Emergency Mom Kit

It was brought to my attention last night (and confirmed by my darling husband) after watching Two Broke Girls that all of my purses are in fact totable trash bags. A modge-podge of receipts, lotions, lip gloss and assorted miscellany. There is no rhyme or reason to what's inside of my purses except they're loaded with items I think I can't live without, yet I can never find anything inside the abyss. It was time to take charge, dump the junk and organize what I need to find. I've come up with two creative ways to simplify and declutter my purses:

First, an emergency mom kit for my car. Second, a totable emergency kit that's not quite as detailed. Here's what you'll need:

Emergency car kit:

- An empty baby wipes container or a plastic ice cream bucket with a snap on lid
- Paint, scrapbook paper or scraps of fabric
- Baby wipes
- Hand sanitizer
- Band-Aids
- Lotion
- Sunscreen
- Tissues
- Safety pin
- Hair elastic
- Comb
- Fruit snacks
- Pen
- Lip balm
- Altoids tin filled with crayons (believe, me sometimes they're a sanity-saver in the car!)
- Nail file
- Small nail clippers
- Gum or mints
- Deodorant (cuz sometimes you rush out the door and forget to put some on!)

I had both an ice cream container and a baby wipes container on hand. I threw both in my glove compartment to see which one would actually fit and the ice cream container won. I painted mine because I have tons of paint on hand and I'm not as crafty as some of you out there with loads of paper and fabric lying around. It's your kit, decorate it however you like.

Totable emergency kit:

I don't know about you, but I change purses as often as I change my mind. It drives me crazy when I switch purses and realize I forgot something (like hand sanitizer or baby wipes) and I'm out somewhere and need it. Sometimes I'm out and about and really can't afford to run back to my car for my other emergency kit, so I came up with the totable kit. Along with my wallet, I know I'll always have what I need on hand. Here's what I used:

- A long, rectangular makeup bag (I got mine at Dollar Tree and it matches my favorite purses)
- Baby wipes
- Hand sanitizer
- Altoids tin filled with crayons
- Tissues
- Band-Aids
- Nail file
- Nail clippers
- Pen
- Comb
- Lotion
- Gum or mints
- Hand sanitizer
- Lip balm
- Hair elastic
- Fruit snacks
- Tampon

There you go! All you need, on hand, organized and ready to go! :)

April Animals

Today's one of those days where we're stuck indoors, my daughter is full of pent-up energy and I have a gazillion things I need to do around the house. I needed to find a way to preoccupy her with something creative so I can get some chores done around the house and came across a simple idea: Paper plate animals! Such a simple craft that I knew would keep her busy for at least 20 minutes! Here's what you need:


- A tablecloth or newspaper to cover your dining room table
- Various colors of paints, crayons or markers
- A stack of paper plates
- Scissors (for me, not her)
- Glue stick
- A plastic cup you don't care about (I always reuse the same red Solo cup) with water
- Paint brushes
- A paper plate, paint palette or egg carton to pour the paint into
- Paper towels

1) Put your table cloth or newspaper on the table
2) If using paint, fill plastic cup with water for rinsing brushes and have paper towels ready to dry them off
3) Pour paint (I use a quarter-sized amount) onto a paper plate, palette or in egg carton
4) Give your child a few paper plates (3 or 4 will do but I gave her 10... the longer she's busy the better!)
5) Have your child paint/color the back of each paper plate a different color. While your child is busy with the plates, now is a good time to run the vacuum or throw a load of laundry into the wash. Just stay close by to make sure your child's inner Picasso stays at the table and not on the walls, floors, etc :)


After my daughter was done painting her plates, she wanted to take a break, which gave the plates time to dry. 20 minutes later she was ready for the second part of the activity.

Next, you'll want to cut various shapes out of your construction paper for the eyes, mouths, wings, etc for your child to glue onto the plates

Then have your child glue the shapes onto each plate

Until you finally have finished critters! 

If you want to be super awesome, you can cut holes onto the plates for eyes instead of gluing shapes, hole-punch a hole on either side of the face and attach a rubber band to make instant masks... Or glue the plates to popsicle sticks and have puppets! :)