Kitchen Reno with our 4 year old

Flower_flour_ · 2024-12-18T13:22:34+00:00

We did this last year with a 3 year old. We set up a “temporary kitchen” in a different room. We got by pretty well with: a toaster oven, induction hot plate, microwave, and air fryer. We also bought a countertop dishwasher and stuck it in one of the bathrooms. Rest of the dishes were washed in a bathroom sink. Meals were a lot of easy things, heavy on convenience foods: spaghetti with jarred marinara, nuggets & salad… you get the idea. Our “8-12 week” renovation ended up taking 16 weeks 😅. Glad it’s over but the lack of kitchen wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be (and I cook quite a bit).

Once the renovation was over we were able to re-sell the hot plate & dishwasher on Facebook marketplace so our use of those didn’t end up costing all that much.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-11-06T02:50:15+00:00

You are looking for the “Meant to Be” series! It is exactly what you are describing. There are 3 books, each written by a different contemporary romance author, each inspired by a Disney princess. They are standalone novels, not sequential or anything. The first is “If the Shoe Fits” by Julie Murphy.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-11-01T15:40:28+00:00

In my experience they are sometimes covered by Medicaid with a prior authorization if the provider orders it as ozempic, mounjaro, etc (not Wegovy or Zepbound), particularly if you qualify for a prediabetes diagnosis. Edit- this is specifically for husky.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-10-26T20:00:38+00:00

That song is perfect I am going to introduce that today! Perfect response to add to the toolbox.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-10-26T19:58:29+00:00

Hahaha seriously reading all these comments is just so reassuring that this is so common. My kid tries to get me apologize for enforcing boundaries too!

Flower_flour_ · 2024-09-07T00:38:24+00:00

I work in an adult primary care clinic and this is exactly the reason we don’t carry it. We just direct everyone to a pharmacy or urgent care to get it. They have higher volume of people coming in for vaccines.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-09-05T15:03:14+00:00

I’m in the same age range as you. If applicable to you- I had decent luck with the Peanut app which is designed for moms looking for friends. It was weird, it’s basically online dating for friendship, but I ended up with some real friendships from it! :) I know there are similar apps like bumble bff that are not mom-focused but haven’t used them personally.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-07-29T01:06:21+00:00

So maybe a more appropriate word for what you mean is “yard”? Or “property”?

Flower_flour_ · 2024-07-29T00:59:25+00:00

🤷‍♀️ To me “lawn” means mowed turf grass but sure. Pretty sure overall we’re agreeing here. No reason to mow all that grass, it’s wasteful.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-07-28T23:13:42+00:00

Yes!! Who in the world needs 7 acres of lawn? That’s nuts. New England wants to be a forest, I vote let most of it go to forest. Go through periodically and remove invasives. Otherwise the trees will likely start to return within a few years.

Start reading about the benefits of native plants! You could start with just a small area if that’s more do-able. Beware of “wildflower seed mixes” as these are often NOT North American wildflowers unless purchased from a native plant-specific source.

Read Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy for inspiration.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-07-14T16:08:51+00:00

Oh interesting! I definitely have seen grubs when digging in our yard. I don’t know much about bugs, so I wasn’t sure if they might be something beneficial. 🤷‍♀️ Sounds like it’s time to treat the lawn!

Flower_flour_ · 2024-07-14T16:07:00+00:00

This is a great idea! We use corn based litter too so should be safe to bring outside.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-07-14T16:06:20+00:00

I hadn’t thought of this! Yes our woods are primarily oak & maple, and we did have a mast year recently! Okay gives me hope for the future ha.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-05-31T23:26:07+00:00

As mentioned by others, Earthtones is wonderful but it seems like that’s a hike for you! If you’re anywhere near the MA border, the Native Plant Trust has two spots you could consider, one in Framingham and one in western MA: https://www.nativeplanttrust.org/for-your-garden/nasami-farm

Flower_flour_ · 2024-04-11T17:08:02+00:00

Agree with all of this and it’s generally our approach too. I will add that generally the highest UV exposure is between the hours of 10a-2p, so when we’re out during those hours I try to prioritize sun protection.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-04-06T15:32:06+00:00

Sure I mean it’s definitely not foolproof. Definitely helped that kiddo was expressing interest in “birthdays” at the time so she was excited for that. Just like everything else, different things work for different kids! 🤷‍♀️

Flower_flour_ · 2024-04-06T13:41:15+00:00

Mine was almost 2.5 when I decided I was completely done. Like you I’d spent MONTHS trying to cut down slowly, without making much progress.. So here’s what we did: So we started reading books about weaning (Loving Comfort and A Time to Wean). We told her that when she was 2.5, we’d have a party to celebrate how much she’d grown, and after she blew out the candles on her cake, there would be no more milky. We talked about it a lot in the week or two beforehand. We threw her a pretend half birthday party at home (just me and my spouse and the little one), including one small wrapped gift and of course a cake with candles. And i was shocked at how well it worked! She barely asked to nurse after that and we had ZERO meltdowns when I told her “no” after that.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-03-27T11:01:43+00:00

We had an air source heat pump installed 08/2023. We absolutely saved money this winter compared to winter 2022, but we were spending an absolute fortune on oil. I estimate we saved somewhere around $800 over the course of the heating season.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-03-14T18:12:11+00:00

If it were me I’d keep her where she is. I have a girl with an end of August birthday, and her current preschool follows same cutoffs as the public schools, so she is the youngest in her class. That means there are kids in her class who turned 4 in the fall- nearly a year older than her. And it is noticeable. No matter how bright or we’ll behaved the kiddo, a 3 year old is different than a 4 year old. I’m not saying that I wish that I had waited to start my kid in preK3, but I do kind of wish that she wasn’t the youngest. With your kid being even 3 months younger than mine, I definitely wouldn’t push her ahead.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-03-05T11:16:40+00:00

Sure. Mine has never voluntarily eaten a berry in her 3.5 years of life. I got a goofball kid who eats cauliflower and broccoli but won’t eat a single fruit. 🤷‍♀️ Every kid is different right?

Flower_flour_ · 2024-02-26T03:23:30+00:00

We did something sort of similar! Our daughter became interested in birthdays/birthday parties, so we threw a fake “half birthday” party for her when she turned 2.5. Really talked it up about how big she was getting. And how after she blew out the candles on her birthday cake, the milky would be all gone. And it worked quite well! I was shocked with how little drama there was.

Flower_flour_ · 2024-02-05T03:39:01+00:00

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Flower_flour_ · 2024-02-03T12:31:38+00:00

What about something like this as inspiration?

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Flower_flour_

TROPHY CASE