Category: Family

Back to School: 4 Tips to Make Your Life Easier

Source: Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

It’s that time of year again – we just received our class assignments and school supplies lists for the upcoming year. We don’t go back to class until after Labor Day, but according to my social media timelines some kids are already starting to head back!

Here are a few of my tips to help make the back-to-school craziness go a little bit smoother:

Tip #1: School Supplies Upgrade

Order these labels and stick them on EVERYTHING: Avery Durable Labels.

I’ve been using them for years on school supplies, lunch boxes, water
bottles, plastic containers, ice packs, etc. They are dishwasher safe and hold
up really well after dozens and dozens of washes. I even have a water bottle
from 3 years ago that STILL has the label on it with Jack’s name. These things are invaluable, so keep a pack on hand!

Tip #2: Throw in a Load of Laundry

Hunt down the backpack and lunchboxes your kiddo(s) used last year, throw them in the washing machine and wash them on cold (add a few towels so you don’t waste any space). Then, let them hang dry so that they’re all ready for the coming year. Even if you bought a brand-new lunchbox and backpack, DO THIS ANYWAYS with the old ones. That way when a container of peaches opens up inside their lunch bag and makes everything sticky, you’re prepared with a backup until the new one is clean again. If you have a hard lunchbox (rather than the squishy kind), stick it in the dishwasher for a nice back-to-school bath.

Tip #3: Reintroduce Shoes

If your kid is like mine, they’ve been wearing sandals, flip flops, or crocs
all summer long. However, at our school it is required to wear sneakers on PE days. Well, Jack hasn’t put on socks and sneakers in months, so each August I have him try on his sneakers to make sure he hasn’t grown out of them.

Flow Chart 1: If they’re too small, you now have a couple weeks to
find a new pair. Find them, buy them, start wearing them to break them in so they are ready to be worn for a full school day.

Flow Chart 2: If they still fit, reintroduce shoes and socks to your kid.
According to Jack, socks are evil and so hard to put on after three months. So, we start wearing them sparingly before school starts to get the whining out of the way early.

Tip #4: Do a Clothing Fashion Show

Yes, I know it’s still 90 degrees in Maryland. However, when you realize
your kid grew out of all their pants and long sleeves it will be cold outside
and you’ll be stuck sending your kid to school in capris. Do a quick try-on of
pants, long sleeves and jackets so that you have a couple months to hunt out
sales and gather what you need.

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That Time I Went a Little Viral on Threads: The Big Bopper

For those of you not familiar with Threads, it was launched by Instagram in July 2023 and allows users to post text, photos and videos, and interact with other’s posts through likes, reposts, and replies. It’s basically a nicer version of Twitter (aka X). I’ve been over there since the beginning and enjoy reading other peoples Threads. Occasionally, I share thoughts. Or longer Thread stories… which are like free-form mini blog posts (I also curse over there, so… sorry). Anyways, I shared a story last week that kind of blew up.

And by blew up, I mean my account had over 295,000 views. I also had over 600 comments on my various posts, which I tried to keep up with over the few days that things were going crazy.

Anyways, one of those comments suggested that I write this all down somewhere, so I thought I’d add it over here on the blog too! I’ve been posting since before I was even pregnant with Jack, so for me it’s a fun little look back at many of the highs and lows over the past 14 years of my life.

So buckle up… here is the story of The Big Bopper.

Introducing Cooper

We’ve always been a one dog house. After my sweet dog Potter passed away in 2013, we adopted Ollie (Introducing Ollie) a 9 pound yorkie-chihuahua mix. He was about 1 or 2 years old when he was dropped off at a kill shelter in West Virginia. Another shelter scooped him up, we adopted him, and we’ve spent the last 12 years spoiling the crap out of him.

Ollie is still doing great and is a happy and healthy 13(ish). And, for the past year or so, I’ve thought about maybe adding another dog to the mix.

Here’s my Why’s:

  • When Ollie goes to the pet sitter’s house, he enjoys being around other dogs.
  • There is research that says that dogs who have companion animals in the household live longer and are healthier.
  • Jack is 13 and having some responsibility for a new dog would be great for him.
  • My job is mostly remote, so I’m home most days.
  • We love dogs and having an extra furry body to snuggle seems like an awesome idea!

Every so often, I’d peruse some local shelter Facebook pages to see if any dogs fit my criteria of: something cute and fluffy, not a puppy/but still a young dog, likes other dogs, likes kids, and his housebroken.

Cooper’s profile popped up one day when I was scrolling on Facebook and I immediately thought he was adorable, but I was busy with other stuff and pushed it to the back of my mind. A couple days later, I saw the screenshot I had taken and looked into his profile a little further. He checked ALL my boxes, but I was about to go down to Ocean City for the weekend with Jack.

The next morning, I woke up, did a deep dive into Cooper’s online presence (as you do) and called my husband to see if he had any objections to me putting in an application. He said to go for it, so by 9am, the application was submitted. By noon, the rescue contacted my 2 references, checked in with my vet, and the foster mom texted me to schedule a phone call.

The phone call went great and we arranged for her to bring Cooper to our home for a meet-and-greet a few days later. We received final approval on our application, so if we liked him and he got along with Ollie, he was ours if we wanted him.

And we did!

Cooper joined our family on July 2. He is a Chihuahua-terrier mix who turns 2 in October. He has a fantastic full-body Mohawk that starts at the top of his head and goes all the way down his tail. He has no problem judging you regularly with his bombastic side eye. He’s a 26 pound Mr. Sassypants who lives for tummy rubs and chewing the ears off his toys.

The first night was ROUGH (or Ruff, you might say…). As with Ollie, I immediately went into an anxiety spiral of oh-my-god-what-did-I-do. He pooped in my office. He peed on the side of the couch in my den. I was having a never-ending hot flash. I got maybe 1-2 hours of sleep the whole night.

However, Day 2 was fine. And Night 2 we put Cooper in Jack’s room. I gave Jack a pair of earplugs in case Cooper whined, shut the door, and went to bed. And it was fine! And every day since then has been better and better, with Cooper fitting right into our family.

I call this one, The Judgmental Crossing Guard:

And now Cooper gets to sleep in bed with a 13-year-old boy who absolutely adores him. And spend all day laying in a dog bed at my side while I work. And spend the evenings alternating between cuddles, belly rubs and gnawing on bones. I even caught him and Ollie having a little playtime in the backyard a couple days after he joined our family.  And now I get to live my dream of being in a puppy puddle of dog snuggles!