Here are five bookmarks I have to share this week – all make use of a common item in a creative new way:

1. Create your own sunburn-soothing ice cubes (from Real Simple magazine). Freeze aloe vera gel in trays. Then, move into a re-sealable plastic bag for storage in the freezer.
2. Pinwheels as centerpieces. Buy ‘em or make ‘em; these fun decorations do second duty as party favors when you send each child home with one. They don’t really need plastic kazoos, do they?
3. Use an ornament box for baby clothes (from Ohdeedoh.com)
4. A wine rack can hold paper in a rolled position (from ScrapbooksEtc.)
5. In Los Angeles, where I grew up, every driver used to have a huge notebook of maps in her car, because the area is expansive. Now we have smart phones and GPS systems. Maps? They can be used as wrapping paper.

• taking certain dehydrating medications
• exercising
• it’s a hot and sunny day
• breastfeeding
• pregnant
• sick

I have at least 3 of those conditions right now. And I am THIRSTY!

Technically, all beverages count toward your fluid intake for the day, but if your urine output is NOT pale yellow and at least 1.9 liters in a day, it might be time to drink more water.

So, what’s your excuse? I’ve got two excuse-busters at the ready. The first is location and the second is flavor.

1. I’m so busy, I want to drink water but I can’t slow down.
   If you’re going strong all day and can’t just refill your glass eight times, I suggest that you keep portable, refillable water jugs where you are. Keep a bottle in the car (don’t forget the kids) and one at your desk at work.
2. Water is so boring. I can’t stand it.
   If you think water is so boring or, as my grandfather used to say, “why drink water when you can afford Diet Coke,” I suggest a different plan of attack. Add a squirt of lemon or lime into your water, drink bubbly water, or alternate with beverages you prefer.

Getting enough agua into your body helps it function in all ways and keeps your skin healthy too.

Sometimes I have tissues when asked, and sometimes I don’t. I never have a band-aid, and don’t even bother asking me for a safety pin.

When I leave the house, I chant to myself, “wallet, keys, phone.” Anything else is gravy.

On special occasions, I add special contents to my purse. For date night or girl’s night out, lipstick. For a meeting, business cards.

But now that I don’t carry diapers or extra clothing, what am I forgetting that might come in handy in an emergency?

I want to know what you carry at all times? Pain reliever? Bandages? Pepper spray?

Photos by Christine Koh from the What’s In Your Purse series on petitelefant.com

By now we’ve all seen duct tape prom dresses, purses, and of course broken windows mended with the magic stuff. I thought I was aware of every possible use of duct tape – including to secure quarters to the bottom of my son’s shoes so that he can “tap dance” – until I spoke to my pediatrician yesterday.

I called because my little guy has three warts on the bottom of his toe. Yes, that is gross and I am sorry that you had to read about it here on this family-friendly blog. But won’t you be glad when you file away this information and have it for a later date when a wart sneaks up on you or your loved one?

The good doctor let me know that the best cure for warts on the soles of one’s feet is duct tape. Yes, duct tape. She said that we should tape the skin and leave the tape in place until it falls off by itself. This method, she predicted, is more effective than any over the counter topical medication. Okaaay.

But wait! There’s more!

Apparently a recent study shows that imagining the affected skin without the wart, on a daily basis, also contributes to the speed with which it goes away. IMAGINE THAT! No, seriously, imagine smooth, unblemished skin!  She suggested therefore, that before bedtime, we take a moment to have Julian imagine his little toes, in their natural healthy state, wart-free.

So wow, neither of those are the remedies I was expecting a doctor to recommend. Will they work? Only time will tell.

Have you ever been completely surprised by a doctor’s advice?

Related: Painter’s tape is the new duct tape

It’s that time of year again; everyone is sick. And more important to my tiny world view, my husband is sick. This leads me to the question I have for the community: if your partner is sick, do you sleep separately?

Last night, the snoring combined with the sweating had me, THE HEALTHY ONE, tossing and turning, wishing it was morning so I could wash the sheets. I wondered if I should be moving to the couch to avoid absorbing whatever virus was making my husband so miserable.

How do you handle it in your house?

Last year I covered some tips to reduce cold and flu acquisition. Review them here.

Photo: xtream_i on flickr

A recent New York Times article about the “Unwashed” profiled a host of grown-ups who choose not to bathe on a daily basis. Citing the benefits of the body’s natural oils, these shower evaders pronounce the fears we have about our own smells as being unfounded. And dirty hair? Well, it’s just easier to style.

How about our kids? Since bathing kids is not really a personal choice for them, but rather a chore for the parent to complete, shall we consider scaling back? Or maybe you already do.

My kids bathe every other day. I am not a huge advocate of soaping up their bodies, so I let them do it themselves to the best of their abilities. I know that their father and babysitters do a more thorough job when it’s their turns, so I have rationalized my laziness as being better for their skin.

Being responsible for another body’s health is a weighty responsibility! What about their private parts? Certified Nurse-Midwife and mother of two, Kate McGlashan says that we should not be washing our daughter’s genitals with soap. Her instructions are “front to back with tepid running water and nothing else.” One of the women featured in the New York Times article uses a wedge of lemon under her arms. Due to the likelihood of aluminum in commercial deodorant, this might actually be a safer choice for daily application.

Instructables.com provides tips for folks who want to go “No Poo”, a rising trend of shampoo avoidance. The rationale? An easy way to avoid the chemicals that are contained in most shampoos.

Washing with soap is so ingrained in our culture – at least that’s what TV commercials lead me to believe. (I can recite several jingles from my childhood.) Can you imagine a life with less suds?

Did you know that lights not labeled for dimming should never be installed in a motion sensor or dimmer light situation? The associate who helped me at Home Depot today said, “you’ll either blow out the light bulb, burn out the light fixture, or burn down your house if you purchase those bulbs.” Obviously, I had no idea. Gah!

We are installing new exterior lights on the back of our house and, when faced with a wall-full-of-choices, I was quite proud of my selection. I had already made sure to purchase UL-listed bulbs rated safe for inside/outside use that were the proper wattage and base size but I missed this important detail.

If you’re not sure which light bulbs to choose when faced with a wall of choices, make sure to ask an associate to help you. I’m glad I did.

(photo credit: Clean Walmart)

My mother is not the grandmother from the movies. She is not well-padded like Dorothy’s Auntie Em; rather, she has abs of steel. She does not have friendly relationships with her favorite grocers who save her the best cuts of meat; she is an advertising executive who goes out for sushi with her husband on Friday nights. So it has been with great interest that I have watched her develop a tradition of baking pumpkin pie with my son.

Ever since she discovered his love for pumpkin pie, she began bringing the ingredients to my house, experimenting with different types of (store-bought) pie crust. Turns out, pumpkin pie is a fabulous project and food for a little kid in the kitchen.

First, it contains a vegetable. Even canned pumpkin pie mix with all the sugar and spice added offers a fair amount of fiber and vitamin A.  We usually buy the can of organic pumpkin puree, without the pie-themed spices, because adding them is half the fun.

Next, making pumpkin pie has just the right number of steps and ingredients for a little boy’s attention span. Measuring spices with different spoons is exciting. Watching how a can opener is used to access the condensed milk is intriguing. And finally, cracking eggs? My son mastered this skill at age 3, due to my mom’s patient coaching during these pie-making sessions.

Pour all the goop into a pie crust and bake.

My son likes to wear his Spiderman costume around the house (all the time!) and run really fast while practicing his web-throwing moves. I am so lucky that my fast-running child can also help me find safety hazards in record time.

[Milo sits for a moment and offers me his report]

What juts out? A quick child running from one length of my house to the other will discover a few odd angles of wall placement (I can’t help those!) as well as any miscellaneous piles of paper, shoes, and books that are in his path. Thanks kid.

What is a tripping hazard? In addition to the items we can crash into, my speedy son will also identify loose rugs and electrical cords that a careful adult may take weeks to discover or trip over.

Now slow down. Once my super hero helps me find the hazards, then I can ask him to slow down. To go the extra step to keep him from splatting into walls, I can make sure he’s not wearing overly-slick socks in the house. Most toddler socks and slippers have grippy surfaces but older kids’ socks may not.

Preventing slips and falls is the goal. Work with your family to identify safety hazards around your house, such as electrical cords that someone could trip over and rugs that slip. Share the responsibility for correcting these problems.

When I think about the frenzy of Halloween, and that the experience, which can be as tame as knocking on five doors and going home or as wild as hitting the most fabulous street in town and filling a huge pillowcase with candy, I remind myself that when Halloween begins and ends is completely in my control. I decide what’s best for my children and how much excitement is the right amount.

My daughter is extremely anxious about scary things and strangers. She was very frightened by a friend’s grandma on Halloween at age two and she still talks about it one year later. She has told us that she only wants to go to houses where she knows the people. This might be a buzz kill for our 6-year old who loves the thrill of knocking on a stranger’s door, and for me, who likes the whole family to be together for such activities. How hard will we push her out of her comfort zone?  Good question.

As George Costanza once said on Seinfeld, “You gotta leave on a high note.” I think he meant before a meltdown.

A parenting technique I have learned from my blogging partner Heather is to lay down the rules before going into a new experience. The rules may be “Stay with the group” or “No eating candy without asking Daddy first.” The consequences are also important.  I am pretty good about not threatening with actions I know I will not follow through with. For Halloween, the consequences may be that trick or treating will be over, or it may be that “Mommy will hold your candy if you can’t stop eating it.”

Keeping my children safe and helping them navigate boundaries is my most important job. Eating their candy when they’re not looking is a bonus.