Yes, my full intention was to post more than once last week.  That failed miserably with activities every night and school every morning.  And then this happened Saturday night:

Last week, one of my facebook posts went something like this, “twenty plus minutes to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. All because the five year old and seven year old are trying to figure out if the light in the dryer stays on when you close the door.”

Soon after Josiah, the five year old, came downstairs and told me, “Mom the dryer light stays on when you close the door.”  That means either a five year old or seven year old made it in to the dryer and closed the door.  Despite being told not to.

Fast forward to Tuesday.  Another Laundry Day.  Liam’s laundry day job is to move the close from the washer to the dryer and from the dryer to our bedroom (where we all fold them at the end of the day).  Liam swaps the clothes and starts the dryer.  When it finishes, he went to check on them.  Still wet.  I thought that was odd since we had just purchased this “new to us” dryer and it had been running so smoothly for over three weeks.  I followed them upstairs to make sure they had it on the right setting.  They did.  We went about our business of morningness and in the afternoon I remembered the dryer and asked Liam to swap it.  He obliged but then quickly came down to tell me they were wet.  I trudged up the steps and investigated.  Sure enough, the clothes were very wet.  I started the dryer and it came on and was heating up, but when I opened the door, the clothes had not moved.  The drum belt was messed up.

I quickly called Mark and alerted him to our dilemma and then set to work to start drying the two loads that had been washed.  I was very grateful that our “mother’s helper” was there that morning. 

This is what we came up with:

We covered the entire upstairs in clotheslines.  At first, I couldn’t find rope so we went with the verse, “a cord of three strands is not easily broken…”  and twisted together three pieces of yarn.  While wandering around in our bedroom, I found rope.  Paracord to be precise.  Paracord, for those that aren’t hip and in to survival bracelets, is a super strong rope used to make survival bracelets.

So intricately woven were the clotheslines that the kids had to do some crazy obstacle moves to get to their rooms and the bathroom.  By the way, I ran the cords/string/yarn between doorways and tied them at the hinges.

So, I went to the boys room and used the paracord to make this:

After some activities that evening, we came home and Mark moved this clothesline set to our closet.  I didn’t get a picture of that but it was quite humorous.  I also took a load of clothes to Kristina’s to get dry.

So Mark took the dryer apart and found that the belt was not broken (thankfully).  It had just slipped off the drum.  He put it back on and we were back in the clothes drying business.

And Liam learned:  40 something pound seven year olds do not need to climb in to a dryer made for 12 pounds of clothes.

After Edventure and Fudrucker’s, we headed out to the zoo Christmas lights.  We had never seen the lights but since we had the zoo membership we wanted to take advantage of it.

 We didn’t have snow at Edventure but we did have it all around the zoo!  The kids were thrilled to see the tiny bubbles floating down.  We couldn’t really build a snowman but they could at least watch it fall.

 There was a lit up toy soldier.  Then five little soldiers had to get in line too.

He bit her finger off!

Ace is doing much better.  He was still complaining of soreness yesterday but I think he’s been putting away the sour candies because most of them are gone.  The swelling is almost completely gone.  Thus ends another adventure in our life.

And now for a new one.

I know you guys all think I’m pregnant.

I’m not.

Sorry to disappoint.

But I am now joining the league of at home consultant/moms.  A little over a year ago, I saw a review for these clips called Lilla Rose.  I thought they were gorgeous and just wanted to try one.

And I did.

And I loved it!

I purchased one for my niece and around Christmas last year, got another one for my nieces and one for Zoe.  When I saw that they had a home business program I was intrigued.  Unlike me, I waited and prayed (usually I just jump in with both feet).  I finally felt led to join in the fall but continued to wait until we got our ducks in a row from the move and starting school and…well, living.

But here it is January.   This week, I just decided to do it.

Let me tell you a tidbit about the clips and then to get more info or check out their fabulous sale going on now, pop on over there.

The main draw are the flexi clips.  These are figure 8 style clips that come in sizes from mini to extra large (for the people with lion’s mane thick/Crystal Gale length hair).  They can be used on drop buns, half up, and twists (french and a poofy twist) styles.  These clips really, truly serve both form and function.  They don’t cause a headache like the giant plastic claws and they stay put!

Lilla Rose also sells some adorable headbands, bobby pin holders, o-rings (for pony tails and half up hair styles), and sticks (for buns, etc).

And for today only, they are offering 15% off select styles of flexi clips.  They also have some o-rings, and bobbies on sale too.  So, hop on over and check out what we have to offer!

Please let me know if you are interested in hosting a party (online or in house) or just have questions.  I’d love to help.