Is parenting getting easier?
My friends and I were talking recently and, as usual, the conversation was 70 per cent about our children, 15 per cent about our husbands, 10 per cent about our careers and five per cent about the freezing cold weather.
We were talking about whether or not parenting gets easier as our kids get older and everyone had a different perspective.
Some felt it was getting harder, as their children had more activities (which means lots of ferrying for us, the parents) and more difficult social situations.
We’ve all heard the phrase “bigger kids, bigger problems.” I think that’s true, especially during the teen years. Yikes!
Others felt it was about the same level of difficulty. They’d just swapped breastfeeding challenges for school lunch frustrations and naptime crankiness for after-school freak-outs.
But a few of us agreed wholeheartedly that we feel parenting has been much easier these days.
I feel like our kids have been in a sweet spot for a while now, at eight and six years old. Argh, I hate to even say it because I don’t want to jinx it! But it’s true …
Continue reading in my weekly parenting column, The Mom Scene …
5 Dog DIYs that will save you money
We love DIY around here, so of course it was only natural that I’d start dreaming up ways to DIY for our sweet dog, Annabelle.
Here’s a quick link-up to my Top 5 Dog DIYs …
If you liked these ideas, don’t forget to pin this post so it helps out another dog-owner! Thanks in advance!
Oversized fabric wall art
When you work in a home office that doubles as your sewing room/craft room and general hang-out zone on evenings and weekends, I think it’s natural to get bored of your surroundings and to enjoy changing things up.
So while I was recovering from the flu last weekend, I couldn’t resist the urge to move around some furniture and create interesting new fabric wall art.
A couple of months back I’d ordered a Kona colour chart fabric panel for $9 at an online fabric store.
It was printed with hundreds of tiny squares of vivid colour, each labelled with a name like Aloe or Lime or Champagne. Quilters use these charts to decide which fabrics they’ll use for a specific project.
But I had a plan to turn it into fabric wall art.
Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …
Psssst — that turned out so well that I created even MORE oversized fabric wall art for my home office …
Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …
… or pin this idea for later!
Five on Friday
I haven’t done a quickie Friday post in ages, but I kept thinking of things I wanted to recommend and writing them down on Post-Its and in random iPhone notes — so let’s spit some of ’em out, blog-like!
This week I’m sharing five of our family’s favourite screen-time joys, from TV shows to video games and even a new way to read digitally.
1. Workin’ Moms
I discovered Workin’ Moms late — like three weeks ago in the depths of a never-ending fever/chills/body aches flu — and was instantly OBSESSED. It’s so damn good!
I don’t watch a lot of TV anymore so it’s rare for me to fall so hard over a show. I zoomed through Season 1 and Season 2 while I was sick, and now I’m permanently stalking the CBC website waiting for each new episode of Season 3.
The writing is amazing — dry and witty — and I just can’t say enough about it. MUST WATCH.
Read MoreDIY dog seat belt
Our Chocolate Boston Terrier, Annabelle, LOVES to ride in our car or truck. She will happily go anywhere with us, and loves travelling so much that she hates to get out when we’re back at home.
Sometimes she’ll ride in her carry-bag (we have this one* in pink), but other times I just grab her and her leash and pop her onto the passenger seat of my truck.
She is a little princess who gets cold easily, so I turn on the seat-warmer for her and sometimes remember to bring a blankey.
One day I realized I could make a dog seat belt that doubled as a warm and snuggly car blanket for her.
Lightbulb moment!
Making a dog seat belt like this could NOT be easier.
- Buy some fleece (I think my piece was 1.5 meters)
- Tie it around your passenger seat.
- Insert dog.
Because you’re just tying a knot behind your passenger seat, you could easily untie it if you were transporting a non-dog passenger. (I just leave mine there all the time, though! You don’t notice it when you’re sitting on it.)
When I bring Annabelle out to the truck, I pop her into the little “pocket” the fleece makes, and sometimes I’ll tighten the knot at the back to make sure it’s keeping her snugly against the back of the seat.
She’ll get cranky if I adjust it too much, though, because she thinks I’m taking her out — and she HATES when I have to take her out of her little cocoon.
She LOVES her snuggly little dog seat belt and always falls asleep. I’ll hear snoring and look over, and her eyes are (creepily) open a little.
I mean, how cozy does this look? I wish all seat belts doubled as snuggly blankets!
As featured on …
