Home Maid Simple

Search results for: “Brain Tap”

Meditation: How to do it and Why it helps

I received a trial run of BrainTap Pro for mobile. All thoughts on meditation are my own.

When I went to a counselor for my post pardum depression, after a few sessions of just talking, we tried some guided meditation. As the counselor walked me through my mind, I came across a “door”. Behind this door I found myself – the girl I used to be before mental illness clouded everything.

`

You may also enjoy: Home Therapy that can Help Your Mental Health

Since then I have been searching for some kind of meditation to help keep me grounded when things are going awry. These are a few of the meditation tools I’ve used over the year. We can all benefit from a little deep breathing and mind clearing once in awhile.

Ways to Meditate

Study the Scriptures. As a religious person, I find much comfort in studying the words of the Lord. This year I have been reading from The Book of Mormon and The New Testament. Often finding time to quietly read and ponder how these words can change my life, can be difficult. I’ve found the best way to get this time in, is to get up 30 minutes earlier then my kids. The time is spent focusing on something that helps me grow in knowledge, and focus on something that I feel makes me a better person.

Do Yoga. I’ve always loved the idea of yoga, but spent many days telling myself I couldn’t do it because I had no flexibility. Well, the thing about flexibility is that the more you push against the resistance, the more flexible you can become. Yoga focuses a lot on slow deep breathing. As you do this, you become more aware of your body and mind. You can even get your kids involved with my favorite youtube series – Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Guided Meditation. While I’ve found many helpful ways to meditate through finding time alone to study and then focusing through yoga, the best meditation I have found for me, has been Guided Meditation. Recently I tried out BrainTap Pro for mobile, and can’t get enough of it. BrainTap focuses on balancing your brainwaves for optimal mental health. Every session I’ve used has helped me feel re-energized, or get into a deep sleep. Every session of BrainTap is focused on helping you relax, reboot, and revitalize.
One night my 8 year old was really struggling to fall asleep, so we turned on some deep sleep BrainTap, and before we could blink she and me were both sound asleep. Now I get frequent requests for that “mind sleeping thing”.

Why Meditation?

To meditate means to engage in mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness, or to focus on one’s thoughts. So why do we want to meditate? Is focusing on our own thoughts something we really want to do?

I say YES! When we can focus on our own thoughts, we can gain a deeper understanding of what drives us, who we are, and where we would like to go in life.

Life is very much a balancing act. Talk to any mother and you’ll hear them asking each other how they balance their lives. We seem to all be searching for the magic formula. Well, meditation can be that formula.

We can clear out all that noise. Life will still be there, along with everything we do, but with a clear mind we can see better what needs to be done and when. In other words, it’s a lot simpler to prioritize and move through life without feeling burdened if we have opened our minds to better understanding or “heightened spiritual state.”

How do you meditate? What is your favorite tool for clearing your mind.

February 19, 2019
Zucchini Bread Balls Recipe
Zucchini Bread Balls are as simple as whipping up your favorite recipe and using a special pan.

I often struggle with the creative side of my brain. I’m a very analytical thinker, and therefore out of the box ideas, and “playing pretend” has been quite the struggle for me.

This became apparent to my family when I was just 2 years old and refused to stir the fake cookie batter in our rendition of Little Red Riding Hood until there were actual ingredients in the bowl. Grandma couldn’t have cookies made from thin air.

I’m not saying I can’t be creative. I can, it’s just not as natural for me as it is for others. I like to follow recipes, only changing a few things here and there as I go along. I prefer instructions to build crafts, and my poor kiddos have no idea what I’m building when I play LEGO’s with them – truth be told, neither do I.

So this past month, when our oven’s pilot light went out, I could have let the non-creative side cry and give in to stove top pasta every day for a month, or I could allow that glimmer of creation eek out a bit.

As it turns out, necessity breeds creativity. Share on X

Now I know, there are other dishes besides pasta I can cook on the stove top. Really we weren’t hurting for actual meals. The real let down came to our sweet tooth. The kids are home for the summer, and they want cookies! Our garden is growing, and I wanted Zucchini Bread! I have not found a solution to the cookie dilemma yet, but these stove-top Zucchini Bread Balls are the bomb!

I don’t know that I’ll ever make a loaf again since these don’t require slicing, and losing precious crumbs all over the counter. Plus they’re bite-size. Everything is better bite-size, right?

The key to my creative genius this month was an Aebelskiver pan. Mark bought me one early in our marriage so I could make poffertjes – a Christmas morning staple from my childhood.

If the pan can make pancake balls, couldn’t it make other sweet bread balls? I had to try, and cross my fingers that it would be successful. It was, though I learned some valuable lessons in the process.

When making Zucchini Bread Balls, heat your pan over high heat, but just before adding the batter, turn it down to low. The cast iron pan will retain the heat for a nice even ‘bake’. Left on high, and you’ll burn the outside of the balls, and have a very doughy center. On the same token, if you don’t heat the pan hot enough you’ll be waiting a long time for those balls to cook.
Zucchini Bread Balls

2018-07-13 12:50:35

Yields 28

Zucchini Bread balls made on the stove-top makes adorably delicious bite sized treats.

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min
Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

15 min

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp Roasted Saigon Cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup sugar

2 cups shredded Zucchini

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/4 tsp California lemon peel

Instructions

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Set aside.

Combine zucchini, sugar, oil, egg, and lemon peel.

Add flour mixture to zucchini mixture, and stir just until combined.

Heat Aebelskiver pan on high for 1 minute. Turn heat to low.

Fill each hole half full with batter.

When the bottom is browned, use a toothpick to turn the batter, and cook the other side.

Remove from pan, and enjoy warm with butter.

By Home Maid Simple

Home Maid Simple https://www.homemaidsimple.com/
July 13, 2018
The Sick Kids Basket to Keep Them on the Couch
When the kids are sick and have to stay home from school, having a sick kids basket will keep them from feeling bored. Thanks to Pfizer for sponsoring this post. The Pfizer Pediatric Platform products, information, and additional gift pack have been provided by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. All thoughts and reviews are my own. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you click through and make a purchase.

I am not a doctor! For medical advice consult with your local doctor.

There’s little I dread more, then a kid waking up on a school day sick. Then they have to stay home. Your day is thrown off, and if you were planning any errands – restocking the empty fridge or returning overdue library books – they get thrown out the window.

Even if it’s not a school day, getting kids to rest when they are sick is a challenge. After Venice had a bout of the sickies last week, I decided it was high time we had an activity basket that only came out on sick days. Sick Just Got Real™!

I sat down with my sister in law to make this list, and while shopping at Target picked up a couple more items that stood out to me. These are all things that I would find useful no matter the sickness. From colds, flu, and strep, to broken bones and post-surgery recovery.

In My Sick Kids Basket:
- audiobooks/books
- coloring
- ball
- playing cards
- notecards
- pencils
- LEGO set
- BrainQuest
- WaterBottle
- Sanitizing Wipes
- Battery operated LED Light stick
- Applesauce squeezers
- Individual Gatorade Packs
My sick kids basket may not look like yours, but these are things I know my kids would enjoy. I tried to focus on items that could be wiped down before putting away to avoid spreading germs. – Books, playing cards, balls, LEGO pieces, LED Light and the water bottle are all washable with the sanitizing wipes stored in the basket.

Keeping the kids’ minds sharp while missing school is also important. I’m not talking stress them out because they do need to be resting, but games like BrainQuest will keep them learning in a fun way.

I also added note cards and pencils to the basket. What better way to teach them the value of handwritten notes, then when they’re stuck relying on others to care for them?

Applesauce and Gatorade should be staples in every home. If your family is like mine though, if those are sitting in the cupboard, they won’t last until someone is sick. By storing them in the sick kids’ basket I know I’ll have some when they are really needed.

As much as I love my sick kids’ basket, and it helps keep them confined to one area without getting too bored, it’s not going to help get them well. Taking another page out of my sister in laws book –and it helps her hubby is a PA – I decided I needed to start separating our medicines by illness.

I’m so tired of pulling out our Medicine Box to try and find a fever reducer, or cough suppressant. By the time I find it, or realize we’re out, the medicine box is a mess, and the kids are just dying!

Thanks to Pfizer Pediatric Products, I now have a well-stocked Cough and Cold Medicine Basket! In this smaller basket, I have all our get better needs – Children’s Advil®, Children’s Robitussin®, and Children’s Dimetapp®.

If you ask my husband, I hate taking medicine (truth), but when it comes to getting the kids better, I know and trust the Pfizer Pediatric family. With the Chldren’s Dimetapp® being alcohol free, I feel safe giving it to them.

I then added in my extras like Chapstick, Tissues, and Honey. Honey is another one of those food staples everyone usually has, but when I really need it, it’s all out. Keeping one bottle in the Cough and Cold Medicine Box will make sure I always have it handy.

Help Kids Avoid the Sickies
- Wash Hands frequently. Help teach them how important this is, and practice with them.
- Eat Healthy and Exercise. I think kids naturally rebound from, and have a hard time resting during the sickies, because they are generally fairly active. This goes for adults too. The better you take care of your body, the better chance you have of avoiding illness or rebounding faster from it
- Take Vitamin C. Don’t like taking pills, there are a lot of natural ways to boost your Vitamin C intake. I personally love this Vitamin C Boost drink.
- Probiotics! Another staple, but something you can’t really keep in the medicine box, is yogurt! Full of probiotics, they help fight those bad bugs.
The next step is keeping these baskets out of the kids reach. We have an awesome shelf in the laundry room that is even too high for me without pulling in a kitchen chair to grab. This is a safer location than under our master bathroom sink where we’ve previously stored them.

What would be in Your Kids Sick Basket?

~~GIVEAWAY~~

~~Pfizer Pediatric Products would like to send 1 Home Maid Simple reader a bundle to help keep their family healthy through coughs and colds!~~

~~Open to US 18+. Ends 4/12/16~~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Looking for more ideas to store medicine? Check out my First Aid Kit.
April 5, 2016
Meet Your Neighbors Before an Emergency Strikes

You never know when an emergency could strike close to home. Get out and meet your neighbors today.

When you see emergency vehicles at your neighbors house, what do you do? You don’t actually know them. You wish you did because you want to be the kind of neighbor that knows everyone and is there to help. Whether it be borrowing a cup of sugar, or running them to the hospital. I want to know my neighbors, and I want them to know me.

That happened here last week. Mark was home and outside playing in the snow with Lincoln. He saw the ambulances come and thought it was at our one neighbor’s home who we do know pretty well. The two homes look very similar, which on our street of old homes is unique. He yelled for me to come out. Thinking I should run over and see what happened.

When we realized it wasn’t the neighbor we knew, we just kind of stood there. Now what? Should we still check on them? See if there was anything we could do as a neighbor? We knew absolutely nothing about this neighbor, yet we felt compelled to do something. So I called our friend who lives right next door and asked if she knew anything. She did, but not much. She’s an older single woman. Her kids all live out of the state. She was sitting up and talking to the Medics.

Since she left in the ambulance there really wasn’t anything we could do. Except wait, and wonder if I could have been a better neighbor. So I turned to my awesome friends, who haven’t moved around as often as I, and asked if they knew their neighbors and what their best tips were for getting to know their neighbors.

Be the first to make contact. When you see someone moving in, don’t wait for them to introduce themselves, go say hi! Offer to help unload the truck, or bring by some dinner. If you are the one moving in, don’t wait for your neighbors to stay hi first. Once the move in has settled, head on over and introduce yourself!

Service. Service is my favorite way to meet new people, but it never has to be a big production. Helping rake leaves, shovel snow, or running their newspaper up to the porch are just a few simple tips we can all do, and will help you meet those neighbors. One day we noticed our neighbor who we’ve not actually met, but know lives alone – yes it would appear most of our neighbors are single women – had newspapers collecting at the bottom of her drive. I sent the kids over to carry them up to her porch. She didn’t answer the door, possibly they didn’t knock either, but now we feel a slight connection to her.

Neighborhood Party! This is probably my favorite idea ever! Once we get warmer temps I think we’ll plan a neighborhood party. We have the backyard for it. It’s a great reason to go knocking on your neighbors doors too!

HeartAttack. Similar to t.p.’ing, but more likely received with more joy on both ends. I love this idea Amber from Busy Creating Memories shared with me. Write nice notes to your neighbor and tape them all over their garage, front door, etc. It could be a welcome to the neighborhood, or “hey we’d love to get to know you more and these are the things we’ve noticed about you”!

Get Outside and Be Seen. This was the 2nd most frequent answer from my friends. Spend time outdoors. Let your neighbors see you. Say hi whenever you can. If your neighbor has kids invite them to play with yours. I know I need to be better with this one!

Bring Cookies. The number one answer given by friends online was to bring cookies! No one turns down a plate of cookies, and you really need no excuse to bring them over. So bake up some cookies, and take them over. Maybe whip up a little “Neighbor Card”, to include your phone number and house number so if they ever want to call or stop by but can’t remember which house you said you lived in – I can’t tell you how many times people tell me where they live, and have it not stick in my brain – they have it handy!

When leaving for book club last night I saw a car parked and lights on at the “ambulance home”, so I think I’ll bake up some cookies and go introduce myself.

Do you know your neighbors?

January 29, 2016
Tuesday Tips – Plumbing

Tuesday Tips

Have you ever worked with plumbing? Has your spouse?

When it comes down to electricity and plumbing, I get very nervous doing our own remodeling. To me those should be left to a trained professional. Sadly, they also cost a lot of money to update as well.

We’ve come down to the last few steps of our kitchen remodel. We could’ve been done last week actually, except that the plumbing to the kitchen sink was giving us a pretty hard time. I wish I’d taken a before picture, but I of course didn’t think we’d hit that many problems.

Every time we turned the water back on, the tubes would pop out and spray water everywhere. It was quite the mess really. Finally, after 3 days and a lot of white tape, we had it! We had one small leak, but it was just a drip.

Or so we thought. Sunday night, I found the Princesses dresses pretty wet. I thought as my mom had done laundry that maybe she just hung them up to dry, so I just moved them from the closet to my line dryer.

I should’ve used my brain a little better. Monday morning when I went to get clothes for Princess R, I found a sopping wet carpet, and ALL the girls dresses soaked. Plus, Scattergories and Trivial Pursuit (my two favorite games) completely ruined. Of course at this point Mark was gone to work and couldn’t come home. I found every dry towel we had, and made a facebook plea for fans. I hauled our massive shop vac down the stairs and started sucking the water up the best I could as well.

Thankfully, a neighbor came over and was kind enough to spend 5hours working on our plumbing. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to stop all the leaks either.

Finally, a certified, licensed plumber was called in. After another 1-2 hours the plumbing under our sink was completely replaced and brought up to code.

Now our problem is fixing the carpet in the basement….again….I feel like we’re back to last year and the flood we had from a frozen pipe.

So my dear readers, all this to bring you today’s Tuesday Tip.

If you’ve never worked with plumbing, or your plumbing is many years old, don’t touch it. If you think you can figure it out, give it a try, but after 24 hours, I suggest you stop and bring in the professionals. Most importantly though, if you think it’s just a drip, think again. Turn off the water, and get it taken care of before you find a flood elsewhere in your house.

April 17, 2012

More posts