Things I like

• Online Flashcards - A has been doing multiplication since before Christmas. She is required to do 15 minutes of flashcards every night. This was a dreadfully horrible experience for me and for her. She whined and cried when she didn't remember a fact. If I tried to move her along or give her a hint, she yelled and told me that I'm the reason she was going to fail. She wailed that she would not get an A and she would not make honor roll. Notice this is all past tense. After Christmas break was over, she failed to find her flashcards. Very suspicious if you ask me. Rather than come up with random multiplication facts on my own, I googled and found this site. I'm not positive that their random number generator is the best but it does a good job at mixing up the facts. Now, A knows her 0-12 facts even though she's only suppose to know 0-8. Even better, she actually looks forwards to doing her flashcards and I don't have to listen to the drama anymore.


• Large Cookie Scoop - I had this on my amazon wish list and my SIL bought it for me for Christmas. I don't know if I'll make giant cookies that require a large cookie scoop, but I found the perfect use for it. I was informed on Tuesday that J was suppose to bring birthday snack for his class on Monday. He was highly disappointed that I hadn't done this the very first day back to school. Tonight I finally got around to making cupcakes. The large cookie scoop is the perfect cupcake maker. I was able portion the batter into all those little cups without a mess. Not once did I use my finger to scoop out the measuring cup and then lick my finger and then scoop again and then feel guilty that I had licked and scooped and then convince myself that the oven would bake out all my germs. I sure that anyone reading this is appalled at that run-on sentence and will question all of my baked good from now on, but trust me, if you are going to make cupcakes, this is a necessary tool.


• The Key Tether - This was my Christmas present from my DH. I knew all the presents I was getting for Christmas. I had purchased most of them and accidentally opened my surprise. I wasn't expecting anything else so this purse was a total surprise. He picked it out because he had read my Keen post and recognized the brand at REI. I love the bag. It has a flap with magnets that hold tight but it is so easy to open. It is casual and my stuff fits in it well. The best thing is the key tether. It is a string with a little caribiner clip. When I need my keys, I just pull the cord and out they come. No more digging and emptying my whole purse just to find the keys. Now all I have to do is get into the habit of always putting my keys on the clip and I'll be happy all the time.