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Recently, Walmart asked if we wanted to try out the new Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2X spray paint, which covers twice the area compared to regular spray paint. Sold at Walmart for $3.77 a can, Rust-Oleum claims each can will act like two, so you’ll need less paint and can save money. I took the opportunity to create a unique Mother’s Day gift and painted a garden pot using some of the bright colors available from Rust-Oleum. Check out the how-to below and see how we created a bright, decorative garden pot as a Mother’s Day gift that’s also perfect for spring and summer!

DIY Decorative Garden Pot

Materials Needed:

• Clay planter pot
• Painter’s plastic or newspaper
• Rust-Oleum American Accents Ultra Cover 2X spray paint, 2 colors of your choosing
• Painter’s tape
• Stencils (optional)
• Gloves (optional)

How to spray paint and decorate a clay garden pot

1. Cut (approx.) 2-inch strips of tape and place on pot in a zig-zag pattern.

2. Cover top of pot with plastic or newspaper to protect it while spray painting the bottom.

3. Using your first chosen color, spray paint from the bottom of the tape line down as far as you’d like to see the color.

4. Once the first color has thoroughly dried, repeat step 1 below the first color, matching the pattern previously used. Then, cover the painted area with plastic or newspaper.

5. Using the second color, spray paint the remaining bottom part of the pot, plus the bottom surface.
6. If you’d like, once the paint is completely dry, you can either use a stencil to spray paint a design onto a chosen area of the pot or you can hand-paint a design using acrylic paints.

What is your favorite way to use spray paint for DIY projects?

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I received samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™

I’ve previously shared with you the benefits of menu planning, plus shared a sample menu plan and more recently, a full weekly dinner menu plan. Menu planning has definitely been beneficial in our household and allows me to stay on top of meals for dinner each day, even while working. I no longer have to wonder what is for dinner or scramble at the last-minute to put something together. It also avoids me asking the husband to bring home take-out meals for dinner because I’m not inspired by the choices in our fridge or pantry. All-around menu planning is useful.

This past weekend, I sat down for about half an hour, planned out two weeks of meals for dinner and wrote up a two-week grocery list. I created a 14-day dinner menu plan, mostly based on foods already in the freezer, fridge, and pantry. At the same time, I made our grocery list, filling in anything I was missing to make our two-week menu plan complete. It felt extremely good to have a full dinner menu plan for the next two weeks and a grocery list that would get us through those two weeks.

Later that same day, I went to the grocery store and did our shopping for two weeks. Plus, my husband seasoned and vacuum sealed the meats I had just purchased and most of the produce. In one afternoon, we had completed a menu plan, grocery shopping, and prepped foods for the next two weeks! How’s that for working smart and making our lives easier?

Want to see what we’ll be eating these next two weeks? I really hope that in sharing this sample two-week menu plan, you’ll get meal ideas for dinner in your own home. You may notice that I try to take shortcuts when I can, split meals into two by having leftover nights, and that nothing on my dinner menu plan is extraordinarily hard to cook – in fact, I use easy recipes as much as I can. The idea is not to be a fancy restaurant, but to save time, money, and provide my family meals for dinner.

14 Days of Dinner Ideas: Sample Two-Week Dinner Menu Plan

Week 1

1. Sunday: Home-made sub sandwiches with French bread and chips or popcorn on the side
2. Monday: Carne Guisada (Puerto Rican beef stew) served over white rice
3. Tuesday: Turkey sausage & vegetables served over pasta
4. Wednesday: Leftovers
5. Thursday: Hamburgers and home-made fried potatoes
6. Friday: Breakfast for dinner
7. Saturday: Picadillo served over white rice (Here’s a nice picadillo recipe, though I don’t add raisins to mine.)

Week 2

1. Sunday: Turkey Spaghetti
2. Monday: Chicken & Vegetable Soup
3. Tuesday: Leftovers
4. Wednesday: Boneless pork ribs, home-made mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables
5. Thursday: Turkey sausage with peppers, served over white rice
6. Friday: Chicken & Vegetable Noodles (I’m going to substitute the beef for chicken from the recipe.)
7. Saturday: Leftovers

What’s your family having for dinner this week?

Though we try our best to keep our carpet as clean as we can, when you have young children, it’s pretty impossible to avoid the occasional spot. We have a few rules to help keep the carpet clean: shoes must come off by the front door, no drinking or eating on the carpet, and we even have a plastic floor protector (like the ones used under office chairs) under baby boy’s designated chair at our dining table. All these things have helped keep the carpet cleaner than if we had not followed these rules, but wear and tear and accidents do still occur.

When Walmart asked us if we wanted to try out the Bissell Deep Clean Premier, I thought it would be a great opportunity to see if we could get rid of a few problem spots in our living room. Particularly, we have a small area in the middle of our living room that was recently acquired due to child vomit – these are the bonus joys of parenthood! Our poor sick child just didn’t make it to the bathroom in time and though we cleaned it up right away and tried to avoid a stain, alas, you can still see a dirty spot in the carpet.

As you can see, after using the Bissell Deep Clean Premier, the spot in the carpet is gone! The system is easy to use and we like the fact that there are not separate containers for the clean and dirty water. However, one drawback is that the power button is not on the handle, but is located further down on the body of the machine – design-wise, this just didn’t make sense to us. Despite that, we’re happy with the way it’s cleaning the carpet, which is what ultimately matters the most.

Additionally, we are happy to add a deep cleaner to our household, because it will help keep the carpet generally cleaner. I actually suffer from environmental allergies and we definitely don’t want the kids breathing in all that gunk. A vacuum cleaner can only do so much, so deep cleaning the carpet periodically will help our entire household.

What do you find works best for keeping your carpet clean?

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I received samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™

I find that cooking now is very different from the cooking I used to do when I lived in an apartment and was attending college. In fact, it seems like the longer I cook, the variety in the cookware and tools I use increases. Back then, I just used some pots and pans my mother gave me when I moved out of the house. They were nothing spectacular and it was obvious they had been in the family for a while. If I needed new cookware, I purchased affordable individual pieces (mostly from the “great for college students” line stores carry). The next phase of my cookware collection began when I got married. At that point my cookware received an upgrade and we purchased a collection of non-stick cookware that would meet our needs. Over the last 10 years of our marriage, I’ve replaced some pots and pans and am always on the lookout for new cookware that will not only help me cook great food, but that also makes cooking easier.

When Walmart asked if we wanted to try out some of the Rachael Ray cookware, I decided to give them a try and see how they fared. The team sent me a variety of Rachael Ray cookware:

• Non-Stick Skillet Set
• Stoneware Ramekin Set
• Suction Lid Set
• Garbage Bowl
• Lazy Slotted Spoon

You can find all of the items I received on Walmart.com and they’ll soon be in-store too, along with many other Rachael Ray cookware items. I haven’t had a chance to use the ramekin set yet, but am really looking forward to trying them out since they can be used in the oven, microwave, freezer, or refrigerator. Just think of the possibilities of pre-assembling individual size meals in a ramekin, freezing them, and then cooking them in the oven! They’re also really cute and I can see them working out great for serving right in the ramekin.

I did, however, use the garbage bowl, skillets, and lazy spoon the other night while cooking dinner. Now, to be honest, the idea of a garbage bowl initially seemed silly to me. After all, I’ve had no problems cleaning up all these years while cooking. But, after using it the other night, I have to say it is quite convenient to have a large bowl siting next to the cutting board to throw the scraps and garbage into without having to stop and go back and forth from the garbage can. So, this is a new tool that will now be added to my cooking routine.

The skillets are non-stick and have worked out well so far. I like that they come in such a variety of colors; it’s nice to be able to add a splash of color to mix in with the stainless cookware I currently have. The lazy spoon is designed so that you can hook it onto your pot or pan, which is much better than just resting the spoon on the edge of the pan (what I usually do). I say it’s better because all too often, my spoon slides off and causes a mess – not to mention it’s a potential hazard with the hot burner. So, hooking the spoon onto your pot or pan helps avoid that little issue without the need to dirty a spoon rest.

I’m looking forward to adding these pieces to my current collection of cookware and really looking forward to trying out the ramekins. If you have any suggestions on a recipe that will work great for the ramekins, let me know!

Do you have a favorite piece of cookware or favorite brand? Have you used any of the Rachael Ray cookware before?

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I received samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™

I’ve started menu planning again and love how it’s working out. To be honest, I have no idea why I ever stopped! It’s been great to know what dinner is going to be each night, and has helped with grocery shopping, pre-planning, and even precooking since I can see what the whole week (in regards to dinner) looks like at a glance.

On Saturday, I sat down and wrote up a menu plan for the week, planning around foods we already had in the fridge and pantry. That way, I didn’t have to shop for many items; we just had to supplement a couple of ingredients (mainly fresh produce). On Sunday, my husband went to the grocery store with my list, which I also put together at the same time I created our week’s meal plan. So, essentially, in one sitting, I had a menu plan for the entire week, and a grocery shopping list!

Let me share with you what we’re eating for dinner this week. Hopefully, this motivates you to create your own menu plan for next week (or even the rest of this week). You will notice that I’m using some shortcuts and utilizing the slow cooker as much as I can. The combination of a menu plan, meal shortcuts, and a slow cooker, has truly made a difference in my kitchen and allowed me to serve my family home-cooked meals despite working full-time. (My office may be at home, but I still work full-time hours.)

Sample Dinner Menu Plan

• Sunday: Chicken Stir-Fry with Brown Rice
• Monday: Lasagna and Side Salad (I precooked the ground beef on Saturday when I made burgers. I simply divided the ground beef I had in half, cooked half to use for the lasagna, and used the other half to make the burgers that same night. So, on Monday, all I had to do was reheat the meat, assemble the lasagna, and bake it.)
• Tuesday: Turkey Sausage and Vegetable Soup (A variation of this Chicken and Vegetable Soup recipe, cooked in a slow cooker.)
• Wednesday: Leftovers
• Thursday: Boneless Pork Ribs and Sweet Potatoes (I cook both in a slow cooker together. I may add some steamed frozen vegetables too.)
• Friday: Steak Burritos
• Saturday: Turkey Chili (Slow Cooker again!)

It really does help me to menu plan and makes dinner run smoother during the week. I love knowing ahead of time what I’m making and taking that stress of ‘What’s for dinner?‘ away. Give it a try – sit down for 10 minutes this weekend and plan next week’s menu. Or better yet, sit down tonight and plan out the next couple of nights just to test it out!

More on Menu Planning

• Why Meal Planning Provides Peace of Mind
• Planning Your Family’s Dinner Menu

What about you? What’s for dinner this week?

We love taking photos every chance we get. From small moments in our home, to big family trips and outings, documenting special memories is something everyone loves doing. But, with digital cameras, I find it’s so much easier to “forget” about the photos and leave them on the memory card or hard drive. I’ll admit, we’re pretty bad about not downloading our photos, which means family and friends rarely see the photos we take.

I’m not really sure why this is, but for some reason, it used to be much easier to take the roll of film (remember that?) to the store and develop your pictures. Now, we take tons more photos than before, that are better quality and should be easier to share, but they just sit there on the memory card or hard drive. We find ourselves scrolling through our phone or camera galleries to see our photos or show them to family members.

In an effort to preserve our family memories, I decided we needed to just get ourselves organized and actually do something with the multitude of photos we have. With the help of Walmart’s Photo Center, we set off on a mission to create a photo book documenting our two trips to New York City and another photo book all about our baby girl’s birth. Yes, amazingly, we never put together a formal album of her birth!

It was pretty simple to upload the photos we wanted online and use the Walmart Photo Center to create a photo book. They have various size books, quite a few backgrounds to use, and different page layouts to choose from. We had over 300 photos from both of our trips to New York City, so I decided to use their Autofill option rather than pick and choose the photos myself for each page. It was such a good decision and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the layout turned out from using the Autofill feature. It was so pretty to look through the pages of my new photo book and see all of our lovely pictures from our adventures in NYC nicely organized!

With a bit of customization to rearrange some photos, delete some duplicate shots, and customize the cover, we ended up with a beautiful keepsake to remember our vacations. We did the same for our baby girl’s photo book, though we hand-picked all the photos and designed each page ourselves since there weren’t quite as many to choose from. Doesn’t my baby girl look beautiful on the cover of her baby photo book?

Are you good about preserving your family’s memories? Do you create albums or photo books from the digital photos you take?

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Custom New York City photo book cover by modernmami. Original photo: Alonso Javier Torres/Flickr
All other photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™

With 2013 being the year of change, streamlining, and lessening the chaos, I have been throwing out, donating, and reducing items in our household little by little. Nothing major – simple, yet effective decluttering is how I’ve been going about it. For example, as I’m washing and folding laundry, if I notice that some items no longer fit the kids (or myself), I take that chance to put them in a donation bag. Or perhaps if I see some toys that the kids don’t seem to be playing with much, I go ahead and toss them to make room in the toy bin. It feels good to take little steps for lessening the overall clutter in the house.

A problem area that has been sitting untouched for months, though, is my downstairs work desk. I have an informal home office space in the living room for my laptop, where I mostly do my work each day. Having this desk downstairs allows me to work with baby boy at home without restricting him to the upstairs office. This work area also allows for baby girl to do any online homework on my laptop, or some days, she plays games while I cook – all with me in the room and able to supervise. It’s worked out quite well, except for the clutter that has accumulated!

Because the desk is easily accessible, it means lots of times paperwork, flyers, mail, and other miscellaneous items are tossed onto my desk. I’m partly to blame for this too – not just the kids and my husband! We’ve all contributed to the clutter and my work space has become a mix of important papers, in-progress notes, extra electronics, and the kids’ artwork. So, I had to do something to change that.

Through a declutter challenge offered up by Walmart, I took the opportunity to focus on reorganizing, decluttering, and re-purposing my home office area. I decided to make it functional for both my work and for the kids. If I give them the space and designate areas for them to have their papers, then perhaps it will lessen the clutter and mess.

I found a new desk organizer and wall-hanging file sorter on Walmart.com that I thought would help. I chose this desk organizer because it has drawers I thought would be useful for smaller papers, plus it has a space to hold notebooks in a standing position, which will help avoid a large stack. Though this desk organizer has less shelves than the one I previously had, I thought that would actually be a good thing since it means there’s less room for dumping mail, loose papers, and such.

The wall file sorter I purchased will be used to better organize those in-progress notes, mail, and to-do items. I also designated one of the pockets for the kids, so they have a reserve of printables and activity sheets they can easily access. I labeled each pocket on the wall file holder to help my daughter know which pocket was for her use, and help me see at a quick glance where everything is stored.

My desk is now clear of clutter, is better organized, and will hopefully remain that way with the organizational system I’ve set up. I’m hoping it really works for the entire family and provides me a cleaner space to be productive in 2013! Check out the before and after – much better, don’t you think?

What area in your house could use some decluttering and reorganization?

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™

I like simple projects and I especially like working on those that will help me organize my life a bit more. With two kids running around, a hard working hubby, and a multitasking mama, life can sure get crazy in our house.

School will begin before I can even say, “summer has been fun.”  (Wait, is summer almost over?!)  That crazy busy life of ours is about to get, well, even crazier.  A calendar to keep track of all our daily activities is the perfect the solution.  Though my iPhone calendar gets full every month, we needed a larger calendar that we could all see, in the room we spend most of our time in: the craft room!

I chose to make it a weekly calendar, that way it will be easier for the kids to keep track of everyone and what we are doing any particular week.  I also color coded it by using different color markers for each family member.  And I wanted it to be big enough to include an area where we could post notes held with magnets and another corked area to pin up schedules, flyers, etc.

If you would like to make your own family color-coded weekly calendar, here are the how-to instructions.

DIY Family Color-Coded Weekly Calendar

Materials:

• Combination dry-erase board  (3/4 magnetic white board, 1/4 cork board)
• Dry-erase weekly planner cling
• Dry-erase markers
• Washi tape (optional)
• Fun magnets & push pins

I found the dry-erase board, weekly planner cling, and dry-erase markers at my local Walmart. You may have to get the Washi tape (if you wish to use) elsewhere, though.

Instructions:

To begin, take the dry-erase weekly planner cling and cling it onto the combination board above the cork area, slightly overlapping. Cut off any excess ends. Make sure there are no air bubbles under your weekly cling strip or it will be hard to write on.

Take the washi tape and run it across the top part of the weekly calendar cling. This will cover the area that looks like the ends of a torn page.

To make the little pouch that holds the colored markers, use the same plastic bag that holds the foam stickers for hanging the board. (I love reusing items!) Pin it to the cork board near one of the corners. If you want something a bit fancier, you can also make the pouch out of fabric.

Place some cute magnets on the top (see my tutorial for the cute felt flower magnets shown) and several push pins onto the cork board. Now your calendar is ready to be filled!

On one of the whiteboard corners write, in different colors, the name and/or initials of each member of the family.

And begin to fill up the calendar accordingly.

Now you are ready to tackle a new school year. ¡Buena suerte!

Lisa Renata is a proud multicultural Latina of Mexican, German and Japanese descent. She and her husband of German, Scott-Irish descent are raising their two lovely kids bilingual and in a home full of diverse traditions. She holds a degree in cultural Anthropology and is a certified Interpreter. She is also the creator of SaboraCajeta.com, where she shares her craft ideas, and her passion for sewing and photography. You can find Lisa occasionally sharing simple and fun crafts here on ModernMami.com.

Disclosure: ModernMami.com and its owner, Melanie Edwards, is a member of the Walmart Moms program, resulting in compensation for this post.

This week my girl is learning more about Earth Day at school. She came home yesterday saying that if we turn the water off while brushing our teeth (something we already do), we can save 18 gallons of water. At least, I think that’s what she said, it’s hard to remember the exact number she gave me. I think it’s great that she learn more about little things we can do to help save resources and love that she’s so excited about what they’re learning.

In celebrating Earth Day and learning more about it, their teacher is doing a variety of activities with them this week, including reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. We also have a copy of the book here at home, thanks to Walmart and Seventh Generation, who have asked us to try out some of their products in an effort to spring clean like the Lorax. I admit that I don’t regularly use planet-conscious cleaning supplies, so I took this opportunity to do so and see how well they work.

But, besides the cleaning challenge, I thought this was more of a good opportunity to read The Lorax with my daughter and talk with her about the story’s message. Something they’ve been doing in class recently is discuss the meaning behind books they read and explore why the author wrote the story. After reading The Lorax with my baby girl, I asked her just that – “Why do you think Dr. Seuss wrote this book?” Her response: “So people would care more about trees and not chop them down so much.”

We discussed further and thought of things we can do to help the planet more, like making sure we turn off lights and electronics when not in use or reusing jeans if clean and only worn once. These are simple things, but they are things she can easily do and feel proud of, much like using friendlier cleaning products.

Using the Seventh Generation products was much like using any other product. I haven’t tried them all just yet, but did get a chance to use the dish-washing liquid and disinfecting wipes. In fact, baby girl liked the lavender/mint scent of the dish liquid.

Have you read The Lorax with your children? Do you believe they get the message of the book? What about Seventh Generation products – have you ever used them?

Disclosure: As a member of the Walmart Moms program, ModernMami™.com was compensated for this post. As always, all opinions, ideas, and stories are our own.

Photo: Cielo de la Paz/Flickr

Growing up, spring cleaning is something I remember my mom doing each year. Mind you, my mom always kept a clean house and that I can remember, nothing was ever out of place. But, when spring came around, she broke out the extra cleaning duties that weren’t in her normal cleaning routine. This is when she removed the cushions from the couch to wash the covers, put mattresses out in the sun, cleaned the window screens, and went into every corner of the house to be sure not a speck of dust stayed behind.

I don’t know how many of you partake in true spring cleaning rituals each year, but it’s not something I really do. We clean regularly, but don’t have specific “spring cleaning” duties we do around this time of the year. I realize many of you are preparing to get through your spring cleaning list soon, and may be wondering how to get everything done with the kids around. Whether on the weekend or during the week, if your kids are around while you’re trying to clean, you know sometimes they do more harm than good. It seems like they always find a way to keep you from making progress and get the cleaning done, doesn’t it?

It doesn’t matter whether you’re going down your spring cleaning checklist or just doing regular cleaning at any other time of the year, it helps to know how your kids can help with the cleaning. Here are some ideas I’ve previously shared.

Tips for Spring Cleaning with Young Children

• Chores for Preschoolers: Kid-Friendly List of Chores Your Child Can Do
• How Preschoolers Can Help With Laundry
• Clean Up Game for Young Children

Amazingly, kids can have a lot of fun with cleaning if you make it a game. I know my girl is eager to help us clean and loves being challenged to complete her tasks in a specific time period, in a certain way, or just having fun with her chores. Sometimes, you don’t even have to create a game out of it; kids just want to be involved. I find that simply including my girl in a task pleases her. This means that we can just have a conversation as we do our chores and she’s glad to help because it means we’re spending time together.

What are some ways you make spring cleaning fun in your house?

Disclosure: This story is sponsored by Hallmark through their Life is a Special Occasion campaign. As always, all stories and opinions are my own. To receive special offers and discounts from Hallmark, sign up for their e-newsletter!