1. Bactine: The spray stuff that disinfects without hurting. I use it at least once a week for scraped knees.
2. Sting-eeze: It’s a goop you put on bee stings or fire ant bites – made my daughter stop crying almost immediately. (It takes care of the pain, but doesn’t help allergic reactions)
3. Age-appropriate Benadryl: Just in case of an allergic rash, or when that nose needs to stop running at night to let a child sleep.
4. Age-appropriate Tylenol & Motrin: You don’t want to be caught with a 106º fever and nothing to battle it with – been there, done that.
5. Vicks vapor rub: I slather it on my kids’ feet at bedtime if they’re coughing. It helps – I don’t know how, but it does.
6. Honey: Mix it with a bit of lemon juice and give it by spoonfulls when someone has a cough. It’s all around good.
7. A box of mixed character bandaids: I don’t dress my kids in character shirts or plaster their rooms with them, but when someone is teary over a scrape or cut, a little Spiderman or Care Bears accessory protects it and makes my kid happy. Wel worth it.
8. Hyland’s remedies – for whatever your family needs. Sniffles & sneezes, teething tablets, calming, ear aches – stock up because they really work. And they’re homeopathic – even better!
9. A really good humidifier, and a stock of vinegar to clean it with.
10. Neosporin/polysporin – some type of ouchless antibiotic cream (not ointment) to help cuts heal faster.
11. An easy to reach, well identified stock of any medications your child might need in a hurry – epi pen, anti-seizure meds, asthma inhaler.

Additionally, a good stock of gauze, medical tape, and a stretchy ace-type bandage – because there might come a day when you’re glad you have them on hand. What’s more? Keep it organized – there’s nothing worse than knowing something’s in that medicine cabinet, only to find that it’s so cluttered you can’t find it.

In my house I use the pizza stone all the time. Sunday nights are pizza nights, so every Sunday the pizza stones finds its way into and out of the oven multiple times with pizzas of various toppings. But throughout the week I love the even cooking it does with cookie dough and even fish.

So, between uses, what’s the secret to keeping it clean? It’s a little tough because the ceramic is porous, you don’t want to use any chemicals or soap on it. In fact, most manufacturers caution against even water. Basically, ceramic stone cookware is for food, and only food. Let’s start with some typical questions about stonecare.

1. Why no soap ? Because stone is so porous, any cleaning solutions will seep into the stone and remained trapped there. You won’t taste them because the heat of the oven burns them off, but that doesn’t mean they won’t contaminate your food.
2. Why no water? The presence of water in stone could cause cracking over time. Baking stones don’t like water, so if you want it to last, treat it well.

There are two good ways to clean your stone that don’t involve water or soap. Don’t worry about discoloration – it’s going to happen, and it just ’seasons’ your stone, so to speak.

• A plastic scraper. You can find them in kitchen gadget stores and they’re one of my favorite cleaning tools ever. They don’t scratch surfaces (as long as they aren’t scratched, themselves). Hold it at a 45º angle and scrape away.
• The self-cleaning function on the oven. Just as it burns off gunk in your oven, it’ll burn off any impurities in your baking stone. Make sure you preheat slowly – heat the oven to 450º or so, then turn on the self-clean. Your stone will love you for it.

I like to keep my stone in the oven – it helps distribute heat evenly and maintain heat for longer times. It does take a little longer to preheat an oven with a stone in it, but the oven doesn’t have to work so hard once it’s hot.

How about you? What are your tips?

The first step, and unfortunately the most often overlooked, is planning. Think about how you use the space. What needs to fit there. Where it should fit. How accessible different things should be.  It should be easier to get to your daily use items than your wedding dress or the thigh master you don’t admit to owning. Think about how much space you need for hanging items, stacking items, and boxed up items, then find a way to fit it in.

Now let’s look at some useful tools for organizing said closet. First off is shelving. You can get simple wire shelving at any home improvement store, have it cut to size, and install it yourself for almost nothing. Or you can splurge on simple wooden shelves to give your closet a nicer feel (we caution against cheap composite materials though – the glue used to make them contains harmful, often carcinogenic and neurotoxic chemicals). Tension curtain rods also work well for hanging items, and think of hanging them in non-traditional ways. For example, in a shallow, wide closet (as opposed to a walk-in), use the often wasted space at the ends to put short curtain rods going front t0 back instead of side to side. It’ll give you a nice nook on each side.

If you have clothes of different sizes (we won’t call them ‘fat’ pants – we’ll say ‘comfort’ clothes), you can make department store style size separators out of cardboard rounds. Using same-colored hangers will give your closet a uniform look.

Also look at storage boxes – the small decorative ones, and the clear plastic rubbermaid-type too. Don’t forget about things that create ‘cubbies’ – baskets, old shoeboxes. You can repurpose your old purses to do what they were designed for – hold things. I keep scarves in one purse and gloves in another.

Think outside the box to use space in non-traditional ways. A few strategically placed nails on the wall can give you a perfect hanging nook for necklaces.

The key is, think about what you’ll be storing there and design around it. I like to take the pesky doors off my closets – especially in the kids’ rooms – and replace them with pretty fabric hung on tension shower rods. No more open doors getting in the way of precious floor space.

Those are some of my strategies to optimize storage space. What are yours?

This a great time to do a quick home makeover for fall. Mine is pretty simple.

1. Replace the summer flowers in the door bucket with fall colors.
2. A new table cloth on the dining room table – mine is a rust color, and I use a few gourds, candles, and pinecones for a centerpiece.
3. Different throw pillows on the couches and guest bed. My couches are neutral colors, so I use different colored throw pillows around the year to change the look now and then.
4. This is a great time to clean (or change) your welcome mat. A dirty welcome mat tracks in more dirt, making your family and guests susceptible to allergies.
5. Dust the ceiling fans and mini-blinds every time you change your air filter.

Keep up with those pesky contributors to allergens and you’ll have a healthier family this fall and winter!

The best way to keep your kids (and yourself) healthy this fall is with frequent hand-washing – remember to scrub for a good 20 seconds, long enough to sing the alphabet.

But don’t underestimate the power of wiping down frequently touched surfaces in your home. Get a nice cleaning cloth (my favorite is an old torn up t-shirt), douse it in some apple cider vinegar (and if you don’t like the smell of it, add a few drops of lavender or thyme essential oil), and wipe down door knobs, telephones (don’t forget cell phones), refrigerator and freezer handles, faucet controls, and light switches.

Keep your family healthy this fall with a quick wipe-down and hand-washing several times a day!

1. Turn on your favorite music. Everyone needs a little motivation, right?
2. Cut a lemon in half and use 1 half (the cut side) to scour your sinks all around the house. Countertops too, as long as they aren’t natural stone – stone doesn’t like citric acid. (You may need more than 1 half of the lemon…). The citric acid will cut through dirt and grime, and the smell of the lemon will lift your spirits.
3. Sweep and mop your wooden, tile, or laminate floors. For the mopping use a generous splash of vinegar in a bucket of water (again, if you don’t have natural stone tiles – they don’t like vinegar either), just make sure you sweep thoroughly before you mop, otherwise you’ll have a load of frustration on your hands!
4. Squeeze the other half of the lemon into a small bowl, and use a couple fingers to dip a cleaning rag into it. Dampen the rest of the rag with water and use that to wipe surfaces around your home – don’t forget faucets and door handles. Then add a tsp of olive oil to the lemon juice, dampen another rag (or the same one, if it isn’t too dirty) and use that to dust.
5. Empty the waste bins – emptied waste bins give an impression of clean…

And since my hubbs is coming home today after a business trip, that list covers the basics of what I’ll be doing today.

The good news is, your refrigerator coils are easy to clean. Unplug the fridge and then find the coils. In most fridges they’re behind the kickplate under the appliance, but on some you’ll see them easily exposed around the back. Once you’ve found them use the flat hose attachment to your vacuum and attack the dust. If you’re really industrious you can buy a long, conical brush at your local hardware store and brush off any stubborn left-over dust.

You’ll make your refrigerator happy, and that’ll make your electric bill happy.

1. Clean up spills on the spot (on the spot, get it? sorry, that was corny…) If you clean it up when you spill it there won’t be time for it to penetrate the surface and leave a spot.

2. Use a mild scouring agent that will get into the pores. Our favorites are Shaklee’s Scour Off or Bon Ami.

3. A natural whitener will go a long way to restore brightness to the white. Lemon juice and hydrogen peroxide will both bring back the white, as will Shaklee’s Nature Bright.

Keep up with it daily and you’ll keep your countertops looking great for years!

Yes, I’m aware that the best medicine is prevention. But now that my 3 year old son experimented with ‘finger painting’ using big sister’s  Hello Kitty purple swirly lip gloss, What. Do. I. Do??? (Other than let loose on said son with a vengeance?)

I’m assuming Helly Kitty lip gloss is made of petroleum and lard and things that I’d rather not think about, and that the pretty purple swirly color comes from something like red dye #2 and non-washable chemically-based colorants. Is there a carpet doctor out there who would like the glory for saving my carpet?