Tracie Shroyer

How are your kids spending their summer?

Tracie — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:52:10 +0000

I got a great article in my inbox this morning. It is from Share Save Spend and it talks about summer jobs. Even if you don’t have teens yet, it is never too early to let them begin realizing the benefits of good hard work during the summer.

http://www.sharesavespend.com/newsletter.aspx

It is from one of my favorite websites and I have to say that on this topic, I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Cream of Howard Soup?

Tracie — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:41:57 +0000

My daughter was going through the canned soups today trying to find one she liked to make for her school lunch. She was a little bit bully because I told her I wouldn’t buy more chicken noodle until she ate some of the others she had picked out. Apparently, none of them sounded as good now as they had at the store. From deep inside the pantry I hear…

“Like this one, I hate this one. Could you please not buy anymore Cream of Howard soup? Can you cook with it instead? I hate it!”

I said, “Tate, read it again. I’m pretty sure it isn’t Cream of Howard.”

“Yes it is. It says so right here. Cream–of–Howard!”

“Can I see? Okay, try reading it again. The whole label.”

“New. England. Cream of Howard.”

We sounded it out.

“C-l-aaam Chow-der. Clam Chowder? I LOVE Clam Chowder!”

I Interupt This Parenting Blog…

Tracie — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:19:23 +0000

Normally I try to make sure that all of my posts are very practical parenting discussions. Well today I have less of a discussion and more of a tip. Especially for parents of little potty trained boys.

Our guest bathroom has the unfortunate designation as our only bathroom on the main floor that the kids can use. Additionally, it is the bathroom right inside our back door, which makes it the place everyone “goes” when coming in from outside.

I rarely use this bathroom, but when I do, I’ve lately noticed a very distinct “potty” smell. I’ve scrubbed, I’ve brought in extra lighting to investigate, I’ve used every cleaning product I could think of (never in combination, mind you). Each time, I thought I’d found the problem and gotten rid of it, but each time the smell came back as soon as the cleaning product smell wore off.

Today was the day. I have guests coming tonight and even though my husband insisted there was no smell. I knew there was. I stuck my head in the toilet (hair pulled back), I searched, I scrubbed. I could not find it. Finally, in a last ditch effort I concluded that the toilet had to be taken apart as much as I could manage in my husband’s absence. I started with the seat. Flipped up the little thingys covering the screws, and BINGO! I won’t go into extreme detail here, but let’s just say I can’t believe it didn’t smell even worse! After I got the seat off (not too tough, but look under the rim part of the toilet to remove the washers or it will never come off) I found even more smelly griminess! Now I have to tell you, this is not an old toilet, we replaced it maybe two years ago. You would never have known it by what I found.

So, that’s my cleaning tip for today. No advice, no soapbox lectures, just some good practical advice! Oh, and if you don’t find anything under your seat - I’d rather not know. I prefer to think my house isn’t the only one where toilet seats can be that dirty!