Tamara's Blog

Trending Cool No Cost Kid and YA Books

8/17/2018

I decided to check out the Top 100 Free Children's Books on Kindle list -- a spot I rarely visit -- and was pleasantly surprised with the options. Below are the titles I picked up for myself and family. We haven't read any of them YET...

Because I'm extremely interested in fairytale re-tellings or re-worked versions, I got these books:

These 2 looked cool to me and possibly for my kids:

For my youngest, and possibly for the eldest to attempt to read:

Hoping for a few laughs with these stories. Note that the Patterson one is ONLY THE FIRST 20 CHAPTERS.

Let me know if you pick one or more of these up. I will, hopefully, be able to post reviews in the near future.

Please also note that, while these books are Free and in the Top 100 Free at the moment I write this, that could change at any moment. I offer NO PRICE GUARANTEE.

All links are Amazon Affiliate links.

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How to Make a Kid Art Rail

8/15/2018

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If you have kids, you have art made by kids. If you're like me, then you know there is NEVER enough space to display all of their creations.

Make A Kid Art Rail

An art rail for kids can be purchased, but they are also fairly easy to make at home. Our family made ours, together -- an almost 3-year-old and 6-year-old, over about 3 days.

We took a lot of time in between steps. As long as you let the glue dry fully, you could do this faster.

Materials:

1 x 3 primed chair rail from hardware store
various colored glitter
glue (we used Elmer's leftover from kindergarten)
clothes pins

Directions:

Measure your wall and cut the primed chair rail to fit that space (or combine 2 together -- measure twice, cut once).
Paint the chair rail to match your wall or the trim. We painted ours to match the trim.
Figure out spacing for your clothes pins -- this lets you know how many clothes pins you'll need to decorate.
Decorate the clothes pins. I had the kids smear the glue on 1 side of a clothes pin and then sprinkle glitter on them. (Add more glitter to the places they miss, if you're particular about the finished look.)
Let the glue dry fully.
Coat the glittered side of the clothes pin with another layer of glue or mod podge. This is optional. I did it to reduce the amount of glitter that would fall off the clothes pins over time and use. Let dry fully.
Measure and mark your chair rail where you want to place the clothes pins.
If doing a pattern -- which my kids insisted on, layout the clothes pins where they should go and make sure you like the look.
Draw a line of glue at each spot and place a clothes pin. Try to get the clothes pins in the same spot on the chair rail -- we left a certain amount of the clothes pin hanging down and off of the chair rail. Let dry fully.
Hang the chair rail. Keep the clothes pins facing down.

Extra Tips:

If you sink your screws, you can cover over them on the chair rail with some putty and paint. I wish we'd done this.
Hang at a height that your kids can add and remove art.
Realize that you're still going to have too much kid art. My husband has already asked us to make a second chair rail for lower down in the same location.
I let the kids use tape to attach more of their art to their bedroom walls. They really like having their own art in their room.

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Focus on what you DO well

8/5/2018

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I could write this one myself, but I really want to share what Andrea Dekker wrote instead. I've been following Andrea's blog for about 5.5 years now. The post she put up this past Friday truly resonated with me.

A little background -- I feel like Andrea and I kind of inhabit the same world even though we've never met. Her first and third kids are just DAYS older than mine. So, again, I feel like we have a lot in common.

But, and this is huge, I initially had to drop Andrea's posts because they routinely made me feel like I needed to be doing more. Andrea wrote daily, she was running a business, and she had more kids than me and, apparently, bounds more energy.

I felt like a lazy person each time her post dropped into my inbox.For several months, I opted out of her blog posts. Then it hit me. We were different.

Andrea is roughly a decade younger than me. Of course she has more energy even though she's got more kids.
Andrea has a teacher husband who is typically home by early afternoon. My husband works a corporate job and regularly walks in the door just before 6pm.
Andrea's kids are in bed around 7pm. Mine are up until 8 and less than perfect about hitting that bedtime.
Andrea has no desire to write a book and that's exactly what I want.

Once I recognized that we were as different as we were the same, I was able to enjoy Andrea's posts again. Perspective is wonderful like that.

When Andrea's latest post arrived, I knew I had to share it. She's writes about how our circumstances -- the very things I needed to recognize in order to enjoy her posts -- are important for when we compare ourselves to others.

Don't Compare Your Reality to Someone Else's

Without further ago, I highly suggest you go read Andrea Dekker's post about Focusing On What You Already Do Well.

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Trending Cool No Cost Kid and YA Books

How to Make a Kid Art Rail

Make A Kid Art Rail

Materials:

Directions:

Extra Tips:

Focus on what you DO well

Don't Compare Your Reality to Someone Else's

Important Information:

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