Dentists: Pediatric vs Family

When the time came for us to take our kids in to the dentist for the first time, I was seriously stressing. My kids are pretty timid, and I worried -a lot!- about how they would react to such a traumatizing experience. One of the things that I wondered, and worried, and debated over was whether I should just take them to my regular dentist or to a pediatric dentist. 

My BIL happened to be going to school in preparation for dental school, at the time, so I asked him his opinion. I guess...my understanding is that pediatric dentists don't have any special training that regular dentists do not have. I suppose -over time- they become more experienced in dealing with children, but it is not like a regular dentist does not also get plenty of exposure to children as well. 

In the end, this is what we did:

I set up my appointment, then booked MJ for the following time slot, and Lala for the following time slot. This takes a lot longer than having us all get done at the same time, BUT my kids feel much less terrified of all the chair and the machinery once they have seen me go through the whole process. My kids did FANTASTIC at the dentist! The first couple of visits, they were still a little nervous, so I sat in the chair with them on my lap. It worked great!

I am not saying that this is absolutely the way to go, but for my kids, the regular dentist --where they could watch me go first--was the only way to go!

Now, in my opinion, not all dentists are the same. I have had some dentists who brag about their new machines that can detect even smaller cavities and then tell me I have all these cavities that need to get drilled and filled. In my opinion, they are just looking to get more money out of us! My current dentist uses good old fashioned eyes and X-rays and that is all. He found a small cavity in one of my teeth some 2 or 3 years ago and said "but it is just small, would you like to just wait 6 months and see how it does?" THAT is an honest dentist! We waited and nothing has happened. It has not worsened one bit and I still do not need a filling! With that in mind, I want to say that your small children do NOT NEED X-RAYS! The dentist can find any major problems with his plain old eyes. Maybe around 5 or 6 you can start doing the X-rays, but there is just no reason to start them earlier than that.

So, on that note: Go find yourself a good, honest, kind dentist! Good luck!

Retaining Wall

First, we staked out where we wanted the wall to go. 1) for measuring purposes, 2) to make sure we kept working in a straight line. Also, We put the string at the height that we wanted the wall. When figuring out how many blocks you need, you will need to know both the length and the height of the wall.

Next, we dug the trenches. Take extra care to make sure that the bottom of the trench is level. We have super hard dirt, so we had to use a pick ax to dig.

Once the trench is reasonably level, add a couple inches of gravel:

Use the tamper to level out the gravel, then use a landscaping level to make sure that it really is level.

The trench should be dug deep enough that the block is buried a couple inches below the ground level, even though it is laid on top of a couple inches of  gravel.

We started at the low point in our yard, then, when we got to the point that the blocks were totally buried by the ground level, then we would step it up.

Can you see how the top of the block on the left is right at ground level? Then right next to it, is the bottom layer of gravel?

 When you step the digging up a level, be sure that you still dig deep enough so that the top of the gravel layer is level with the top of the block next to it.

We re-staked at ground level, so that we could be sure we were going in a straight line:

 

Be sure to check how level you are at all stages of this project:

We ended up putting a couple of sets of stairs in, too. One wide long set leading to our front door:

And one small, tight set on the side of the house:

Once the wall was (almost) all done, we used a Bobcat to haul dirt in and fill it up. We did leave a small portion of the wall undone, so that there was somewhere for the Bobcat to drive in and out of:

My Father In Law drove the Bobcat while my hubs sprayed the dirt all down with a hose. The water helps the dirt to pack down a little better, so that -hopefully- there is not as much "settling" later on, when we have a lawn there.

The finished product!

Also, you want to be sure to fill in the sides of the trench with plenty of gravel, or other drainage material, before covering it up with dirt. Talk to the people you buy the materials from, they should have tips for you on building this kind of a thing!

Grow Your Own Avocado: Dirt or Water?

I wanted to grow my own Avocado Tree. All the instructions I found online described suspending the pit in a glass of water with toothpicks. There was ONE website, that mentioned that planting it in dirt would lead to faster growth, but then she gave no instructions for planting, just for suspending in water! Anyway, I decided to try both ways and see what worked better.

I cut open an Avocado, being careful not to touch the pit with the blade of my knife or with the spoon that I used to pull it out of the center. I washed the pit off, poked it with 4 toothpicks and suspended it in water. A couple months later, this is what it looks like:

One nice root, but no leaves or anything else, yet.

 A couple of days AFTER suspending the above pit in water, I opened up a second Avocado. I burried it only half-way in the dirt, and set it on a west facing window sill. I water it daily, keeping the dirt fairly moist. Now, a couple of months later, this is what it looks like:

Apparently, dirt is better. Which makes sense. It's not like the pits get randomly suspended in water in nature, right?

Potted Plants: Bromeliad

Ok, so, some time ago, I raided Home Depot's clearance plants and ended up with a cool little plant that I new nothing about. It turns out that it is a Bromeliad, which are pretty unique little things.

Bromeliads only flower once in their life time. Their flower does not look much like a flower, though, it looks more like a long colorful shoot of funny leaves coming straight up from the center of the plant. Anyway, I got this Bromeliad on clearance because it has already flowered. Nice, right?

Well, after a Bromeliad flowers, then, if it is happy with life, it will start to produce little baby plants, called pups. These pups grow right out of the side of the plant. Like this:

Can you see those? Those are two different pups, currently growing on the side of my Bromeliad. You see how they are tucked in behind one of the mother plant's leaves? They will continue to grow there as long as you let them. But if you would like, once they get to be 1/3 or 1/2 the size of the mother plant, you can transplant them and grow them as their own separate plant. The Pups there are actually the 3rd and 4th pups that my plant has produced. Back in June, I pulled the first two away and planted them in their own pot. I found instructions online that talked about pealing the mother plants' leaf away to reveal the pup's own root system. I found no such root system. The roots on my pups were basically non-existent. But I went ahead and planted them, anyway. And it turned out totally fine. Bromeliads get most of their water and nutrition from their leaves. Their roots are basically only there for an anchor support. This is, obviously, pretty unique. Absorbing water through their leaves means two important things: 1) Allowing the dirt to get too wet, or planting a Bromeliad in too large of a pot, can cause root rot. 2) When you water a Bromeliad, you simply pour the water right into the center of the plant, instead of into the dirt around it:

Here are my two older pup's transplanted in June:

 I used too large of a pot, I think, but I am careful not to let the dirt get too wet, and they seem to be doing fine!

More info on Bromeliads and their Care HERE!

Storage Boxes

I started with this:

I regular box full of the hubs's cords and junk. Pretty bad eye-soar, right?

Ok, so, you will notice --also in the above picture--all the items I needed for this project: 1) Packing Tape, 2) Scissors, 3) Fabric, 4) Hot glue gun.

Step 1) Tape flaps upright. You could also just cut them off, for a shorter storage box.

Step 2) Wrap box with fabric. I found this fabric right by the burlap at Joannes. It is sort of plasticky feeling.

Step 3) Hot glue all the edges, on the under side and a couple inches down inside the box. 

Finished Product:

Looks much nicer, although, I still need to find something else to do with that keyboard!

Jean Stockings

It's Christmas in July! My husband keeps asking me why I am working on a stocking in July. I tell you what, though, the last thing I want to be stressed about during the Holidays is finishing a stocking on time! I am getting this project out of the way!

Step 1) Get some newspaper or whatever else you want and draw/cut out an outline of how you want your stocking to look (size, shape). Be sure to include an extra 1/2 in or so for the seam.
~~I already have some, so I turned one inside out and used it for my "pattern."

Step 2) Lay your "pattern" over some old jeans and cut two of them from the jeans. Be sure that one is facing one direction and the other is facing the other direction...does that make sense? Remember that when you finish your stocking, you will have two MIRROR images laying on top of each other, NOT identical images. So, for this whole project, just think through everything carefully and lay things out how they will be in the end so that you make sure to cut/sew in the correct spots.

~~See how one is inside up and the other is outside up? Mirror images.

Step 3) Pick fabrics that you want on tops/heels/toes of your stocking. Pin it how far down you want it, making sure it looks how you want it to look in the end.

Step 4) Turn the stocking over and pin the fabric into the inside of your your stocking. You want it to fold over and inch or so, so that it is well inside the opening of your stocking.

Then lay the other side on top, and do the same, making sure that the lines of fabric match. So that, on the finished product, you have a continuous circle. You want the heels and toes, etc to match up on the back and front halves. Pin accordingly.

Turn over and pin it into the inside again.

Step 5) Go back to the outside of your stocking, and UNPIN THE TOP FABRIC!

PULL THE FABRIC UP, SO IT IS OUT OF THE WAY WHEN YOU SEW THE INSIDE SEAM AND YOU DON'T END UP WITH A RANDOM SEAM IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR PRETTY STOCKING TOP!

Step 6) Sew the inside seam of your top fabric.

Step 7) Go back and repin the outside of your top fabric, then sew it on.

Step 8) Pin your heel/toe fabrics where you want them/how you want them to look in the end. Again, make sure that your front and back halves match up.

Use your first heel/toe piece as the "pattern" for your second. Again, remember that you want a MIRROR image, NOT an identical image, so turn the fabric over and cut it out inside out for the second one.

Step 9) Sew on your heel/toe pieces.

Step 10) Once all the heel, toe and top pieces are sewed on, you can cut out letters to spell the owners name, or "Christmas," or "joy," or whatever else you want...or leave it blank! Sew letters on.

Step 11) Lay the top half of your stocking on top of your back half, so that your stocking is INSIDE OUT. Also, make sure that the top/heel/and toe pieces line up correctly. Pin all sides (EXCEPT THE TOP) together and sew. This is just like sewing a pillow case. You sew it all up, except one side, then flip in right-side out again! Voila!

 

You can do all sorts of combinations. have a heel and a toe, no heel, no toe. WHATEVER YOU WANT! ENJOY AND MAKE IT YOURS!

OH, YEAH! STEP 12) A HOOK! Just take a piece of fabric that matches, sew it to be a straight line, then sew it  on to the back of your stocking! Fleece does not work great as it stretches:

This super soft, bumpy fabric is hard to deal with, sometimes.

But this is a great hook: