How Often do you Stare into the Refrigerator?

I wonder how many times a day people open their refrigerator. If you have kids, that number definitely goes up. Upon googling, a stat was given saying on average people open their refrigerator 22 times a day. I've never counted, but I wonder about that number. Typically when cooking it seems like it gets opened a lot. That doesn't include when you're not cooking. Think about all the times you might stare into it hoping dinner will pop out already made (wouldn't that be nice?!) or hunting for a snack or just getting some cream for your coffee. 

So then I started pondering silly refrigerator questions. (Ok, I'm a geek at heart!)  Did you know that in most homes, no appliance uses more electricity than the refrigerator, and developing the simple habit of opening the door less frequently can save you 7% on operating costs? 

Here's another fridge question. Why does the refrigerator have a light in it and the freezer doesn't? Ever think about that one?  Well, I did! The obvious answer is most people open and search in their fridge more than their freezer.  Apparently the cost of adding a light to the freezer drives up the cost of the unit so most freezers don't have a light. I stumbled on to a whole bunch more theories if you really want to read them all. 

And here's something to think about. If you leave a refrigerator open in a closed room, will it make the room cooler?  This wasn't meant to be a trick question, but turns out, it is! The answer: NO! Why?

A fridge can be though of as a "heat pump". It takes air inside the fridge and cools it by removing heat from it. This heat has to go somewhere, and is usually blown out the back of the fridge by a little fan. (If you feel the back of a fridge on the outside it will usually be warm if the unit is running). For this reason, when a fridge is running it is really warming up the room a little bit. Read the rest of the explanation. 

So next time you're browsing in your fridge, don't stand with the door open.  Not only will it waste your electricity, it won't cool down your room!  Now we both learned something.

P.S. I challenge you to count how many times a day just you open your fridge! Then add in the rest of your family.

My Cheesers Hurt!

When my son was little he loved Santa Claus, especially when he realized he was the source of his toys on Christmas morning. Every Christmas season we would dutifully get his photo taken with Santa. One year he smiled with Santa so much that he made the cutest comment that I will never forget. "Mommy, my cheesers hurt!"  he exclaimed.

Kids say the funniest things, right? I thought that was so precious. He was making the connection between "Say cheese!" and smiling. In his little mind his "cheesers" were the things that make you smile, aka your cheek muscles. 

Recently we went to a family reunion. It is our family tradition to take photos of all the groups and families. After being in various photos - the grandkids, the families, the siblings etc - our "cheesers" hurt! I reminded my son of his cute little saying and we all got a chuckle. 

When you smile a lot, do your cheesers hurt? :)

Is it All Fun and Games?

When you go on vacation with your kids is it all fun and games?  Or do you sneak in some education along the way? Even a pure entertainment trip (like Disney) can have an educational aspect to it.

Both of my parents love history.  When we were growing up they took us to a lot of historical places for vacation. Looking back I realize now that most of our trips involved history or education. I guess if you grow up with that you don't view it as boring.

My husband's family, on the other hand, didn't take many vacations as they were self-employed. And when they did, they did not involve history. So now as an adult, he finds history boring. I've taken it upon myself to make sure to infuse some history on every trip and try to make it as fun as possible for him. (He won't admit it, but he secretly enjoys it now. I see him spending more time reading placards than I do!)

You know the expression, "monkey see, monkey do." If our son sees us enjoying history, he enjoys it too. We make sure we enjoy it or at least make him think we do! LOL

So what do you do? Do you take vacations that include some education or history? Educating your children at a young age makes them smarter. Tune in for more details on that...

No matter what you do, it's always good to include fun on the menu too.  If we traveled in summer my parents made sure our hotel had a pool for us kids to burn off some steam. We still do that today for our son.

And please understand, this is not a judgment. This is just a bit of my "history." Ok, pun intended!

What do Your Kids Think of You?

Every year in school the kids make us a Mother's Day card.  They seem to follow a template of questions provided by the teacher. It's always interesting to me to see what my son has to say. It can give you an insight into what they perceive about you or it can be just a reflection of, "I didn't know what to write, mom."

This is what my card said this year: “Mom – Tall (yeah, right!), blond, kind, loving sibling of Mike & Jeff,  Lover of pink (true) who fears snakes (true dat, hate them!), who needs a new car (not really), who gives kindness, who would like to see mountains (never talk about that!),  resident of Frisco TX.”

It makes me laugh the things he comes up with. To a kid, all adults seem tall. At 5'4" I'm only tall to him! :) I have 4 sisters but he only mentioned my 2 brothers. I guess it took up too much room to list all his aunts! LOL

One year he wrote that I like spaghetti (which is true) & need a new cell phone (which wasn’t true). We never know where he gets these things! It’s pretty funny to see what he writes.

So what do your kids think of you? 

What does Your Car Say About You...or Someone Else?

The other day I was driving my son and his friend home from camp. Listening to their discussion was pretty interesting.  Kids say the funniest things, right? And they can also be very observant and notice the things we adults get too busy to notice.

The boys were pointing out cars and remarking how the headlights look like eyes, the grill looks like a mouth and sometimes it can also look like a mustache.  Sometimes the grills look like the car is smiling!

I wonder if anyone has done a study to see how closely the front of our cars resemble us. LOL That would

be funny! Maybe on some deep level our car resonates with us in a way we never suspected. Hey, the kids just might be on to something. Maybe the car companies need to spend some market research money on this. Maybe my kids should be rewarded for coming up with this novel idea for car companies to study. They say subliminal suggestion is the most powerful....

Next time you're out on the road check out the cars around you and see what you think. Look at your own car too while you're at it. Does it look like you on some level? Does it make you smile? What about your neighbor's car? Does it look like him?

I'm just sayin'....