dreamjean's Profile

While we are fortunate to have a house with a large front lawn (probably too much lawn), the best part is that the original owners put in a front patio. That patio has been the site of a wedding reception, neighborhood cookouts and ice cream socials, shows by the kids. The nearby magnolia with the hollowed-out center serves as the neighborhood "club" for the kids. We love our front yard, but especially the patio.

One of the few cravings I had when I was pregnant was an egg salad sandwich. Yum! Mayo, mustard, relish, a dash of salt and pepper on toasted bread.

I just decided to clean the inside of my dishwasher recently and realized that i could easily pull up the filter like thingy that sits on the floor of the dishwasher and another piece. Eew, yuk! But it was quick and easy to clean so now I'll get to it more than once every few years. Amazing what you can clean when you look for it. Sitting on the floor and looking around also is an eye opener!

My pediatrician recommended (carefully) using a blow dryer on cool to make sure baby was completely dry before diapering when baby had diaper rash. This led me to discover other great use for diaper rash: lulling baby to sleep. Blow dryer and vacuum were great at getting newborn to sleep!

We rent our home out for a week each year for an annual sporting event. It more than pays for the vacation! And it is great motivation to keep your home well maintained and clutter free. We are thinking that one year we may try to swap our home for another. We have two closets that have locks so we can put away the things that we don't want the renters to have access to.

Great for crafts or for collecting the toys that seem to roam around the house!

Since we moved to a lovely neighborhood in the south, our tradition is to head down to a neighbor's house at noon. Hot dogs for lunch, visiting all afternoon while the pork cooks on the barbecue and gets mopped with sauce all day. Then we set up lots of tables and bring our dishes down. I'm making coleslaw, a black bean and corn salad, brownies and slicing up a watermelon. Sparklers for the kids at dusk. This will be my husband's first 4th as a US citizen. Best wishes to those near the CA fires. Be safe.

We rent our home out for an annual sporting event. I always leave extra toiletries, a bottle or two of wine, some good coffee and filters next to the coffee maker, a small snack basket, a binder with info on our home (how to remedy something if remote control doesn't turn on all components for tv/dvd), printouts of some simple maps, menus of local restaurants (along with notes on my favorites), numbers and directions to local hospitals and urgent care (you never know), and directions to and from our home from various landmarks.