Snowflake Craft- A Sparkly Winter Wonderland Indoors

Photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies


Snowflakes are not often seen in the desert, but inside our house we have a wintery wonderland! This past week we made snowflakes out of paper. They are so pretty, and it was so EASY that I wanted to share how we made them with you!

I found the free templates for the snowflakes on the internet at Marcel's Kid Crafts. These templates are not just your ordinary snowflakes: within the designs of the various snowflakes are snowmen, trees, bells, and other wintery things! The detail is extraordinary! I hope you are able to see the snowmen in this picture:

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

All you have to do is print them out on your printer, easily fold them according to the directions on the website, cut away the gray areas on the template, and unfold your snowflake!

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The children and I went one step farther and dabbed some school glue on the snowflakes and sprinkled them with glitter!... Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies



Once I learned how to fold the paper for the snowflakes, I folded some paper for the children and let them cut out their own designs for larger snowflakes. We put sparkles on these snowflakes as well and hung them on our fireplace mantle. They shine and glisten in the light!

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

This snowflake craft takes no time to make, and really does do a nice job of decorating for the winter months. So, while you're busy with Christmas preparations, why not sit down, take a break, and cut out a snowflake or two?!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Frugal Christmas Gift Ideas

It's going to be a frugal Christmas for many people this year! I love to find ways to bless my family, while not having to break the bank to do so! Shhh... don't give away my Christmas surprises to my children, but I did want to tell you a couple of ideas I've come up with for gifts for them this year. While we are blessed to be able to afford a few store-bought gifts, these are some extra things that cost me pennies, but will give them a lot of pleasure I have no doubt!

First, my daughter, who loves to read, is going to be receiving the Elsie Dinsmore series of books by Martha Finley, which I printed out online for FREE! This is a very popular book series, especially with young homeschooled girls, and, while you COULD go somewhere like Vision Forum and get a very nice bound hard bound copy of the books for around $150, you could also do what I did and print it out on your own computer for only the cost of paper and ink in your printer! I found Elsie Dinsmore and thousands of other free vintage books in the public domain at Project Gutenberg. You can punch holes in the paper and put them in a ring binder, but this past year I have learned to easily bind my own books (another blog post in and of itself!) and am in the process of binding the Elsie Dinsmore books for my daughter:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The next frugal Christmas gift idea I want to share with you is making your own coloring books for your children. I came across a website called Coloring Book which has an incredible selection of popular children's themed coloring pages...all for FREE! If this website doesn't have what you are looking for, do a search on the internet for whatever subject you're looking for plus "coloring pages" or "printable". For my horse lover, I searched for "horse coloring pages" and found a bunch to download and print. Here are a few of the coloring books I've made so far:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

I hope I've inspired you to "think outside of the box" when considering frugal Chrismas gift possibilities. If you focus on the types of storebought things that would make your children happy to receive, see if there is a way to create something around that theme yourself, rather than spending lots of money to fulfill those often expensive Christmas lists! Do you have some ideas? Comment below and please share them with us!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Unique, Delicious Dip For Your Next Party- Hummus Recipe

Sometimes when you're thinking about what to serve at a party, you want to offer something new and different, rather than turning to your time-tested recipes that you've collected through the years. I know that when I'm in that frame of mind, I'm looking for something that will be attractive, unique, and a conversation piece--in a good way! And, of course, it needs to be economical!

A wonderful, Middle Eastern dip that I came across is Roasted Garlic Hummus with homemade spiced Pita Chips. It is a great break from the usual, yet the flavors are easy to take a liking to...in all, it's some very delicious eatin'!

I've tried several Hummus recipes, but this one, with my tinkering, has become an absolute favorite. If you're not big fan of garlic, I suggest you decrease or eliminate the amount of raw garlic (but the roasted garlic is mild in flavor--it really is a wonderful addition!)

Here's how to make the pita chips (I adapted to go well with the Hummus):


12 pita bread pockets

olive oil cooking spray

1/4 t pepper

3/4 t garlic powder

1/2 t basil

1/4 t onion powder

1/4 t marjorum

1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray both sides of the pita pockets liberally with olive oil cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine all other ingredients. Lightly sprinkle both sides of the pita bread with herb and spice mixture.

With kitchen scissors cut the pita bread into pie shaped pieces, as big or as small as you'd like. Arrange pieces on 2 ungreased cookie sheets.

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies


Bake for about 7 minutes, or until lightly browned. Keep a close eye on the chips-they burn easily!

Instead of using olive oil cooking spray, you can use 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil and mix the spices in before drizzling on the pita bread. I just find that it's less messy for me to use the cooking spray.

Yum!....

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies


Now, for the incredible Roasted Garlic Hummus:



1 small head garlic, roasted (see below for instructions)

1 (15 oz) can cooked chickpeas, (also known as garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed with water.

1/2 cup tahini (Tahini is sesame seeds that have been ground to the consistency of peanut butter, often found at gourmet or health food stores in the peanut butter section.)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (approx 2 lemons)

1 medium sized clove raw garlic, minced finely

1/4 t sea salt

1/4 cup water

extra virgin olive oil, paprika, and dry parsley for garnish

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Roast the head of garlic by slicing off the top 1/3 of the head, place in small oven-proof container, and add water to cover bottom 1/3 of garlic head. Drizzle garlic with a little extra virgin olive oil and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour. Cool.



Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Add all ingredients, except garnishes, to a food processor and process until very smooth (2-3 minutes). If necessary, add a tiny bit more water to make a dipable consistency. Place in serving bowl and top with extra virgin olive oil, paprika and parsley. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Colorful and delicious!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Easy Meal Planning Ideas

"What's for dinner, Mom?" is a late afternoon question that rings through the kitchens of households everywhere throughout America. With insatiable appetites, food seems to be constantly on the minds of growing children! Likewise, trying to figure out what to cook for dinner seven evenings a week can become a tiresome task for busy moms! You know what your family's likes and dislikes are when it comes to specific dishes, so rather than tell you exactly what to make in with specific menus, this article tells you how to easily organize and plan your family's favorite meals. So, when that popular question of what's for dinner pops up, you already know the answer!

Meal planning does not have to be difficult! First, come up with seven categories of dinner meals, one for each day of the week. In our house, our categories are the following:

Monday- Mexican

Tuesday- Italian

Wednesday-Chicken

Thursday- Soup or Main Dish Salad, and Bread

Friday- Hamburger and Fries

Saturday- Pizza (or Eat Out)

Sunday- Beef or Chef's Choice

Your categories of meals may look completely different than mine, depending on your family's tastes. You may prefer to have a Vegetarian Night, Pork Night, Sandwich Night, or Greek Night. The possibilities are endless. I like to include a Chef's Choice option during the week to allow some flexibility in what I cook if I feel like trying something new, or I find a good sale on an item and want have it for dinner.

Now, list a main dish your family likes (which is quick to prepare) under each category. Add an optional side dish or dishes, and optional dessert to go with the main dish. You now have one weeks worth of meals planned. The menu plan for one week at our house looks like this:

Monday (Mexican)- Tacos, Refried Beans

Tuesday (Italian)- Spaghetti, Salad

Wednesday (Chicken) Roasted Chicken, Cooked Baby Carrots, Green Beans

Thursday (Soup or Main Dish Salad, and Bread)- Chicken Caesar Salad, Italian Garlic Bread

Friday- Hamburger and Fries

Saturday- Pizza (or eat out)

Sunday- (Beef or Chef's Choice) Pot roast with potatoes and vegetables, Corn Bread

You can repeat the steps of choosing dishes your family likes in each category, for each day of the week, as many times as you'd like to make multiple weekly menu plans. It helps if you first list out as many main dishes as you can for each category. Then, you can pick and choose what main dishes from each category you want in the same week. Continuing the example from my own family's meal plan, my list of dishes in each category include:

Mexican- Tacos, Taco Salad, Quesidillas, Enchilladas

Italian- Spaghetti, Fettuccini, Calzones, Lasagne

Chicken- Roasted Chicken, Chicken Fingers, Broccoli and Chicken Casserole, Chicken Pot Pie

Soup or Main Dish Salad, and Bread- Chicken Caesar Salad, Chili, Baked Potato Soup, Vegatable Beef Soup

Hamburger and Fries (This has become a tradition, we always have this on Fridays.)

Pizza or Out to Eat- (Again, we have this every week and usually do not vary the menu on this day.)

Beef- Pot Roast, Cubed Steak, Grilled or Pan-Fried Steaks, Hamburger Pie

From the above list, I have four weeks of meal plans that I can make. All I need to do is write out each weekly menu plan and add some side dishes.

Likely Page Break
Planning meals can take a little effort at first, but definitely saves time in the long run. With meals planned, from those recipes you can easily make a standard grocery list for your dinners for each week. By sticking to your meal plans, you will save money on groceries by having fewer miscellaneous ingredients to buy for dishes you may only make once in a while, which, if they are not used within a short amount of time often go to waste. Plus, with a grocery list in hand and meals already planned, you'll be less tempted to grab for those extraneous items on the grocery shelves that you don't really need, and only add up to a bigger grocery bill at the cash register!

Meal planning is not meant to be confining or restrictive, as you can always choose not to use the plan any time you want to fix something different. Whether or not you strictly follow your plan, once you've got it on paper, you now always have an answer to fall back on when the inevitable question arises, "Mom, what's for dinner?"


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

To Buy Ice Cream Cake...Or Not?! Ice Cream Cake Recipe

A favorite dessert for entertaining, especially birthdays, is ice cream cake. And are they expensive! An ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins that serves 8-12 people costs around $26! That can eat up your entertaining budget in a hurry! But, did you know how easy it is to make an ice cream cake yourself? It will cost you a fraction of the price of a storebought one, and it really isn't difficult to do!

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Here's what you'll need to make an Ice Cream Cake:


1 box cake mix, any flavor (don't forget eggs and oil to make the mix!)

1/2 gallon ice cream, any flavor that coordinates with the cake mix

5-6 scoops vanilla ice cream (or other flavor you'd like for the "frosting")

1 container prepackaged or homemade frosting, any coordinating flavor to decorate cake




Before you start, make sure you have freezer space for the cake!

Cook cake according to package directions in 8 or 9 inch pans. (Depending on how you make this, you may have a layer of cake left over--See below)

Cool cakes completely, level the tops of the cakes with a serrated knife, then put the cake or cakes in the freezer. (See below)

Set out the 1/2 gallon of ice cream to soften enough to easily scoop out.

Scoop and pack the ice cream into one of the clean cake pans used to bake the cake. (Leave about 3/4 inch space at top of pan to later place the cake on top.) Use a spoon warmed in water to smooth and level the ice cream.

Place the pan with ice cream into freezer.

When cake and ice cream are frozen solid, remove from freezer. Run a hot spoon over top of ice cream to slightly melt it, then set one layer of cake on top of the ice cream. (Cake will be taller than the pan.) Return to freezer.

Set out, in a bowl, 5-6 scoops of vanilla ice cream to soften (or whatever flavor you're using for the "frosting"). Stir occasionally until it is a spreadable consistency, then place in refrigerator.

Put a few inches of hot water in the sink, remove cake and ice cream pan from freezer. Hold the bottom of the pan in the water for just a few seconds, remove from water, and invert the cake and ice cream onto a cake plate. Return to freezer to refreeze a few minutes.

Remove cake plate with cake and ice cream from freezer. Quickly frost with the softened vanilla ice cream, and return to freezer to freeze, about 30 minutes.

Prepare icing decorating bag and tips with the storebought or homemade frosting. Remove "frosted" cake from freezer, and decorate. Pipe boarders, words, or whatever you'd like. You may need to occasionally put the ice cream cake back in the freezer for a few minutes while decorating, to keep the ice cream from melting too much. Keep cake frozen until about 20 minutes before serving, when you should set it out to soften slightly.

Note: You can use the second layer of cake to place on top of the ice cream once the first layer of cake and ice cream are on the cake plate. If you do this, though, I recommend you frost the ice cream cake with actual frosting, rather than softened vanilla ice cream, as you would a regular cake. You'll be able to feed more people this way. Again, you may have to return the cake to the freezer for a few minutes to re-freeze while decorating. I added an extra layer of cake as frosted with regular frosting in this cake:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

You can see that the flavor combinations are limitless! Our favorite is chocolate cake with Cold Stone Creamery's Cake Batter ice cream and chocolate frosting. Mmmmm!

Let us know what kind of ice cream cake YOU make! Email me a picture and I'll post it here!


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

It's SNOW...or IS it? White Sands, New Mexico

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

One of the most fascinating places we've been was so intriguing because it really tricked our eyes. What looked like the purest, whitest snow was actually not cold at all! The "snow" was actually sand at White Sands Missile Range and park in New Mexico!

This place is nature's huge playground, being a mixture of playing at the beach and sledding down the humongous, steep dunes! To give you some perspective on the size of these things, here are some people climbing up the side of one:


photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies




And, while we were immensely enjoying ourselves we didn't even have to freeze as you do while having fun in the snow, in spite of bundling up in layers of clothes, coats, gloves and boots-it was warm and windy, and shorts, t-shirts, sunglasses and sunscreen were all that was necessary!


photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

White Sands is another one of those must-see places if you are ever in the vacinity of White Sands, New Mexico! You'll not likely to see a place like it anywhere else!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Is Your House Ready for Company? A Housecleaning Plan

When throwing a party, hosting an event, or simply having a single guest in your home, making sure your house is clean becomes a top priority. Hospitality, and being a gracious hostess when pre-planned, comes more naturally. But, when unexpected guests arrive at the door, unless you are in the habit of always keeping your home clean, you may have had to shove clutter into closets and kick the dirty laundry under the beds as you frantically race to the front door to answer the bell! At that point, having a spirit of hospitality and graciousness can quickly become more of a challenge!

There is a great, free house cleaning and decluttering online resource I'd like to tell you about that will make those stressful, frantic cleanups a thing of the past! It's at Flylady.com. Flylady focuses on establishing a house cleaning routine and getting rid of the clutter that can so easily take over certain "hotspots" in your home. Flylady does not require you to put extreme effort into getting things perfect before you can start the program-you start where you are and work in different "zones" in your house, using a timer, and attack the mess one chunk at a time. There is very little preparation and little effort to set up the program...Flylady sends you email reminders of what you need to be doing that day!

Most of us have moments of clutter and chaos in our homes from time to time. With Flylady your ability to recuperate from these lapses will be so much easier, and you'll be ready for those drop-in guests and be better able to enjoy their company!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Money Management Game for Children

Recently, at a trip to the thrift store, we ran across a brand new, still in the package game by Larry Burkett called Money Matters. The game is meant to teach families money management in a fun way. The Money Matters game board is much like the Monopoly board. Players are given a random person or family to role play, with specific life and financial situations. Each player is given a number of cards with specific areas that must be budgeted, such as education, housing, auto maintenance, and many others. Players must pay into these areas until they are paid off, all the while encountering bonuses and set backs along the way.

Without a doubt, the game teaches the reality of financial responsibility. Within the first few plays, all of my children were astonished at the amount of money that had to be spent on expenses for living! They wanted to know if Mom and Dad REALLY have to pay out all that money!

While we did have fun playing the Money Matters game, the younger ones grew tired of it after awhile. We did have to simplify the game for our children because of their ages. The game is probably most appropriate for mature 10 year olds and up, even though it states that even 7 year olds can play. I'll probably put the game away for awhile. It is definitely one worth keeping for the future!


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The Ultimate Potluck- Ideas and Inspirations for a Great Potluck Gathering

Probably the easiest to prepare, and least expensive way to entertain for a meal is to host a potluck! Maybe it's because I love the suspense in not knowing just what the meal will turn out to be, but the potlucks I've hosted have ended up being some of the most fun and stress-free events I've hosted!

There are several ways to host a potluck, depending on how much luck you want to rely on, or how much control you want to have over the types of dishes that are brought. Most of my friends love to cook, so I know that when I have a completely random potluck, the dishes will be filling, unique, and something that was actually prepared homemade, rather than a simple bag of potato chips plopped on the table! (That bag of chips, though, is often quickly consumed by some very happy children, by the way!)


So, you have a range of options: from assigning each guest a specific dish (even offering to provide a recipe for that dish), to requesting a certain type of dish (such as appetizer, main dish, side dish or dessert), to having people bring dishes prepared by various local restaurants (a catered potluck of sorts!), to having everyone focus on a certain theme: Italian, vegetarian, finger-foods, soup and sandwiches, desserts only...the possibilities are limitless!

Depending on the circumstance of your group, you can have guests sign up to bring a dish, drinks, plasticware, napkins, cups, ice, etc. Or, you, as the hostess, can supply the necessary non-food items. Evite invitations have a place on the emailed invitation where guests can sign up for what they want to bring. Even with a completely random potluck, I like to word my invitation in such a way to request that my guests bring a unique (to hopefully avoid repetition in dishes) and preferably homecooked dish.

There are several things you'll want to have available when hosing your next potluck: A table or counterspace large enough to hold all the delicious dishes that will be served, plenty of serving utensils for those who forget to bring one for their dish, and I like to keep plenty of extra napkins, plasticware and cups in case more is needed.

One more thing you'll need, (and this is especially true if you're going completely with luck in what people choose to bring!): Have a sense of humor! It is quite possible that the selection of dishes brought may not be as wonderful as you had envisioned! Perhaps everyone decided to bring the same thing, and all you have to choose from are hot dogs or more hot dogs! If you're hosting a potluck for those who would not have such a sense of humor or who would find this a turn-off, then put a little extra effort into organizing the dishes that are brought to the potluck to avoid such disasters! As for me and my great group of friends, we'd have fun anyways...after all, we're just happy to spend time together! I hope that no matter what ends up on the table at your next potluck, you and your guests will feel that way too!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

A Quick Party Decoration Idea For Any Occasion

Here's an idea for a meaningful party decoration I came up with recently, while planning and hosting a going-away party for some friends. You can custom fit this simple decorative idea to any event you might host and you'll only need your computer, a printer and a few pieces of cardstock to create it! Here's what I made:

For my event, our friends were moving away, so I thought it would be a nice touch to include quotes about friendship on cardstock. I found the quotes on the internet. For this particular topic of friendship, I searched for quotes on long distance friendships, and friendship in general. One particular website helpful in finding quotes is Quoteland.com. It has a huge number of quotes all arranged by topic. You can find quotes for virtually any occasion if you do a good internet search!

On your word processor, choose a nice font to match the mood of your gathering, and print the card at the bottom of the page, which will allow you to fold the paper in half to sit upright on the table. Trim the sides to the appropriate size. You can also add images, a fancy border, glue on embellishments...be as fancy and creative as you want!

My event was a pot-luck, so I placed my cards on the dining tables. You can place your cards anywhere you think is appropriate...even on the bathroom counter beside a nice candle!

It's always a plus to add little details, like quote cards, to help set the mood of your occasion. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this? Please leave us a comment and let us about your great ideas!


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

A Thanksgiving Tradition

Gathering for Thanksgiving is a warm and joyful time for families and friends. Do you have any traditions for this day in which we give thanks? It is important to our family to remember why we celebrate, that Thanksgiving is not merely a day when we pile our plates full of food, but a celebration of the beginnings of our nation and how God has blessed it in so many ways!

Our Thanksgiving tradition is remembering the Five Kernels of Corn, calling to mind the very humble beginnings that the Pilgrims suffered through as they endured that first winter and spring on a meager ration of five kernels of Indian corn. How grateful those Pilgrims must have been to have made it through alive to the time of harvest. I can only imagine what a harvest celebration that must have been!

To commemorate our forefathers' humble beginnings in our nation's history, we place five kernels of dried corn at the each person's plate. The poem, "Five Kernels of Corn" by Hezekiah Butterworth is read aloud. The poem describes the tribulations of that first year in Plymouth, and the gratefulness for the mere five kernels of corn given to each person for their rations:

Five Kernels of Corn
by Hezekiah Butterworth

'Twas the year of the famine in Plymouth of old,
The ice and the snow from the thatched roofs had rolled;
Through the warm purple skies steered the geese o'er the seas,
And the woodpeckers tapped in the clocks of the trees;
And the boughs on the slopes to the south winds lay bare,
and dreaming of summer, the buds swelled in the air.
The pale Pilgrims welcomed each reddening morn;
There were left but for rations Five Kernels of Corn.
Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
But to Bradford a feast were Five Kernels of Corn!

"Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye people, be glad for Five Kernels of Corn!"
So Bradford cried out on bleak Burial Hill,
And the thin women stood in their doors, white and still.
"Lo, the harbor of Plymouth rolls bright in the Spring,
The maples grow red, and the wood robins sing,
The west wind is blowing, and fading the snow,
And the pleasant pines sing, and arbutuses blow.
Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
To each one be given Five Kernels of Corn!"

O Bradford of Austerfi eld hast on thy way,
The west winds are blowing o'er Provincetown Bay,
The white avens bloom, but the pine domes are chill,
And new graves have furrowed Precisioners' Hill!
"Give thanks, all ye people, the warm skies have come,
The hilltops are sunny, and green grows the holm,
And the trumpets of winds, and the white March is gone,
Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
Ye have for Thanksgiving Five Kernels of Corn!

"The raven's gift eat and be humble and pray,
A new light is breaking and Truth leads your way;
One taper a thousand shall kindle; rejoice
That to you has been given the wilderness voice!"
O Bradford of Austerfi eld, daring the wave,
And safe through the sounding blasts leading the brave,
Of deeds such as thine was the free nation born,
And the festal world sings the "Five Kernels of Corn."
Five Kernels of Corn! Five Kernels of Corn!
The nation gives thanks for Five Kernels of Corn!

After the poem is read, we each take one kernel of corn and place it in the middle of the table, one at a time, and recall something we are thankful for. Memories and blessings abound as we all enjoy remembering how good the Lord has been!

I hope you'll create some traditions this Thanksgiving that will be meaningful to your family each and every year! I hope you'll share them with us by making a comment!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The Bird is Done! Turkey Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece Craft is Complete!

The children and I spent part of the day working on the turkey table topper centerpiece that I told you about in my last post. It turned out even better than I expected!

Here is the first stage of the process, before adding all the beautiful color:

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

I had some old cooking magazines, as well as some thanksgiving grocery store fliers from last week's mail, so I tore pictures in to small pieces and sorted them into piles according to color. We pasted these pieces on to the feathers. each feather a different color. The pictures really created wonderful texture to the feathers. Plus, some of the pictures I tore in to pieces were pictures of food- rich brown turkey, golden yellow corn...so it fits right in with the theme of Thanksgiving dinner! A few finishing touches, and this bird will be ready to adorn our Thanksgiving table: A large red balloon for the gobbler needs to be placed under the turkey's neck, and a tea towel or large cloth napkin can fit as a liner inside the bag to hold the dinner rolls (Or, whatever you'd want to place in the "body" of the turkey!)

Here's our turkey!:

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Ever Feel Down, Depressed, Sad? Here's Help... Talk Back!

Today when I read this quote it struck me as so profound that I had to share it with you! I know that for some of you, the holidays do not bring feelings of joy and gladness. I pray it would give you just the ammunition you need to face the weeks ahead! If you're feeling down or discouraged, talk back!...

"I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing "ourselves" to talk to us! Do you realize what that means? I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self. Am I just trying to be deliberately paradoxical? Far from it. This is the very essence of wisdom in this matter. Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you in the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's [David in Psalms 42:5, 11] treatment is this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you." Do you know what I mean? If you do not, you have had but little experience.

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: "Why art thou cast down" - what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: "Hope thou in God" - instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and What God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: "I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

(If you receive the Bluedorn's Teaching the Trivium e-mailing, you may recognize this. It's where I first read the quote!)

Craft Sticks Everywhere!

Imagine what your children could create with 1000 craft sticks, or popsicle sticks as they are sometimes known as?! My children have been asking me to buy craft sticks for them to build with, so a recent trip to Walmart led us over to the craft aisle. I'm always so motivated to create something when we visit any craft store! We purchased the gigantic box of 1000 craft sticks, which was really not a bad price at all, $3-4 if I remember correctly.

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

By the time everyone was finished, we had craft stick swords, craft stick people, craft stick letters, and a craft stick fort...along with stray craft sticks everywhere! I can only imagine, as the children grow older, what even bigger and better creations their imaginative minds will come up with!

The craft sticks and glue were a great activity to keep everyone occupied for good long time. Along with things like Playdough, I like to have such things on hand that we only get out every once in a while, as something special the children look forward to. Do you have things like this, that the children don't have access to all the time, but makes a great activity for for special times? Please share them with us so we can share in the fun at our house too!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Thanksgiving Turkey Table Centerpiece Craft

These past few days I've been searching the internet for a unique Thanksgiving craft the children and I can make that can be used to decorate the table. I'm familiar with the usual turkey crafts made from handprints and the like. I wanted something different!

Family Crafts has a great, inexpensive Turkey Table Topper Craft just for your Thanksgiving Table. This centerpiece is like a basket-it can hold your dinner rolls, or decorative pine cones, or whatever your imagination can come up with! This is a craft that you and your children can make together. After all, Thanksgiving is about family, and what a better way to involve your children, in preparing for the big event, than by allowing them to share their talents? Their helping you create a festive home can be a blessing to the guests who will visit on Thanksgiving!

The craft requires a paper grocery bag (save yours from your early Thanksgiving grocery shopping if you don't have one!), some paper plates, strips of colorful magazines, a large red or orange balloon, glue, stapler, and various embelishments you might have around the house. Visit Family Crafts for all the details!

Our family will be working on our Turkey Table centerpiece this week. As soon as it's finished, I'll post a picture here for you to see! If you'd like to share what your Thanksgiving table centerpiece will be, send me a link to the picture, and I'll be sure to post it here as well!


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Smooth, Cold and Full of Yum!...Smoothies

Looking for a filling and nutritious snack? A frequent bedtime snack we have here at our house is a smoothie. We've tried a number of flavors, but, by far our favorite is good ol' strawberry!


The children think it's extra special when I serve the smoothies in a "fancy" glass! I think it's true that food presentation adds a lot to taste experience!

Our smoothies tend to be almost the consistency of soft-served ice cream--it is freezing cold and creamy!


Here's my recipe for a strawberry smoothie:


2 cups plain yogurt

1 c frozen strawberries

1 t vanilla

12 drops liquid stevia extract (a natural herbal sweetener--you could use honey or sugar instead), or to taste


Place all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl and let sit for a couple minutes to ever-so-slightly thaw the strawberries. With a hand blender, blend the ingredients until smooth and creamy. Serve! (This makes a good breakfast too!)


The fruit you use, and amounts, can be altered. We also like banana smoothies, peach smoothies, blueberry smoothies, and mango smoothies...or a mixture of fruits!


You'll notice I sweeten our smoothies with stevia, a natural herbal sweetener. Whenever I can get away with it, I try to substitute sugar and artificial sweeteners with natural sweeteners like stevia and honey. It is so much better for your health than refined sugar and chemical, artificial sweeteners.

Do YOU have a favorite smoothie flavor? What about a unique add-in to a smoothie? Variety is the spice of life and we'd love to hear about it so we can try it!


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Making Dinner From Thin Air- Menu Ideas For Nearly Empty Pantries

Have you ever come to the end of the week or month, just before a trip to the grocery store, and stood before the almost empty refrigerator and pantry wondering what on earth you can conjure up for dinner from the limited selection of ingredients before you? I've got a great resource to do the thinking for you!

Allrecipes.com is a handy source for finding recipes, but it also has a special search function that allows you to type in the ingredients you have on hand to use in a recipe, and it will search for recipes that use those ingredients! No more staring blankly into your cupboards at a loss for what's for dinner! The search also allows you to input the ingredients you DON'T want to include in a recipe. This has been a great way to creatively use the ingredients I have on hand with tried and tested recipe, rather than my coming up with a spur-of-the-moment concoction that may or may not be tasty, as Allrecipes has reviews and ratings of the recipes that are posted on their site. You can read reviewers suggestions as to what they liked or disliked about the recipe, and they often give suggestions on how to improve or alter the recipe.

So, the next time you are at a loss for what to make from a limited selection of ingredients, try Allrecipes for a yummy new dish to grace your table!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Free Homeschool Science Experiments Revisited

Just wanted to post to all of you who read earlier in Domestic Legacies about the Krampf free weekly Science experiments that Mr. Krampf at Krampf.com is finally sending actual Science experiments again through e-mail (They're also posted on his website). We had been itching for more experiments through the past few weeks of his series on Science Fairs (which was good reading, but we like the hands on experiments that he sends!)

This past week's lesson was called "Electrical Tape" and is all about the positive and negative charges on a roll of adhesive tape, that when quickly pulled creates sparks that can be seen in the dark, exhibiting the property of triboluminescence--big word, but the experiment was simple enough to be enjoyed by even the younger ones!

Unique Use for Your Crockpot- Homemade Yogurt!

When you think of crockpots, you might think of using them to make one-pot meals, simmering something yummy all day long while you work, and dinner's ready in the evening. Crockpots are great for that, but here's another use: make yogurt! One quart of yogurt at our local grocery store costs almost 3 dollars. You can make a whole lot more yogurt so easily in the crockpot for a lot less money than to buy it already made! That's important if you enjoy making smoothies and such, like I shared with you in my last post! Besides, yogurt is full of good bacteria so essential for intestinal health, and even in preventing illness!

Here's how easy it is to make yogurt in a crockpot:

1/4 c storebought, plain yogurt OR 1/2 c homemade yogurt

8 c whole milk

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Pour milk in crockpot, put on lid, turn crockpot to low.

Leave for 2 1/5 hours.

Turn off crockpot, leave cover on. Let sit for 3 hours.

Take one to two cups of the warm milk and place in a mixing bowl. Mix in the storebought OR homemade yogurt.

Pour this mixture into the crockpot and stir into the rest of the milk.

Put lid on crockpot, fold and put a heavy towl over crockpot to insulate (leave crockpot off). Let sit overnight.

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Place yogurt into containers and store in the refrigerator. Keeps about 2 weeks.

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The consistency of homemade yogurt is typically a bit thinner than storebought. If you continue to make yogurt from your other batches of homemade yogurt and you find it is becoming too thin, then purchase some plain yogurt from the store for your next batch. In the batch I just made, there was a lot of liquidy whey separated out. You may wish to carefully scoop out the yogurt around the whey for thicker yogurt, but I'd rather keep the nutrition from the whey and have thinner yogurt!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Cowboy Days at New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

This past March, our family went to Cowboy Days at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. Considering that we are not from the West, this was entertainment unlike anything we had seen before!

Cowboy Days had lots of live entertainment and activities for us to see, including a Western Shootout reenactment, carriage rides, horse training demonstrations, vendors, pony rides, roping demonstratios and much more, in addition to the museum itself. We enjoyed watching old-fashioned cowboy biscuits being made in a cast iron pot over a camp fire by women in men in vintage Western attire. The best part was tasting them! The children had a great time trying out their roping skills on pretend steer made of metal bars.

Cowboy Days is an annual event at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in early March. If you're in the area, it's a great event to attend for the whole family!


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

He Said, She Said- Noting Memorable Quotes from Our Children

Children can say some of the sweetest things, can't they? Their naivete and innocence lend to some incredibly entertaining, and sometimes deep thoughts! How many times one of my children have said something especially adorable, and I thought to myself, "I'm going to remember that...", only to forget days, or even hours later!

I read somewhere awhile ago an idea which has helped lessen the number of times a memorable quote out of the mouths of one of my babes has escaped my memory, and I want to share it with you! It's as simple as keeping a notepad and pen out--just for the purpose of jotting down a precious saying, as soon as it's spoken! My notepad is in the kitchen where it is easily within reach. While it's still on my mind, I'll run and jot down what I want to remember. Sometimes it's a short sentence, and sometimes it's a part of a conversation my child and I have had.I include what I have said and what my child has said. I make sure to include the name and age of the person whose quote I am writing down. That sounds too simple, but having the ability to write--the pen and paper is right there, HAS enabled me to just go do it while it's on my mind! I also use my notepad to jot down other immediate things, like a phone number or grocery item, but I keep those special quotes, for the most part, on separate pages so I can tear them out and file them all together.

With my file of quotes, I began a journal of sorts on the computer. I not only type out the quote, but sometimes also give a little background to the conversation or write a quick memento or accomplishment the child had achieved. (So-and-so just lost his first tooth...she is becoming quite a reader....he has been helping his daddy with ...) I am quite behind on typing out all the quotes, but, because I have them together in the file with names and ages, it shouldn't be too difficult to catch up, if I can just get a chance to sit down and do it!

There are other things you can do with some of the extra special quotes you collect. Using a nice font on your computer, print out a sweet quote and perhaps add a nice snapshot of the child. Find a small frame for the printout and you have unique gift idea for grandparents! The Dollar Store often has some nice frames for very little money.

I encourage you to jot down those memorable quotes and conversations you have with your children. I regret the many sweet things my oldest said years ago that have long escaped my memory! May you and your family create a legacy of precious quotes with which to reminisce in the years to come!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Magnificent Travel Destination: Carlsbad Caverns

A recent wandering led us to the magnificent Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

These photos, as incredible as they are, do not do this place justice!:

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Imagine a point, the size of the head of a pin...take that point and stick it on the bottom portion of the photos. THAT is about the size a person would be in this picture! Are you starting to get the idea of the magnitude of this place?!

Photo Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

The size of Carlsbad is extraordinary...we walked for several MILES along the route that went from room to gigantic room! You might think of a cave as being cramped and crowded, but that is not true here...the ceiling was stories high and very open in the various rooms, the path we walked was several MILES long! We felt like tiny little specks among the thousands of stalactites and stalagmites.

During certain times of the year there is a bat flight to and from the cave in the morning and evening. We weren't able to see that, but hear that it is also a sight, to see thousands upon thousands of bats leaving or coming back to the cave all at once!

If you ever have a chance to visit Carlsbad Caverns, even if it is out of the way along your journey, you will not regret it!

Have YOU been to Carlsbad Caverns? If so, when? Tell us about your visit!


Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Living on Less and Having Fun Doing So!

My family recently had the opportunity to do without heat for a few days. Where we live we, have a swamp cooler, rather than "refrigerated air", which requires us to choose each season when to call the maintenance man to switch us over from cold to heat. We cannot freely switch back and forth between the two. Now, where we live, we've not yet had freezing temperatures, but we have had a few nights where it's been in the upper 30s at night, but warmer during the day. Those cold nights have taught us a thing or two!

Granted, those nights were cold, but we saw that, with a little effort, we could live comfortably with our thermostat turned down lower in winter! A few extra blankets on the bed, and some sweaters made us quite comfortable. And we actually found that we slept better in the cooler air!

For fun a few months ago, the children and I decided to pretend we live in the days before electricity was discovered. As the sun went down, and it became darker and darker, we sat by the light of one candle, telling stories and enjoying each other's company! No tv or radio, just us! It was fun brushing our teeth and getting ready for bed by candlelight, and we could see how people back then went to bed at sundown and rose with the sun in the morning...it is much more practical. Nevertheless, I was glad when the children went to bed and I could flip on the computer to check my e-mail!

Food is one more area where it can be a challenge to do without. In trying to see how much money I could save, I decided I would not buy it if I could halfway easily make it myself for cheaper! Our grocery bill that week was a lot less, and I had fun finding creative homemade things to substitute for the usual pre-packaged items we usually ate. In this area, there are a whole lot of things we could do without if we had to, and we'd still live quite well with just the basics!

Voluntarily doing without is not so bad, even fun, especially when you know it's temporary! But, it does teach a valuable lesson: we can survive, even thrive, on less if we have to, and we could actually save money by choosing to do so!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Legacies From Dough- Salt Dough Ornaments and Creations

Looking for some good holiday crafts? It's the perfect time of the year to start on those fun Christmas projects that can be used as gifts, or to decorate your home! Salt dough is a very inexpensive, versatile medium for creating all kinds of goodies! And, if you preserve them correctly, some of them could even become part of your legacy!

Last year I started on a pretty big project that I'd like to finish this year: Creating salt dough ornaments to use on a Jessie Tree. (The idea of a Jessie Tree is taken from Isaiah 11:1 in the Old Testament and uses symbols and Bible verses that point the way to the New Testament story of the birth of Christ and our need for salvation. You can find out how to make one, with free templates you and your children can color or use to make salt dough or other types of ornaments, as well as the verses that go along with them here).

These are a few of the ornaments I made. They still need to be painted:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

You'll notice that several of the ornaments cracked during cooking. A little glue should fix this before I paint them, but beware, as I learned the hard way, not to make your salt dough creations too thin!

Here's the basic recipe for salt dough:

4 c all-purpose flour

1 c salt

1 1/2 cups hot tap water

2 tsp vegetable oil (optional)

food coloring to color the dough (optional)

Mix flour and salt together in mixing bowl. If you are going to add food coloring you can mix it into the water. Gradually add water to form a firm dough (you can add the vegetable oil now if you'd like, to make the dough a better texture to work with). If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour, or if the dough is too crumbly, add a tiny bit more water, until you get a pliable dough. Knead the dough until it is nice and elastic.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Form ornaments, letters, shapes, figurines from the dough using rolling pins, straws, toothpicks, cookie cutters or whatever tools you can find!

Here are some other types of Christmas ornaments I have made and still need to paint and put a ribbon on to hang them on the tree!:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Place the salt-dough creations on the cookie sheet, leaving some space around each one. Baking time will vary according to the thickness of the salt dough creations. Make sure each part is completely dry and hard. If parts are browning during cooking, you can cover those areas with aluminum foil

Cool completely. You can now paint the creations, add ribbons and other decorative elements.

To preserve your creations, seal them on all sides with clear varnish or polyurethane spray.

If you have extra dough, it does not keep well, only a couple of days in the refrigerator.

One thing we did a few years ago, which makes a wonderful keepsake, is make handprints in salt dough. I first cut out circles using a large lid to fit the hand, then had each child press their hand in the dough to make their handprint. Using a toothpick, making tiny dots that run together, I printed each child's name, age, and the year. We already enjoy seeing how much they've grown when they now place their hands in their handprints from several years ago!

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Children love making salt dough creations! I have used this project to keep little ones occupied while babysitting, and at the end of the day they get to take home their creation to their mom and dad. I've also seen online some very intricate pieces of art formed from salt dough! It's pretty amazing what you can do with simple flour, salt, and water!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Got Love?

In building legacies for our families it's possible to get caught up in chasing after those things that are not eternal, that, to human sight are beautiful and valuable, but in the end will not last. While those things are some of the enjoyments of living here on earth, priority is important. So I thought it might be helpful to mention the most basic of all legacies you'll pass down to your family: Love.



The King James Bible refers to love as "charity". I'm sure you've heard the verses in I Corinthians before, but, this time, really let them speak to you! See just how essential it is to the Lord that we have this basic ingredient as the foundation of all we say and do, and then ask Him to show you the areas that you need to better apply this. Most importantly, ask Him to fill you with this kind of love! If you are a Christian, it is readily available to you upon your asking in faith!:

Though I speak with the tongues of mean and of angels,

and have not charity,

I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy,

and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;

and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,

and have not charity,

I am nothing.

and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,

and though I give my body to be burned,

and have not charity,

it profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind;

Charity envieth not;

charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;

whether there be tongues, they shall cease;

whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away...

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

but the greatest of these is charity.



I Corinthians 13: 1-8, 13

Oh, how many times I've focused on the doing of things for my family...but it was not grounded in charity (love)! My motivations were fulfilling what I ought to do, or being able to check one more thing off my "to do" list! I did these things out of selfishness, not love! It really hit me when I read that I could even be a martyr for my faith, but if I did not do it in LOVE, it would profit me nothing! That's a pretty clear statement that our motives, our drive, is of extreme importance to our Lord!



I pray that each one of you reading Domestic Legacies would have a burning love in your hearts first toward the Lord and that that love would spill over abundantly into your relationships with your husband, your children, and with everyone you meet! I pray that love would translate into action, and not be mere sentiment! THAT is a legacy worth placing at the top of our priority list!



Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Great Free Simple Science Experiments

Wanting to integrate some hands-on experiments into your family's science studies, but don't want to become a scientist-gone-mad in planning for and setting up a complicated, time-consuming experiment? I found a great resource for simple, easy to execute science experiments, and best of all- it's FREE!



Each week, the children and I check our e-mail inbox to find a fun, quick experiment just waiting for us to try! Robert Krampf has a website FULL of free, easy science experiments which are all archived according to the specific field of science it is related to (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, etc.) We signed up for his free weekly e-mailing which explains how to do that week's experiment, as well as a quick video showing just how he performed the experimcnt.

A recent experiment we performed was on the topic of Chromatography, the science of separating chemicals based on how they stick to paper. This may sound complicated, but it's not! Even our preschool aged children enjoyed helping with this!

First we gathered our supplies, which we already had in the house:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Materials needed: Coffee filter strips (or watercolor paper), rubbing alcohol, glass jars, various brands of black ink pens, and scissors for cutting the coffee filter into 1 inch wide strips.

Next, on each strip of coffee filter, we placed a black dot of ink about 1/2 inch from one end, then marked the other end with a descriptive word of the pen used (like the brand) to distinguish it from the others. After pouring about 1/4 inch of rubbing alcohol into the jars, we placed the strips of paper, dot side down, into the jars, allowing the strips to stand up in the jars without submerging the dots. The coffee filter strips immediately began to absorb the alcohol:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

We checked on the progress of our Chromatography after a few minutes, and found the ink starting to rise in lines on the coffee filter strips:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

After waiting about 20 minutes, we noticed a band of ink forming on the coffee filter strip. The individual colors that comprised the black ink had separated out according to how well they stick to paper!:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Chromatography wasn't on our list of things to study that week, but it was a very nice, quick detour from our usual Science studies that allowed us to get some hands-on, fun learning in! Would you like to know where you can sign up for these great experiments? Just go to Robert Krampf's Website , and come back soon to Domestic Legacies and tell us what experiments you and your children have enjoyed!

P.S. I noticed the last couple of weeks, Mr. Krampf has not been posting an experiment, but info about science fair experiments. So, if you've signed up for the experiments, don't despair...once his series on science fairs is finished, I'm sure the experiments will be back! Go to his website for tons of experiments you can do now!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Stress-Free Scripture Memory!

If there is one legacy that I want to leave my children, it is that of hiding God's Word in their precious hearts! All the facts and knowledge in the world pale in comparison to knowing Him and His Word, and yet, it is easily forgotten among the other tasks we strive to check off on our already full checklists of things to do! As important as it is, I don't want scripture memory to become a burden, or a stressful, performance-oriented task, which it can quickly become if treated like just another school subject. I want my children to have delight in learning God's Word, don't you?

The Maxwell Family at Titus 2.com recently had a wonderful suggestion for scripture memory that our family has adopted. It is virutally effortless and stress-free! Hanging on the wall of our dining room is a wipe-off marker board on which I put the verse we are currently working on:

photo copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

Before breakfast and lunch, just after we pray, we recite the memory verse two times before we eat. So, in one day's time, we have reviewed the verse four times. When the verse is new, to aid the children who can't yet read, I break up the verse into small segments and have the children repeat after me. After everyone is getting the hang of the verse, we all say it together two times per meal. The children hear my enthusiasm for the Word as we recite together, and it is contagious!...Remaining reverent ,we use inflection in our voices with excitement, rather than a dull, monotone voice. With little time and effort spent I have to say that THIS REALLY WORKS!! Once we've all memorized the current verses, I put them on an index card and we occasionally review the past verses to keep them fresh in our minds.

I want to stress to you that the verses children of any age are capable of learning do not have to be short and simple! As you see in the picture above, we are memorizing Titus 2: 1-5. The verses we learned a few weeks ago were Proverbs 2: 1-8 Funny thing is, my younger ones are faster at memorizing than I am! It is SO precious to hear them recite by themselves long verses of scripture (with an occasional prompt or two)! My purpose in telling you this is not to boast, but to "raise the bar" for you, so to speak.! The Lord only knows how He might use these verses later in their lives!

I really hope you'll try this method of scripture memory. It's been the fastest and most enjoyable I've found! Let us know what you think!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies

What You'd Give for a Good Night's Rest!

Over the years of taking care of little ones, especially babies, there have been many nights I have not slept well, with getting up in the night to nurse, or answering the cry of a little one who's had a bad dream, potty training at nighttime, or just paying too much attention to the baby monitor with a newborn...hearing every little sound! Can you relate, sleep-deprived mamas? It's usually easier to be cheerful and on top of things when you're well rested, and I hope this post will help some of you achieve that!

Here's what I've found that helps me sleep more soundly...you'll laugh at how simple it is, but for me, it really works! It has been determined scientifically that a dark sleep environment is best for good quality sleep, but that is not always possible to achieve, especially when travelling, or when your family likes to use a nightlight! So, I have my own personal room darkener--a sleep mask! Mine is not the light, silky kind you might be picturing, that lets in a lot of light. It is quite padded with an adjustable velcro strap for a good fit. I take this thing everywhere, as I have found it so much easier to fall asleep and sleep well when I am sleeping in the dark!

My sleep mask is about worn out, I've used it so much, and thinking I might not be able to find another one like it, I searched for sleep masks online and found several good quality masks for under $10. I even found one that does not smash your eyes, to allow for comfort and better REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement). I'll have to decide whether to buy another one just like the one I have, or to try a new kind! I would recommend, whichever type of mask you choose, to find one in black. That way you'll get the best light absorbsion around your eyes where the light can sometimes leak in.

My sleep mask has a little pocket in front which holds earplugs. When my husband is home and is able to listen out for the children at night while sleeping, I'll sometimes wear these. Since I'm on "duty" as a mom 24 hours a day, this is a wonderful way to go into my own little, relaxing retreat while sleeping, with the comfort in knowing my husband will wake me up if the children need me. If I do need to keep an ear out at night, sometimes I'll just wear one earplug (I know, crazy me!) and will be able to block out some sound, while st ill being able to hear someone call.

I hope some of you will take my suggestion and try using a face mask. If you are able to study the design of some of the better ones, it might not be too hard to sew your own (though I do recommend something thicker and more padded than the old sild kind, but you may find it works just fine!) I know being a mother can mean many sleepless nights, but these days are not forever...and how worth it our children are! Here's to contentedly sleeping babies and sweet dreams to you!

Copyright 2008 Domestic Legacies