to Conference Cakes since they don't resemble the coffee cakes you can find in the store and we don't drink coffee. So, here is the recipe:
Conference Cakes
 3 C. scalded Milk 1/3 C. warm water 1 1/2 sticks butter 1 1/2 tsp sugar 1/2 C. sugar 4 eggs beaten 1 1/2 tsp salt 9 1/2 cups bread flour 3 pkgs. yeast To 3 C. scalded milk, add butter, sugar and salt. Cool to lukewarm Add yeast dissolved in 1/3 C. warm water and 1 1/2 tsp. sugar. Add beaten eggs. Combine with enough flour to make a real soft dough. It will be sticky. Rise. Roll out and cut into 3 inch circles. Dip in butter then roll in sugar. Place on pan and put a thumbprint in the middle of each one and fill with desired filling (currants, brown sugar, jam). Let rise again. Bake at 375 till golden. As you are reading this post you are probably thinking of some of your traditions you had as a child and some of the traditions you have with your current family. Please share some of your traditions, favorite memories, or new traditions that are unique to your family.
Posted 10/7/2008 @ 9:50:01 am by homemakeretc.com
Laundry is one of those things that never goes away. I know that if I get behind it is almost impossible to catch up. The hardest thing for me is finishing the job. By finishing I mean all of the clean clothes are folded and put away. I can get the clothes clean and folded it is the last step of putting away that gets me almost every time. There are 2 ways of doing laundry, you can have a marathon day where all you do is load after load or assign different days for different loads. I personally have a hard time finishing with the marathon day but my sister prefers this way. I prefer to split up laundry throughout the week. Typically, if I'm on top of things, my laundry days look like this:
Mondays- wash the kitchen rags and towels Tuesdays- wash the kids colors Wednesdays- wash the adult colors Thursdays- no laundry because this is my errand day. Fridays- wash the whites Saturday- wash the bath towels and rugs. Sunday- day off. It doesn't matter how you choose to do your laundry but here are some tips everyone could use.
I will have a post next week about stain removers that work. If you have any great ones please let me know.
Posted 9/26/2008 @ 6:07:14 am by homemakeretc.com
First you need to set a goal. What is your ultimate goal for you? Is it to have a happy/healthy family? Is it to see your kids grow into successful adults? Is it to have a home that others will feel welcome in? As you make decisions think about your goal and ask yourself how your decision will impact your ultimate goal. Next, you need to determine what your values are. A value is defined by relative worth, merit, or importance. Sometimes our values can conflict with each other. For example, you might value getting to work early but you also value seeing your child off to school. When you are faced with conflicting values, look at your goal and choose which value is more important and act accordingly. Setting priorities and managing time are two of the most important aspects of achieving a balanced life. Determine what you need to accomplish and when and write it down. Keep organized. My biggest problem is prioritizing. I spend a lot of time working on things that don't move me closer to my end goal. You may have daily priorities, weekly priorities, monthly priorities, and yearly priorities. Sometimes you can combine a couple of priorities and manage time better. Two of my priorities are spend individual time with my children and fold laundry. I can accomplish both of these by having a child work with me to fold the laundry. My child learns a skill and we have time to communicate with each other. On occasion, I have conflicting priorities. I like to have my kitchen cleaned before I leave the house but some mornings I haven't got it done and I need to leave to Yoga class, another priority of mine. When this happens I have to look at my overall day and determine which priority will benefit me most for the day. The last thing to remember is to just let go. We can't be supermom/dad all of the time. Last Friday I realized I was trying to do too much at once and needed to let go of something. I chose not to post a new blog post that day and instead used the time to catch up on some much needed housework. If you are a mother you know guilt. Don't feel guilty for letting something go to achieve more balance. It is a waste of energy and time. When, not if, you find your life out of balance, take a step back, look at your overall goal, reassess things, and make adjustments. The sooner you do so the better off life will be for you and your family.
Posted 9/24/2008 @ 12:00:41 pm by homemakeretc.com
With events like hurricane Ike and the earthquake in China I'm reminded how ill prepared I am for an emergency. Once upon a time I had a 72 hour kit for everyone in my family. That was back when we were a family of 3. We have since doubled our numbers and have all outgrown the clothing. This next week I'm going to be working on putting together our emergency kits. Here are some things for you to consider doing in order to prepare for anything that may come your way.
Make sure your kit can be transported easily inc ase you have to walk. Back Packs are excellent containers. Once you have your kit together be sure to store it in a location that is easy to access with short notice.
Posted 9/23/2008 @ 6:26:40 am by homemakeretc.com
There are few things I hate but I can honestly say that I hate grabbing a dishrag to wipe down a table or counter and having it have that horrible, awful smell. You know what I'm talking about. I thought everyone knew how to get rid of the smell but I was mistaken. I was at a family member’s house and went to help out with the dishes. I grabbed the dishrag that was already out and instantly my nose hairs curled. I got a clean one out of the drawer and got it wet and the stink was there as well. That smell my dear friends, is the smell of bacteria. If you wipe things with rags/sponges that smell you are only spreading the bacteria around. So, how do you get that smell out? Good old fashioned Bleach.  The first thing you want to do when you are finished using a rag is rinse it out good and if possible lay it out to dry completely. Have a designated place for dirty rags to go until you are ready to wash them so the germs/smell doesn’t get transferred to other items. I use the bucket you see above. It just sits in my laundry room and I throw all of my dirty rags and dish towels in it. You can get rid of the stink by using one of three ways.
If you suffer from stinky rags, please, please, please, get rid of the smell, if not for you, for the people who can't stand the reek. There may be other ways out there to make it so your rags don't stink. Please share your ideas with us.
Posted 9/19/2008 @ 7:35:43 am by homemakeretc.com
Ideally, I would post today with some information to help strengthen your home and family. Well, I have had such a crazy week and have struggled with the balance of things this week so, I have neglected a few of my responsibilities. So, today I ask for your forgiveness as I neglect my readers for a day to focus on my family. Is your life out of balance in some way? I encourage you to sit back and look at how things are in your life and if there is something you need to work on take the time to do it. Next week I will be posting on how to balance work and family life. If you have found great ways to balance work and family life, please email me with your ideas at homemakeretc@gmail.com or post a comment here. Have a great weekend. |
 
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Looking for a way to connect with your family while having a good time? Try establishing a family game night. Family game nights are perfect for any family no matter what age your children are. Playing games allows you to make memories together. Looking back on most of my childhood memories they revolve around playing games together. Every time my family gets together to play games we 
frequently reminisce about things that were done and said during past games. Games are great ways to learn more about each other too. If you play a game like Zobmondo: Would You Rather you can see how your family members think. 
a hard time losing so help them understand that just because they lost one game doesn't mean they will lose them all. I know we are still having a hard time teaching this concept to 
our almost 7 year old.
So after a week my life isn't completely balanced out yet but it is significantly better. For some of you, work might be paid work and for others, work is housework. No matter what your work is, you need to have balance so you can have a happier and healthier you.